Bronzed ambition: Why it’s time Adelaide Oval had a statue of a female athlete
At Showdown 1, thousands of footy fans will file through the Oval’s gates, past statues of SA’s top footballers and cricketers – but none are of women. That must change, writes Liz Walsh.
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This Friday night, thousands of football fans will descend on South Australia’s iconic Adelaide Oval to watch history in the making: when Port Adelaide take on the Crows in the first-ever AFLW Showdown.
While those passionate footy fans file through the gates – many of them women and girls – they’ll be walking past the beautifully carved statues of the state’s sporting greats that are dotted in and around the stadium.
Don Bradman. George Giffen. Jason Gillespie. Darren Lehmann. Barrie Robran. Russell Ebert. Malcolm Blight. Ken Farmer. Clem Hill.
Each statue is a reminder not only of the individual achievements of these sportspeople, but of the history and deep connections we have with sport. These athletes inspire us and remind us of what can be achieved with hard work and dedication.
They are bronzed reminders of their contributions to society.
But, at the Adelaide Oval, none of the statues are of a woman.
It is time for this to change.
An audit conducted by Cricket Australia last year found that of the 73 statues of cricketers in locations across Australia, none of them honoured women.
Concerned by this fact, the sporting body has made a concerted effort to rectify the situation with the formation of its “Recognition of Women in Cricket” working group, the purpose of which is to come up with a list of candidates for the sculpture, as well as look at other ways of publicly recognising female cricketers, including naming sporting grandstands after them.
It’s also a global issue with research showing that across the world, women make up only 2-3 per cent of the public statues.
So, why does this bronzed imbalance exist?
All too often, the argument trotted out against a female statue is that she “didn’t achieve” the same great sporting heights compared with her male counterpart.
But pioneering women athletes achieved great things against great odds, often odds that men never faced.
Pioneers of women’s cricket and football played the sports during a time when they were told they shouldn’t. When they weren’t allowed to play on Adelaide Oval. When they were told they could train at a field, but to stay off the pitch because they might ruin it ahead of the boys playing on it at the weekend. They played at a time when they couldn’t attract the same attention of the press as their male counterparts did.
The cricketers played in a time when if they wanted to represent Australia, they had to pay their own way.
The footballers doggedly kept playing despite knowing they would never make a state team, not because they weren’t good enough, but because one simply didn’t exist.
The stories of these female athletes deserve to be told, they deserve to be heard and most importantly, they deserve to be recognised in bronze for generations to come.
And those statues shouldn’t be constrained to cricket and football: there should undoubtedly be a Kathryn Harby-Williams statue at the Netball SA Stadium. There should be a Rachael Sporn statue at the state’s basketball centre; an Anna Meares outside the Velodrome.
Recreation, Sport and Racing Minister Katrine Hildyard backed a push to honour the state’s leading female athletes.
“Seeing women compete at the highest level and having them celebrated and recognised for doing so sends a clear and powerful message that women are valued, included and able to equally and actively participate in the sport they love,” Hildyard said.
“I am very happy and open to exploring any ideas that recognise and celebrate our women sports stars.”
Campaigning for a female statue at Adelaide Oval isn’t just about bringing more balance to the heavily weighted scales; it’s about showing the world that women’s achievements in sport are just as important as the men’s.
And if there’s finally a statue of a female athlete outside Adelaide Oval, then the next time thousands of footy fans file through the gates, they’ll all – regardless of gender – be able to look up and say: “That could be me one day”.
Ten candidates for a statue at Adelaide Oval
Faith Thomas, cricket
Thomas played her only Test for Australia in 1958 and was the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in any sport. She was the first Aboriginal woman cricketer with national honours and remained so until 2017 when NSW cricketer Ash Gardner was selected for the Australian team. In the 1970s, Thomas also joined Sir Doug Nicholls in founding the National Aboriginal Sports Foundation; creating opportunities for young Indigenous sportspeople.
Karen Rolton, cricket
In 2018 Karen Rolton was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. She played 14 Tests, 141 one-day internationals and 15 T20Is between 1995 and 2009, scoring more than 5800 runs and posting 10 centuries. A two-time World Cup winner (in 1997 and 2005), Rolton remains the only woman to score a century in a World Cup final, having made 107 in the 2005 decider against India. She has scored more Test runs (1002) than any other Australian and her 209 not out against England in 2001 was the women’s Test record score until last November, when Australia’s Ellyse Perry made an unbeaten 213 against England. Wearing South Australian colours Rolton played 114 games, scoring 5521 runs and taking 106 wickets.
Shelley Nitschke, cricket
A left-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spinner, she was one of the leading all-rounders in the world, Nitschke was named as the Australian Women’s International Cricketer of the Year in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. She played six Tests, 80 one-day internationals and 36 T20Is. Following retirement, she began coaching, and is the newly appointed head coach of the Australian women’s cricket team.
Lyn Fullston, cricket
Affectionately known as “lefty”, Fullston had a successful 15-year, 123-match cricket career for South Australia, while in her 12 Test match appearances for Australia took 41 wickets at an average of 25.52 and compiled 285 runs at an average of 31.66. Also represented Australia in netball.
Megan Schutt, cricket
Captain of the SA Scorpions side in the Women’ National Cricket League, Schutt has been ranked among the world’s best bowlers since her international debut a decade ago. Having taken more than 220 wickets across the three formats of the game, she was most recently part of the Australian team that won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Gina Dutschke, football
Spearheaded the formation of a South Australian Women’s Football League, which started with four teams in 1991. The SAWFL is now part of the Adelaide Footy League, with their Division 1 winner being honoured with the Gina Dutschke medal.
Jenny Williams, football
On September 9, 1990, Williams captained a South Australian side comprising local sportswomen in a one-off match against Victoria at Glenelg, in the precursor to the South Australian Women’s Football League which was formerly established the following year.
Williams was named best on ground for SA in that game. Coached West Adelaide in the SAWFL in 2016.
Narelle Smith, football
Played 130 games for Edwardstown and Greenacres in the South Australian Women’s Football League, before retiring aged 39. She turned to coaching where she became state women’s coach. She coached SAWFL side Morphettville Park to back-to-back premierships.
In 2018 she became the first woman to coach a SANFL men’s team when she took over the reins of the Glenelg reserves. She is now an assistant coach with the Crows AFLW side.
The Narelle Smith Medal is awarded to the best and fairest women’s player in the Adelaide Footy League’s Division 3.
Erin Phillips, football
The AFLW’s most decorated player to date, she is a three-time AFLW premiership winner, dual AFLW best-and-fairest winner and three-time All-Australian. Phillips was best on ground in the Crows’ 2019 grand final win against Carlton, which was played at Adelaide Oval in front of a record crowd of 53,034. She is now the inaugural captain of Port Adelaide’s first women’s team.
Chelsea Randall, football
Three-time AFLW premiership winning captain with Adelaide, Randall is a pioneer of women’s football in both WA and SA. Has been voted the league’s most courageous player on three occasions, to go along with her three All-Australian honours.
Originally published as Bronzed ambition: Why it’s time Adelaide Oval had a statue of a female athlete
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