An online campaign being launched today will help increase the popularity of women’s sport in SA

AN online campaign starting today aims to attract more women players, spectators and events to South Australia.

Norwood celebrates after winning the SANFL women’s league. Picture: Roger Wyman

WOMEN’S football will be a centrepiece as the State Government on Saturday launches a social media campaign set out to further the engagement and opportunities for women in sport.

A taskforce headed by Katrine Hildyard, the assistant minister to the Premier, will on Saturday afternoon release the first in a series of “Ending Gender Inequality Commitment Statement” videos featuring sport and community leaders.

The taskforce, which was formed in 2016, has encouraged members of the public to pledge their support to the cause.

Central to the workings of the taskforce are:

IMPROVING gender equality in all aspects of sport.

CHANGE the face of sport leadership.

INCREASE spectators at women’s sport, and

ATTRACT women’s sporting events to SA.

Football — the success of the women’s AFLW and the first season of an SANFL women’s league in particular — has created obvious new opportunities for women but the project spreads across all sports.

SANFL chief Jake Parkinson, who is part of the taskforce, said the SANFL had been blown away by the popularity of women’s football in recent years.

The league will next year add two more teams to the SANFL women’s league — taking it to six — and expects all of the traditional SANFL clubs to have a women’s team before long.

“It’s been very exciting for the league and we’re very excited about it,” Parkinson said. “It was beyond our expectations.

“The quality of football was fantastic, developed really well throughout the season and the amount of people who supported the girls was very strong.”

The online campaign was shaped during a summit earlier this year.

“We want to make change as quickly as we can but we want to make change that actually lasts,” Hildyard said.

Highlights of the State Government’s support of women’s sport include $10 million for the upgrade of facilities in the last budget, $14 million in this budget and a $4.5 million upgrade of Priceline Stadium.

Originally published as An online campaign being launched today will help increase the popularity of women’s sport in SA