Tayla Harris: picture reaction shows we still need to grow up

The response to the Tayla Harris image shows women’s sport has a way to go in Australia. Not the sport itself, but attitudes to it.

Tayla Harris takes a kick during Carlton’s AFLW game against the Western Bulldogs at the weekend. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Media

It’s a cracking picture. A gifted athlete captured at full stretch and at the height of her powers.

Carlton forward Tayla Harris takes a contested mark against the Western Bulldogs and launches a drop punt more than 40m to score the first goal of the AFLW’s Pride Game.

A metre off the ground with her right leg extended in her follow-through, photographer Michael Willson captures a fantastic image of Harris in full flight.

It should have been a celebrated and inspirational image. Unfortunately the response to the publication of the picture on Seven AFL social media sites has revealed that women’s sport still has a way to go in Australia. Not the sport itself, which is clearly on the rise, but attitudes to it and the athletes who compete in it.

The image of Harris, published on Seven AFL social media pages on Tuesday night, provoked a tirade of offensive, sexist and stupid comments. Seven’s reaction to the trolls was to take the picture down.

That was a knee-jerk reaction which made it look as if the trolls were correct. As Matildas star Sam Kerr said in a dismayed response: “The problem was not the photo.”

Seven ultimately agreed and reinstated the picture with an apology, saying deleting it had “sent the wrong message”.

This issue has shown us the worst and the best of how we feel about the current boom in women’s sport.

The offensive trolling exposed an offensive underbelly of dopes. But the huge tide of support for Harris from across the world of sport has drawn a line in the sand. Gill McLachlan, Patrick Dangerfield, Sam Kerr, Anna Meares, Wayne Schwass, Danny Frawley, AFLW boss Nicole Livingstone are just some of the people who have thrown their support behind Harris. Perhaps this will be the moment we realise a more gown-up attitude to women’s sport is appropriate.

Harris is certainly capable of defending herself. On radio this morning she has said: “Some of the comments were sexual abuse, what I would consider sexual abuse on social media.

“These people need to be called out by the AFL, but something needs to go further. It’s something maybe Victoria Police have to look at.”

And she applauded the support she has received. “I’m feeling empowered this morning,”

she said. “It is really amazing that the AFL community got around me.”

The AFL community needs to stay around her and we need to make sure that AFLW players — and all other female athletes — are appreciated for their strength, their skill, their athleticism.