Women cricketers, Matildas, rugby sevens and Diamonds our most loved teams
Women’s teams have dominated a survey of the teams Australians feel the strongest connection with
Women’s sport may have disappeared off the radar during the COVID-19 lockdown, but it hasn’t fallen out of the hearts of Australian sports fans.
Women’s teams have dominated a survey of the teams Australians feel the strongest connection to, with the Australian women’s cricket team taking top spot.
Meg Lanning and her charges, who won the T20 World Cup in front of 86,174 fans at the MCG just days before the coronavirus pandemic crippled Australian sport, achieved the highest score in a series of indicators measuring the pride, trust, enjoyment and respect fans feel for a team.
The Matildas, the Australian women’s soccer team, came in second, followed by the Australian women’s rugby sevens team and the Diamonds, the nation’s netball team.
The highest ranked men’s team was the Australian cricketers — not the Ashes-winning Test team, but the T20 side.
Compiled by True North Research, the study is based on an online survey of more than 4800 Australians and New Zealanders aged over 16 in March and April. Respondents had to be at least “somewhat familiar” with the teams involved and were asked a series of questions about their level of emotional connection.
The survey results come at a time of growing concern that women’s sport will be the hardest hit by the COVID-19 lockdown. With all sporting organisations forced to tighten their belts and rein in expansion plans, there has been speculation that competitions such as the AFLW, the NRLW and the W-League could be scrapped or wound back.
In a debate on the future of sport on ABC-TV’s Q&A on Monday night, journalist Tracey Holmes said that despite unprecedented momentum for women’s sport in recent years, since the pandemic began “it’s just dropped completely off the agenda”.
“For instance, FIFA is going to announce in about 10 days where the next FIFA Women’s World Cup will be staged and the joint bid by Australia and New Zealand is on top and in all likelihood, we’re going to get that,” Homes said.
“Now if it was 10 days out from the men’s World Cup being awarded to Australia and New Zealand, it would be front page, back page, middle page, talk back radio – it would be everywhere.
“All of the talk, all of the sports programs, all of the sports bulletins and results, once again, have gone back to five, six, seven years ago … it’s men, men, men, men, men.”
However, True North director Georgie Maynard said female athletes had clearly done enough during the lockdown to maintain their profiles.
“Women athletes are particularly aware of the perilous situation that the pandemic has caused for their sport,” she said. “They have been active during isolation, recognising they had their own role to play in ensuring the future of their sport, be it through salary cuts, keeping fan engagement levels up and working with the sponsors of their sports.”
The men’s T20 team was placed fifth in the survey, with the Boomers, the men’s basketball team — now dominated by Australians who ply their trade in the NBA — ahead of the men’s Test cricket team in seventh.
The Australian rugby league team, the Kangaroos, although they are currently ranked second the world behind New Zealand, come in at eighth in the True North study, just ahead of the Socceroos. And the top 10 is round out by another women’s team, the Wallaroos.
The biggest losers are the Wallabies — ranked sixth in a similar survey conducted in September and October last year, they have now dropped out of the top 10.
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