South West Queensland Thunder deals with bias claim

South West Queensland Thunder wants to grow football all levels across region.

IN ACTION: South West Queensland Thunder player Emma Jackson (left) moves to shut down Mitchelton opponent Georgia Buchanan. Picture: Nev Madsen

FOOTBALL: New South West Queensland Thunder chairwoman Mandy Adams has moved swiftly to address gender bias claims levelled at the NPL club.

Adams spoke yesterday after an email, containing several questions, was sent to The Chronicle by a concerned parent.

"South West Queensland Thunder actively advocates for women in sport and would love to field more teams,” Adams said.

"Unfortunately we are still working through some issues quite typical to women in sport around Australia.

"It's widely accepted and written about in Australia that there is more interest in men's team sports than women's, but we at the Thunder believe we are part of the solution and are seeing continual development development every year for our girls.

"Collectively we have been working behind the scenes for some time now to extend our footprint here in Toowoomba.”

A difference in training schedules and facilities was raised by the parent - an issue Adams said the club had now proudly addressed.

"The coaches decide when the women will train and how often, depending on whether their whole team is available - given that some people travel from out of town,” she said.

"We are sometimes restricted by field availability or by events held by the community clubs we liaise with - so this is managed very carefully and with great difficulty.

"We have recently secured new training facilities specifically for our NPLW teams at Kearneys Spring after a two year process of applications to council, grant writing and arrangements with contractors for lighting.

"We have purchased new nets ready for the fields which are being delivered - and for the first time ever we have secured a Thunder women's sponsor - Priceline Pharmacies.

"This is pretty exciting for us given we as a club are only five years old.”

Letter to Editor

As a concerned club parent, why is gender bias still a thing in our local NPL club, SWQ Thunder?

1. The girls' and women's teams can only train two times a week on an unmarked field with no goal posts, whereas the boys train three times a week on marked fields with goal posts?

2. Why are there no paid female players, whereas the men are paid?

3. Why do the girls/women's teams have four home games at Clive Berghofer stadium when the boys/men's teams have 12 games at the stadium?

4. Two girls named in Football Qld squads (and three named as shadow players) have a two-line mention in the club newsletter two months after team announcements, whereas within four hours of announcement the boys selected in Queensland squads are heartily congratulated on the club's Facebook page.

Thunder chairwoman Mandy Adams response

As spokesperson for the SWQ Thunder FC I'd like to firstly acknowledge this parents' concerns with an understanding that all feedback is valued.

SWQ Thunder has three licences to allow us to play at a National competition level.

One of those is to participate in the NPLW competition - the Women's National Premier League.　

From our region we have only been able to field three junior girls teams and a women's team because of the numbers of girls/women who play this sport, in this area.

SWQ Thunder actively advocates for women in sport and would love to field more teams - unfortunately we are still working through some issues quite typical to women in sport around Australia - there are not as many spectators, and the media is only quite recently highlighting comparisons between men and women in sport - their facilities, their wages, their sponsors.

It's widely accepted and written about in Australia that there is more interest in men's team sports than women's, but we at Thunder believe we are part of the solution and are seeing continual development every year for our girls.

Collectively we have been working behind the scenes for some time now to extend our footprint here in Toowoomba, but aside from a limited number of women playing football here there are no girls teams in the community clubs for us to engage with and until football as a sport can find more players the competition will remain much as it s.　 Interestingly　there are successful NPL clubs around Queensland who have no women's or girls' teams at all, so Thunder is part of a small group of clubs 'paving' the way for this sport.　　

From the regional clubs in our area, representative teams are selected to play at a national level competing with teams all around south east Queensland.　At this time, the NPLW does not have promotion/relegation system associated to their competition.　 The men's team is the only team that can ensure we keep our licenses for competition at this elite level and it is therefore natural, that some attention given to the men's team as they hold our future in their hands.

But the question of gender bias is not a 'thing' in our club.　 The coaches decide when the women will train and how often, depending on whether their whole team is available (given that some people travel from out of town). And we are sometimes restricted by field availability or by events held by the community clubs we liaise with to use their fields - so this is managed very carefully and with great difficulty, and I want to take nothing away from the amazing job our volunteers do there. We definitely want to play more games at the stadium and are negotiating for increased access to that facility for next season.

　We have recently secured new training fields specifically for our NPLW teams at Kearneys Spring, after a two-year process of applications to council, grant writing, and arrangements with contractors for lighting. We have purchased new nets ready for the fields which are being delivered by volunteers asap and, for the first time ever, we have secured a Thunder women's sponsor, Priceline Pharmacies.　 This is pretty exciting for us given we as a club are only five years old.

What we need is the football community to get behind their girls who want to play sport - at any level.　 Continuing this club is more than having men's and women's teams, it's about developing the sport, the players and the coaching quality. It's about creating relationships within the community to allow all the clubs to benefit from this elite pathway right here in our town.　 It's about parents and players contributing to our game days, our newsletters and our fund-raising in a fun and supportive way.

We have a small, but great group of volunteers here working on all these things in their time, to ensure the continuation of the club, and so while we acknowledge there are improvements to be made, and valuable contributions to be listened to, we believe we do advocate for the girls and women in our teams and expect that this will continue to improve every year.　

Originally published as South West Queensland Thunder deals with bias claim