BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is a fantastic radio station, bringing a whole range of sports to a British (and world) audience.
And it is good to see it will tonight bring the second in the three-match netball series between England and world number one Australia live to listeners.
BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra brings full commentary of the series to listeners, marking the first time that the sport – the world’s biggest in terms of women’s participation – has been covered live on UK radio.
The live commentary forms part of BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra’s ongoing commitment to showcase more women’s sport and minority sports.
Katharine Merry will lead the coverage from Bath and London, with Jennie Gow presenting from Birmingham, with expert input from former England International Tracey Neville for all three matches.
5 Live SX had live commentary from the first match in the series on Sunday in Bath – won by England – and will do so again this Saturday for the finale in Birmingham.
But although the games are also being shown on Sky Sports, there is still some way to go until the sport is given the same kind of coverage as in Australia and New Zealand. I was struck when I was there that sports shops stock merchandise for teams in the semi-professional ANZ Championship.
Despite being by far the most popular sport in the UK, football is much-maligned by critics who point to the diving, the waving of imaginary cards and a general lack of respect for officials and bad behaviour of fans. And that is without mentioning recent racism incidents.
So congratulations must go to the Premier League for their part in helping develop grassroots sport away from the football pitch.
Liverpool players surround referee Lee Probert during their side's win over Bolton in August. Photo: Flickr, dannymol
The last Labour government set up a scheme, in partnership with the Premier League, the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, called ‘Premier League 4 Sport‘ – its somewhat cheesy name not detracting from the tangible benefits it has made to non-mainstream sports in Britain.
Each Premier League club teams up with local table tennis, judo, badminton and volleyball clubs with the intention of widening youngsters’ involvement in sports. The league has announced it will contribute a further £2m to the project, which has far outperformed expectations, allowing children easier access to three more sports – netball, basketball, handball and hockey.
To date, it has been a startling success, with 40,000 children given exposure to these sports, far outstripping targets set at its launch.
On Monday, the Guardian reported the launch of a scheme by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to invest £1bn over the next five years into grassroots sport, partly a response to the coalition having come under fire from opponents for its abandonment of a Labour-initiated school sports programme.
There is no doubt money is tight and, naturally, spending has to be focused on priority needs.
But the Olympic legacy – after all, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – must not be squandered. And that is why the role of institutions such as the Premier League is so welcome.
Their selflessness in investing in eight other sports should also be applauded.The grants from the Premier League will not only help the nation’s children, but will help breathe life into a variety of non-mainstream sports that so often fail to attract the attention of either the media or potential players.
*For more on the Olympic legacy, check out the Olympic Cardiff blog
An Early Bath talked to Mike Fatkin, the Chief Executive of Welsh Netball, about the challenges he has faced in promoting the sport and the difficulties and opportunities encountered since his move away from a similar post at Glamorgan County Cricket Club.
An Early Bath: How many people play netball in Wales?
Mike Fatkin: We estimate 10,000 adults playing regularly, over half of whom formally affiliate. Netball is a key component of the Dragon Sport primary school initiative, meaning that well over 60 per cent of primary schoolchildren will be exposed to it. We do struggle with the drop-off between primary and secondary schools.
AEB: Why do you think netball is seen almost exclusively as a women’s/girls’ sport?
MF: I’m not sure, but I suspect it’s historical. Boys play at Dragon level, and the teachers like the fact that because most of them are restricted to two thirds of the court they can’t dominate like some boys do in other team sports. At global level it’s the same, with some mixed, but relatively little all-male netball.
The match between Orkney and Shetland netball is one of the more popular games in the UK; photo: Flickr, orkneysports
AEB: Netball is well-established in schools, but why do you think media coverage of top club sides and Wales itself is relatively small?
MF: Personally I think sports editors just go for the main male sport staples. I’m not sure whether that’s laziness or not. They claim that’s all their readers, viewers and listeners want it, but with circulations dropping, I don’t know why they are so reluctant to try. It is a similar story for other female sports and athletes, as shown by the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist being all male.
AEB: The ANZ Championship in Australia and New Zealand is very popular, with team paraphernalia in sports shops and results on all sports news bulletins. Do you think a similar scenario could ever come about over here?
MF: I’d like to think so but we’re a mile off that at the moment. It is a huge sport Down Under and receives extensive media coverage. I do think if the media provided some more coverage it would create more role models, not just helping girls who traditionally drop out of sport earlier than boys, but also in providing a platform for us. The Fiat Netball Superleague is well supported and receives some coverage from Sky, but we really want to build on that.
AEB: Wales’ coach Melissa Hyndman was nominated for elite level coach of the year at the recent Sport Wales awards. What hopes do you have the success she has brought can help develop a more mainstream following for netball?
MF: Her nomination was good for the sport. She’s made a big difference in focusing the players on the need for greater professionalism and commitment and they are beginning to understand how and where they need to improve. We are also expecting her to work her way down through the age groups to provide a solid ‘Welsh way of doing things’ from bottom to top. We have created an Under-15 team recently as the earliest entry into international participation was Under-17, which Melissa and I both believe is too old. She has ruffled some feathers but my view is that had we continued to do the same things in the same way we couldn’t have expected to get different results. I think she’s done a very good job.
AEB: Do you believe netball should be an Olympic sport?
MF: Yes. Not only is it something we believe we deserve but it is frustrating seeing the likes of golf and tennis coming in when they have enough different platforms as it is. We understand that the absence of a widespread European base is a factor, something which we need to address.
AEB: You used to be the chief executive at Glamorgan CCC. What are the difference and similarities in terms of the challenges now you’re at the top of Welsh Netball?
MF: The main difference is profile. It is quite nice working outside the perennial glare of the media but at the same time it makes the generation of publicity and commercial sponsorship very difficult. We have had success in making a number of positive changes in the last two years but we still struggle to bring in sponsorship and other commercial revenue. I enjoy the fact that netball as a sport has struggled for advocates and people to champion it and I hope I can make a difference in using my profile to get the sport a wider audience. The other main difference is from professional sport to amateur. I was used to players and contracts and agents; there is none of that in netball. I miss the pressure of the contractual negotiation but not all of the time!
As 2011 draws to a close, reflections on the year have been ubiquitous. Most notable, perhaps, has been the row over the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award (as An Early Bath has already discussed here and here).
It would not be courting too much controversy to describe the past year as a successful one for Welsh sport.
As well as the accomplishments of the men’s national football (made the biggest rise in FIFA’s world rankings over the year) and rugby (near-World Cup glory) sides as well as Swansea City’s promotion to the Premier League, Wales has five high-profile world champions crowned this year:
Nathan Cleverly, WBO light-heavyweight champion
Chaz Davies, motorcyclist, World Supersport champion
Dai Greene, 400m gold medallist champion at Daegu World Athletics Championships
Helen Jenkins, world triathlon champion
Nathan Stephens, javelin gold medallist at the Paralympic Athletics World Championships
Yet despite being somewhat overshadowed, the Welsh netball side’s 2011 has ranked alongside the above achievements.
The team has had to begin from a much lower base, with netball simply not having a high enough profile on these shores to attract enough investment and support – despite the popularity of the sport at school-level. In Australia and New Zealand, for example, a televised, well-supported semi-professional league exists in the form of the ANZ Championship.
ANZ Championship match in Australia. Photo: Flickr, mike lowe
Much of that can be attributed to Wales’ New Zealander coach Melissa Hyndman, and she will be looking to build on those triumphs in the New Year. There will be no football-style Team GB controversies in netball, though, as the sport has not been awarded Olympic status. It is that kind of barrier netball in this country still has to overcome.
Watch out for a question and answer with Mike Fatkin, chief executive of Welsh Netball, in the next few days, where he will be addressing many of the challenges faced by his sport.
Tongues immediately began wagging at the fact all the names were male. The Daily Mail’s Laura Williamson, for example, regretfully suggested the list “sums up the pervading attitude towards women’s sport in this country”.
Professor Laura McAllister, head of Sport Wales, insisted the Sports Personality of the Year snub – which she brands “scandalous” – flies in the face of the progress made by women’s sport in Wales.
“I think in terms of where we’re at with women’s sport, it’s probably as strong as it’s ever been,” she argues.
“Team sports, particularly football, have grown at quite some pace over the last decade.”
Laura McAllister: BBC Sports Personality process is “fundamentally flawed”
On the field, women’s football in Wales has been a relative success in recent years, even if it has had to set out from a relatively low base.
As Prof McAllister explains, an already-solid structure is becoming ever more established. “We’ve got a team playing at virtually the highest level of UK competition – the English Premier League, as Cardiff City do – and then we’ve got our own Welsh Premier League [formed in 2009] which has really improved standards in the lower levels.”
But the problem, as Prof McAllister notes, is something of a vicious cycle. Sports journalism is predominately practised by and hence focused on men, but without more comprehensive coverage, it will always be difficult for women’s teams to attract more followers.
View from the stand at the Cardiff International Athletics Stadium, with the 27,000-seater Cardiff City Stadium in the background, as Cardiff City Ladies take on Reading
Cardiff dug out a determined win in torrential conditions against the visitors from Berkshire, with second-half goals from Nicola Cousins, Lauren Price and Zoe Atkins securing a comfortable 3-0 win.
CCLFC has received support from Cardiff City Council, but now needs to draw in the crowds with media help
But although the horrendous conditions would certainly have had a detrimental effect on the crowd numbers, the 2,500-capacity stand was sparsely filled, to say the least. Cardiff City men’s side, meanwhile, attract a crowd of 20,000-plus each game.
Karen Jones, secretary of the ladies’ club, reveals her team has benefited from financial support from local government. The state-of-the-art facilities at the International Stadium mean Cardiff is, in terms of facilities, one of the best endowed female club sides in the UK.
This, though, has had little or no impact on expanding the market and driving up attendances. While Karen emphasises next year’s Olympic Games have not had an entirely positive effect on CCLFC, with women’s football being showcased at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium she hopes more followers will be attracted to her club and others at all levels across south Wales.
Cardiff City Ladies FC’s club secretary Karen Jones: “We have the best facilities in the league”
“Even with the men’s World Cup you get an influx of girls who want to come and join.”
It is not just women’s football experiencing something of a boom. Welsh netball is going through a huge resurgence following the recruitment of New Zealander Melissa Hyndman to coach the national side, and has recently returned from Scotland – ahead of Wales in the netball world rankings – after having won every game on tour at both senior and under-21 level.
Laura McAllister: Recent progress “augurs very well for the future”
But while there have been triumphs on the field and improved infrastructure has been provided, for women’s football, hockey and netball and other popular team sports to ever break into the mainstream – and perhaps even smash the glass ceiling of professionalism – the media has to play a role.
Laura McAllister: “We need more female sports journalists just to get different perspectives”
It is open to discussion as to whether media coverage of women’s sport, and particularly that of the team variety, will ever even approach that devoted to men. What appear to be intransigent attitudes such as the one expressed by the Independent’s Glenn Moore will not help:
“Women’s sport does not get much media attention because the public do not demand it. The Independent’s sports desk gets more letters asking for increased coverage of lower league football, or racecards, than of women’s sport.”
The controversy surrounding the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist demonstrates a definite undercurrent of support for female athletes although it remains to be seen whether a positive step forward can emerge from the aftermath of the controversy.
But while Welsh football, netball and hockey teams keep on winning, the chance of this happening can only increase.
An Early Bath 