A female soccer player watches her team play while an empty stand looks out on the game. For decades, it has become the norm for sports fans and high school students to skip their girls sports team games and opt to watch the boys team play instead. Illustration by Eleanor Robinson
From professional to high school athletics, women’s sports teams have been disregarded by fans for decades.
Sports are part of cultures all around the world. From soccer to gymnastics, game day is a time for fans to come together and celebrate their favorite teams.
This culture, however, is more centered around male sports teams than women’s. There have been gaps between women’s and men’s sports teams for decades, and they are still present in our society today.
A study conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sports found that women’s athletics receive only about 4 percent of all sports media coverage and television time as low as 1 percent.
From professional sports teams to collegiate, it is almost a societal norm to skip the women’s games and go to see the male alternative. According to an article on WSN.com, the 2019 Men’s Divisions I Basketball Tournament had a viewership of 6.79 million, while the Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament that same year had 3.69 million viewers.
From professional sports teams to collegiate, it is almost a societal norm to skip the women’s games and go to see the male alternative.
This discrepancy is rooted in the lack of coverage and attention given to women athletes. And unfortunately, this issue is closer to the Athens community than some may realize.
In the fall of every academic year at Clarke Central High School, every Friday is game day. Teachers come over the loudspeakers asking the student body to come to show their support to the boy’s varsity football team at Billy Henderson Stadium.
But what happens in the springtime when the girl’s soccer team is scheduled to play? There are no announcements and no promotions on social media.
This is the reality almost all girls sports teams at CCHS have to face.
When game day rolled around for the Clarke Central High School girls varsity basketball team during their season, the stands are only partially filled and every basket is met with scattered applause.
This is a completely different environment than when the boys walk out on the court. As the fourth quarter of the game approaches, the stands slowly start to fill up. Students and community members trickle in just when it is time for the CCHS boys varsity basketball team’s jump ball.
In this game, the crowd is up on their feet and engaged. There are screams at every foul and shrieks of excitement at each shot. This crowd is cheering on their beloved male Gladiators.
After years of being overlooked and ignored, women athletes often find themselves in positions where they are playing to empty stands, while their male counterparts get to bask in the glory of a large, loud audience.
How can high schools like CCHS expect girls’ sports teams to perform well when they don’t even encourage their own students to show up?
Purchase tickets to your local women’s sports games and show your support to female athletes when they play. Your viewership is long overdue.
