Research reveals over half of Australians follow women's sport

The W-League season comes to a head on Saturday with an eagerly-anticipated, star-studded grand final to be played in Sydney. A few hours after the trophy is lifted at Jubilee Stadium, a thrilling WNBL title-deciding series will also reach a conclusion. A third AFLW season is well under way and continues over the weekend, as does the women’s Australian Open golf tournament. Next week, Australia’s champion cricketers begin a three-match ODI series against New Zealand’s women, while the second instalment of rugby’s Super W competition also gets underway.

There is no shortage of top-level women’s sport in play at the moment and its popularity is soaring according to new research, with almost half of Australians surveyed saying they are more interested in it than they were a year ago. The results of the survey conducted by Commonwealth Bank, long-time sponsors of the national women’s cricket team, point to an increase in coverage on TV and more positive and widespread coverage in the media as the reasons behind the surging interest.

The research reveals a 48% increase in interest in women’s sport from last year, with 53% of Australians now watching broadcasts or attending live women’s sporting events. And more young girls than ever before are being encouraged to play, thanks to greater exposure and the rise of high-profile athletes, such as football star Sam Kerr, AFLW players Brianna Davey and Moana Hope, and champion cricketers like Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry.

Attendance and viewing figures for the new AFLW season have started strongly, and in cricket, a record 2.5 million Australians tuned inon TV and online to follow this season’s opening Women’s Big Bash League match. Televised women’s elite cricket matches have attracted an average national audience of more than 200,000.

Perry, who helped Australia win the T20 World Cup last year before masterminding the Sydney Sixers’ run to this year’s WBBL final, says she is encouraged by the recent shift witnessed in her own field.

“It’s fantastic to see increased support for women’s cricket and I can feel women and girls are changing the game,” she said. “Increased exposure and continued investment into women’s cricket helps inspire girls across the country, from grassroots to elite, to pick up a bat and ball.”

But for all the steps taken in the past 12 months, challenges remain across the board if the playing field is to be truly levelled. The study found there are still barriers to young girls taking up sport, mainly due to the lack of girls’ teams to join, the perception that certain sports are “male” sports and girls not wanting to play if their friends aren’t playing.

For Cricket Australia, that is a point of focus and a fund has been set up to develop new, and grow established, girls’ competitions. Over the past two years, CA claims it has supported about 750 clubs, associations and schools, with 73 new girls’ competitions launched and a 288% growth in schools participation across the country.

Monique Macleod, chief marketing officer at Commonwealth Bank, says: “It’s wonderful to see Australian women’s cricket starting to reap the benefits of long term investment, broader exposure and the extraordinary talent of the team to put the game on the map.”

• Follow the W-League grand final between Sydney FC and Perth Glory with our liveblog from 3:45pm AEDT, with kick-off at 4:30pm AEDT.