A lot of the dudebros here wondering what on earth these "ladies" are "whinging" about aren't taking into account that Sarah Gregorius, Hope Solo and other international stars are giving Abby the thumbs up, so obviously it's not just her. But don't take it from another whinging lady, maybe the words of a man, Mr. Jeremy Ruane, may carry more weight. Or our old mate Enzo.
I will take on the argument about "no interest", though. That is a chicken-egg situation. We know how badly the W-League ladies are treated, not only pay-wise being made to play in heat conditions that put Nix v Adelaide of the other week to shame, etc. Meanwhile, Aussie rules is packing out 20,000 seaters for their women's competition - even getting W-League players to code-switch. What's going on?
Didn't Abbey open a can of worms! Haven't even read the article - but reading the YF forum, think have fair idea what she said. Few quick points -
Doloras don't agree with everything you have said, but respect for being the almost sole XX chromosome voice on the forum. That can't always be easy, and the 'traditional' male sports need to embrace their female players & fans not shun them.
I live in Brisbane. The AFL is easier smartest large sports organisation in Aussie. They cleverly saw an empty sporting window of February-March, when the cricket season is effectively finished and the AFL men's comp is yet to start - so launched their new women's comp in this window. It has been a major success. Still your rabid AFL tragic would watch a flea circus if the fleas were decked in the guernseys of his footy team. AFL fans are the closet Aussie has to the tribalism of say your English club football fan. The club comp is everything - there being no state of orgin or international AFL. Having the women's AFL teams based on the mens AFL club teams was a masterstroke. Also the AFL have over the years made a real effort to make attending footy games family/female friendly, eg small example no scantily clad cheerleaders. So in stark contrast to the NRL, they have not a bad image to general female populace. When I lived in Melbourne a lot of girls talked fondly of attending AFL games with their dads, mothers, brothers as kids.
Still is a 'honeymoon' 1st year for the ladies AFL - so be interesting to see if interest drops in following seasons.
Wouldn't getting a Kiwi women's semi-pro side in the W League solve many of Abbey's gripes? With flights, salaries, accommodation etc not cheap of course. However isn't there a major company like say Lorna Jane - that has an almost solely female customer base that could be approached to be the major sponsor?