It’s Global Football Week here in Aus!

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Welcome back to another edition of Level the Field! Thank you for embracing our lil’ serotonin booster of a newsletter with such open arms, it always warms our hearts (: This is such an exciting time for women’s sport. In fact, we have something we’d like to say – clears throat.

L'équipe de Missing Perspectives est très enthousiaste à l'idée des Jeux olympiques de Paris et a hâte d'encourager les Matildas jusqu'à ce qu'elles espèrent remporter l'or. (For any real French speaking readers we have out there, apologies for the Google Translate) but basically we’re trying to say that the MP team is really excited for the Paris Olympics and we can’t wait to hopefully cheer all of our incredible athletes but the Matildas on to winning gold!

I promise we understand how calendars work but how are there just 64 DAYS TO GO?! Time flies when you’re trying to change the world for women and girls everywhere… Our team has so many big plans for Olympics coverage, we just want it to be July 26th already so we can share them with you. This is going to be a moment like no other.

Speaking of our beloved Matildas, Australia got some really exciting news this week! We’ve been selected as the hosts of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup tournament where 12 nations will compete for glory. This marks the second time Australia has hosted the tournament, with our first in 2006. We can’t quite wrap our heads around how different the venues will look, the teams will feel and the country will react. In 2006, women’s sport was barely a whisper. These days, it’s a roar and it’s not going anywhere.

And then we have also Arsenal playing in AUSTRALIA this week - Steph Catley and her absolutely amazing team will out in full force at Marvel Stadium. Will you be there!? Let us know!

In other exciting news, Disney+ is making history with their decision to live broadcast Caitlin Clark’s sopening match in the WNBA. This is a first for the streaming platform - they’ve never done a live broadcast before. That’s how confident they are in the numbers and honestly, why wouldn’t they be? The WNBA is pulling record numbers right now and shows no signs of slowing down. These women are at the top of their game. Peak athletes in their prime.

Elsewhere in today’s edition, we have some fun facts about women’s rugby league and some epic moves in baseball that show ‘throwing like a girl’ is actually a very powerful thing. Epic times ahead!

The Missing Perspectives Team xx

PS: If there’s stuff you think we need to know about, because let’s be honest women’s sport is moving faster than the speed of light right now, let us know

The Chiefs' silence over Butker's speech is the loudest noise of all

Less than a year ago, I knew next to nothing about the Kansas City Chiefs. Blame it on the fact I live half a world away in Sydney, Australia and the NFL didn’t translate globally on the scale it does now (we’ll get to that). 

Sure, my family would tune into the Superbowl but given its timing for us at midday on a Monday, I was either at school/university/work. I couldn’t have even named the Chiefs as a team in the NFL and I certainly couldn’t have told you anything about their culture or plays. I knew who Patrick Mahomes was. I’d heard briefly of Travis (and Jason) Kelce, the brothers who faced off against each other in the 2023 Super Bowl and I had seen a photo of their mum in that adorable split jersey. 

Fast forward to now and I can tell you who most of the team are, what their home stadium is called, who their coach is and even some of the plays they use. I’ve watched games (even if the rules are still frustratingly strange to me and I really have issues with all that stopping) and care about how they’re going, as well as how they’re perceived. What was the gateway drug for this interest in a sport where Australia has absolutely no stake, I hear you ask? 

Well, see on September 24th last year, a certain world-renowned musician and songwriter whose music has always been there for me, showed up at a game looking happier than I have almost ever seen her.

And I’m someone who’s been following Taylor Swift’s career since she was wearing fringe dresses and cowboy boots, playing on sparkly sequinned guitars not just for a nostalgic moment, but indeed a whole tour. She was 18 then (I was 8) and will be 35 in December, while I celebrate 25 trips around the sun. Basically, we’ve seen each other through an awful lot of life, at least from a distance. I have a lot to compare it to. 

Like an overwhelming chunk of people on Planet Earth, I’ve watched Taylor and Travis’s love story (there really is no other way to say it, pun be damned) unfold with glee. Here are two emotionally secure people treating each other as equals, showing up and putting in the work. They support each other. They seem to make each other laugh. And from the very first moment, watching them drive away in his convertible, I sensed a click that I’m not entirely sure has ever been there for either of them before. It still makes my heart swell to think that the hopeless romantic who’s always sung about fate finds herself here because of something as whimsical and soft as a friendship bracelet.

I’ve long known the power and sometimes single minded support of Taylor’s fandom of which I consider myself a member and count many others as friends, but even I was gobsmacked by what happened next. Travis Kelce’s jersey sales increased by almost 400% after that first game alone. 

Countless videos and stories went viral on social media of fathers bonding with their daughters over watching games and of the NFL seeing a phenomenal rise in young women’s investment in the game so much so that Apex Marketing Group reported the financial impact of Taylor Swift to be upwards of $330 million (and that’s USD), across both the Chiefs as an organisation and the NFL more broadly. 

They’ve praised and supported her even while the worst of masculinity has screamed she’s ruining football. Hell, the timetable for the Chiefs 2024/25 season has been built around the NFL’s wish to maximise her attendance at games. As we’ve forever been trying to tell you, women have power. And influence. Immense loyalty and unabashed passion. Supporting women and appealing to them is one of the best business decisions you can make. No one has better understood and been happy to lean into that than the Chiefs.

That’s why when their kicker Harrison Butker gave a commencement (graduation) speech at Benedictine Catholic College a few days ago, that was absolutely teeming in misogyny and bigotry, I was horrified.

Read Hannah’s full article on missingperspectives.com

‘The next Michael Phelps’: Who is Summer McIntosh, the Canadian teen taking the swimming world by storm?

They are calling her the next Michael Phelps - so who is Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old Canadian smashing swimming records?

ICYMI: Summer is currently one of the most talked about swimmers in the leadup to the Paris Olympics and is set to take the sporting world by storm. She burst onto the scene at age 14 (yes, you read that right), when she became the youngest ever member of the Canadian team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - where she finished fourth in the 400m freestyle.

She then went on to become the youngest World Aquatics champion in swimming in over a decade, and has been described as a “teen swimming sensation.” She won six medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. To date, McIntosh has (casually) broken over 50 age group swimming records

Her 2023-2024 seasons have cemented her status as one of the world’s best swimmers (including wining four medals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan), and she received the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as the Canadian Press’ choice for Canadian Female Athlete of the Year. Summer made headlines in February this year when she defeated world swimming champion Katie Ledecky - being the first person to do so in the 800m since 2010.

Summer was also the crown jewel of Canada’s Olympic swimming trials earlier this month, where she won the 400m freestyle with a world-leading time (though she later said she was “not happy” with her performance). We can’t wait to see her dominate the Olympics this year.

Fun fact: Summer has said that her favourite movie is ‘Drive to Survive,’ and favourite movie is the ‘Titanic’. Guilty Pleasure? ‘Cleaning and organising my room.’ What’s not to love?

Deaf Football Australia aren’t getting the funding they deserve

Australia’s peak body for deaf and hearing impaired football is calling out inadequate funding and support for the national women’s team, as the side prepares to take on reigning gold medalists USA, in Denver Colorado.

Deaf Football Australia President Raymond Younan says it’s the first time the women’s side will play an international game outside of Australia in 20 years, after a lack of funding forced the side to abruptly withdraw from the World Deaf Football Championships in Malaysia last year.

“It’s actually embarrassing that these players have to beg and borrow for donations from family and friends so they can pay their own way, while proudly representing Australia,” Younan says.

This week, the 18-person team, along with coaches and support staff will fly to Denver, Colorado at their own expense, to play rivals USA on June 1 as part of a historic, curtain raiser for the face-off between the four-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion team and Korea Republic in front of 20,000 fans and televised for millions more to see.

“Each player in the past, has had to contribute up to $5,000 each to pay their own way, to cover flights, accommodation, food and resources, plus take time off from work. Some just can’t afford it and we’ve lost valuable players in the past. Thanks to the generosity of the US Soccer Federation, the women's team will be assisted financially for this event.   

“We know how hard it is to be constantly trying to make ends meet, working full-time jobs and frantically fundraising, all while training to be the best athletes possible.” 

One in six Australians live with hearing loss and Younan is hopeful more Australians will rally around our incredible deaf athletes like they support the Matildas.

It’s a requirement for all players to remove their cochlear ear implants or hearing aids before taking to the field.

 “They are inspiring to watch, the way they use hand signals to talk to one another on the field.

 “Our Motto is ‘Come Hear us Play’ and I’d love for the nation to rally around our incredible deaf athletes like they rallied around The Matildas, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that’s been years in the making,” he adds.

The peak body is calling for the Australian Football Federation, Federal and State Governments to extend their hand and help out financially.

“Historically, that hasn’t happened and consequently our players miss out on vital opportunities to improve and compete - once again it’s women's sport that takes the biggest hit,” Younan says.

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