PROFESSIONAL sporting opportunities are limited for women in Australia, with many of our top players funding their own sporting dreams.
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Our top male athletes are raking it in, the AFL salary cap is just over $10 million and the NRL salary cap is $5.5 million, definitely an incentive worth working for.
What do young women have to aspire to?
In the W league, the top women’s soccer league in Australia, the most sought-after players earn a measly $10,000 each season. Some players are washing windows to make ends meet, others earn nothing at all.
The message we are sending to young female athletes is clear; don’t bother pursuing sport as a career, it will always be a hobby.
Cootamundra teen Alyssa Armstrong lives and breathes soccer, she plays for a representative side in Bathurst.
Alyssa aspires to play for the Matildas, and from the sideline it’s clear that she has the talent and mentality to achieve that dream.
Cootamundra rugby union upshot Sammy Maxwell, 17, will play on the Australian Youth Girls Sevens squad; an incredible achievement.
Her family’s covering the costs including registration, which has doubled this year, fuel to and from training in Canberra, her uniform, and travel for games.
With limited incentives to play ‘professionally’, aside from the pure joy of it, girls like Alyssa and Sammy are not receiving the support they are due.
