Growing up watching the great Ken Sutcliffe on the Wide World of Sport was “appointment viewing,” in the Rushton household, where a young Tara was introduced to the world of sports journalism before becoming one of the country’s most recognised and trusted sports reporters.
“I have always been drawn to storytelling, curious to learn about people and their stories and I enjoyed writing too. That’s at the heart of what drew me to studying journalism,” Rushton explained when asked why she chose to pursue a career in sports media.
“I love sport, I love watching it, reading about it, playing it, watching my kids play it, and covering it – for me sport is the best form of live entertainment there is…it’s watching athletes at the peak of their powers – both physically and mentally – it’s raw, it’s unpredictable and for a mere mortal like me – it’s superhuman,” the mum-of-two professed.
“I also really enjoy the process of hitting the books, listening to the podcasts, trawling through stats-packs and literally soaking up as much information as I can ahead of covering a major live sporting event.”
Rushton is one of many who have pushed the boundaries, ensuring that women have a seat at the table and girls see strong female representation, allowing their dreams to become a tangible reality.
Reading women’s bylines and hearing female voices commentating major sporting events has become much more common than decades ago, but Rushton’s early days in the industry weren’t too dissimilar to the female pioneers of the mid-late 20th century. But even today, we still have a way to go.
In her early 20s after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in media and communications – along with a diploma in journalism, Rushton struggled to find work close to home.
“After graduating, I applied for jobs at magazines where I had interned, interned some more and pitched story ideas, but I couldn’t find work in Sydney,” she said.
Rushton also admitted there were times she would work unpaid, a widely shared experience for women in sport. Regardless of whether you’re a female athlete or a female reporting on athletes, this used to be accepted as part of the job.
Despite these challenges, Rushton’s persistence was the key to unlocking windows, before kicking down doors.
She took a leap of faith and moved to Singapore in search of job opportunities. It was a massive adjustment, but in the end the move proved essential to advancing her career.
“It was a slow process – I took a lot of meetings, worked for free, pitched story ideas to magazines and gradually doors slowly started to open,” she recounted.
“I began feature writing for lifestyle magazines, I picked up a fill-in role as an entertainment host, until my dream job came up – which was hosting a live Premier League highlights show every weekend in Singapore.
“After presenting ‘Tiger Goals On Sunday’ on Singtel Mio for a few years, I felt the pull to return home to Australia. Then, a role came up at Fox Sports which I eventually got.
“It took patience and persistence, but I took ‘no’ as a ‘not right now’- not a ‘not ever.’”
Foxtel Sport would be where most sporting fans would recognise Rushton, after she spent eight years covering not only football, but NRL, UFC, motor sports, even darts.
She is now the lead football presenter at Network 10 and Paramount+ the ‘home of Australian football,’ where just like the rest of the nation, she watched in awe as the Matildas made history at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“It still makes me smile when I think about the impact that those incredible athletes and the team had on all of us,” Rushton expressed.
“It was an incredible month and something that intoxicated all of us. Yes, there were tears – knowing what this team, these incredible athletes – that are such incredible strong and determined women – whilst so humble, had to go through and sacrifice to get to that semi-final against England, was extraordinary.
“How lucky are we, to have witnessed the Matildas World Cup run, and this team of women leading every news bulletin and front and back page of every paper – it was about time,” she quipped.
When asked how important it is for girls and women to see themselves in and around sport, Rushton said the importance of representation goes beyond just gender.
“It’s a reflection of society – it’s vital to see representation not just of all genders, but of all cultures and ethnicities,” she explained.
“If we are talking about ‘women’ in particular, there still remains a massive gap in representation at top-level-management and in leadership positions across all sectors, not just sports media. Representation is vital – but just as important, is shifting and changing gendered language, behaviours and pre-conceived ideas.”
Less than a year ago, MediaNet analysed nine major Australian digital media outlets and found that overall, only 17 per cent of sports journalists were female and only 15 per cent of articles were written by a female author, validating the need to remind society, “you can’t be what you can’t see.”
“We need to continue to keep telling these stories, and we need our media organisations and companies to be on board with giving women more seats in the boardroom and at the table where decisions are made to ensure there is an equal representation split when it comes to the sport we are covering and the features we are producing,” Rushton said. “It has to be a ‘whole company’ approach, and everyone has to be on board.”
With recent Collective Bargaining Agreements across women’s sport now including maternity policies, steps are being taken in the right direction.
“Motherhood is part of a woman’s life and will be for most female athletes,” she explained.
“Again, with so many men at the table making decisions for women we are finally getting real about paid maternity leave, parental leave and understanding that it is a natural progression in a female’s sporting career.
“It enables athletes to not have to choose between having a child and leaving their careers. Visibility enables us to have more conversations about how and what we can do better to make it a level playing field for male and female athletes.”
When asked if she could give any advice to girls and women seeking a career in the sports media industry, Rushton had the following advice: “Go for it! Follow your passion and your interests, always ask questions and don’t be afraid to make suggestions and have your voice be heard. Never undervalue yourself – your lens of the world is uniquely your own and that is your superpower – you will see things differently and understand things differently and that is an attribute to harness.”