Women’s sport is on the rise and corporate partnership is a strong support system to help accelerate much-needed change.
The good news is that it’s also good for business, and NAB Executive Rachel Slade has a few thoughts on why it’s worth it for corporations to look into sports partnerships.
NAB has supported footy for over two decades, and since 2017, it’s been the naming rights sponsor of the AFL women’s competition, which they’ll be committed to for the next decade.
“One of the things we really loved about that partnership was that it goes from the grass roots– the little tiny aus kickers– right up to elite sport,” says Slade.
When the idea for the partnership came up, however, the business move wasn’t met without hesitancy, as the decision carried risk at the time, with women’s sport not in the position it is today.
“You couldn’t imagine what you can see today, in terms of the participation,” says Slade, adding that nowadays, it’s inspiring that “you can walk into a pub on the weekend [nowadays], even outside of Victoria, and they’re playing women’s football on TV”.
At the time of deciding to sponsor the AFL women’s competition, Slade says the final call came down to their “strong connection” to diversity and inclusion.
“We decided to take that chance, and here we are eight seasons later, in a really different spot to where we started,” she says.
Slade speaks to Dinushi Dias on today’s episode of The New Rules, a Women’s Agenda podcast taking you behind the scenes of the rise of women’s sport.
Slade says that, for corporates, finding the right fit when choosing a partner also matters because, ideally, the relationship should last a while.
“You have to step into it, you have to stay in it and be willing to sort of learn and evolve,” she says.
“The way that, as a corporate partner, you’re going to get the most out of it is to really think about it as a partnership rather than a sponsorship.”
NAB has been partners with the AFLW for 15 years now, and Slade says this has allowed them to “pivot and grow together”.
“Even, you know, the first few seasons were pretty bumpy, but I guess the feedback that we were getting at that time was sort of enough,” she says, adding that NAB received encouragement from customers “to stay committed”.
“Once you decide to do something like that, you’ve gotta stay the course, and we’ve renewed that partnership as the naming rights partner of the AFLW for longer.
“For me, personally, watching it grow has been phenomenal not just for women’s sport, but for inclusion more broadly.”
To hear more of the conversation with Rachel Slade, check out the tenth episode of Women’s Agenda’s The New Rules podcast. You can find it below, or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.