Women’s sport has reached heights like never before and people are talking about it in unprecedented ways. Along with this shift, women’s sport is predicted to top $US 1 billion in global revenue this year.
Australian cricket legend Alyssa Healy says that compared to when she was a kid, the sporting world for women is vastly different in 2024.
“I was always a really sporty kid,” says Healy. “And I think the difference is, you didn’t see a lot of it– all the heroes I looked up to growing up were all men doing what I was doing, in whatever sport I played.”
“So, the fact that you can see [women in sport] now, on TV– young girls can see a future, can see a pathway, in particular to elite sport, which is really important.”
Healy 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.
She shares what it’s like to be considered a role model for young girls looking to achieve in sport, as well as how professional cricket is growing and changing to become more gender equal.
“It sort of blows my mind,” Healy says about being looked at as a role model in women’s sport.
“Growing up, playing cricket in particular, was such– and still is– a very male-dominated sport all over.”
“The fact that there are young girls that are aspiring to [play cricket], and people can see it more, still blows my mind every day.”
When it comes to the changing nature of the sport, Healy says she remembers sitting in her first ever Australian team meeting when she was only 18-years-old and receiving $5,000.
“I thought I was the richest human on the planet,” she jokes. “And I remember sitting there, and Belinda Clark– who is obviously a legend of our sport– said ‘we’re not going to play any test cricket, we’re just going to play T20 cricket moving forward’.
While Healy felt devastated at the time, as all she wanted to do was “go out there and play test cricket”, she says playing T20 cricket allowed for the sport to grow.
“It was probably then and there that I realised that sport was changing– we’re trying to get more eyeballs on it–and we’re going to have to play this new style of cricket that had just been invented at the time, and we’re going to have to do it really well.”
Thankfully, Healy says T20 cricket turned out to be “made perfectly” for herself and other young players, and the more they played that format, “the more people wanted to watch”.
“And that’s kind of how we continued to grow our sport,” she says, noting that one of the key moments where a real shift could be seen was when they played in front of 87,000 people at the T20 World Cup final at the MCG in 2020.
She says it was “a dream final to see that many people at a women’s fixture, especially cricket”.
“That was a real shifting point in our sport.”
To hear more of the conversation with Alyssa Healy, check out the second episode of Women’s Agenda’s The New Rules podcast. You can find it below, or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.