Eimear Ryan: We need to be critical of women's sport but only if it's fair
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Since the pandemic, Katie McCabe’s Arsenal have played regular games in the Emirates Stadium, frequently drawing crowds of over 30,000. Crowds like this prove that the women’s team has a crossover appeal.
In an episode of the animated comedy that originally aired in 2001, the crew of the Planet Express ship crashland on a female-only planet. Confused but charmed to be meeting men for the first time, the Amazons give the lads a tour of the facilities. "Here stadium, where our women basketball teams play," says one. "We no can dunk, but good fundamentals," says another. "That more fun to watch," insists a third. Predictably, our male heroes fall around the place laughing at the idea that basketball without slam dunks might be worth watching.
Almost two decades later, in a video promoting the WNBA, then-Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry is asked why he watches and supports the female code. "Sick handles," he says simply, essentially the same answer as ‘good fundamentals’ (though he doesn’t point out the female players’ lack of dunking). This idea – that women’s sport doesn’t have to be a carbon copy of the men’s code in order to be exciting and enjoyable – has been around for a while. It’s just hopefully not a punchline anymore.
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