Kick like a girl: a qualitative exploration into community perspectives surrounding the Women’s Australian Football League

Abstract

Although the world of sport is experiencing an increase in women’s participation and interest, it is still viewed as an inferior product when compared with men’s sport. In particular, Australian Rules Football has an extended history of excluding women from participatory opportunities, feeding into discriminatory stereotypes that football is for men. Guided by social role theory, we aimed to develop an in-depth understanding of the diversity in community perspectives surrounding women’s participation in football in Australia and the various factors that encourage and dissuade consumption of women’s football. The findings emphasise that negative attitudes toward women’s football are deeply rooted in societal and gender norms, whilst positive attitudes may be facilitated by progressive ideologies and a desire for gender equality more broadly. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the complex relationship between general sports support and active consumerism in Australia.