Linguistic changes generally reflect changes taking place in wider society, and this has certainly been the case in the sporting world over recent years.
Women's sport has gradually been gaining in popularity, due to several factors:
an increasing push for gender equality in Australian society
advances in technology have allowed wider exposure to women's sporting competitions through online platforms and an increased television broadcasting network
a wider acceptance of non-traditional gender and sexual identities has allowed female athletes to thrive in an environment that celebrates those who do not conform to 'feminine' appearances or traditional heteronormative roles
As a result, the language used to refer to both male and female sporting competitions and athletes has had to change in order to reflect these shifting societal values.
These changes in lexical choice can be used to cater to the face needs of female athletes, as language can promote gender equality by challenging the idea that men's sport is the 'default'. Gender-neutral terminology can also reflect a speaker's personal values and show solidarity with like-minded people.
On the other hand, people who reject these changes are usually more critical of 'politically correct' language, and generally support traditional gender roles in sport, and in Australian society.
We will examine several examples below:
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Australian Football - 'AFL' to 'AFLM'?
Since the AFLW competition launched in 2017, there has been some debate over the labelling of the men's competition as simply the 'AFL'. The absence of any letter denoting the players' gender implies that the men's competition is the 'default', and therefore superior. To combat this attitude, some commentators have adopted the initialism 'AFLM' to refer to the men's competition; this usage has met some resistance, however.
In the Twitter exchange on the right, sports journalist and presenter Sam Lane gets criticised for her use of 'AFLM' in a tweet.
Clearly, one of her followers feels uncomfortable with a professional commentator using this term.
In her response to the left, she makes it clear that this choice 'wasn't a typo', indicating that her intentional lexical choice is a deliberate effort to place the two competitions on equal footing.
In this way, she is supporting the female players while also representing her identity and personal values through her linguistic choices.
Sam Lane is not the only commentator in the footy community who thinks 'AFLM' might be a better option for the competition's name. 'The Age' sports reporter Daniel Cherny also puts forward the case that the league should 'seriously consider' renaming the comp.
Discuss: How important do you think these labels are to promoting gender equality in the Australian football community?
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Soccer - 'W League' to 'A-Leagues'
In Australian soccer, the men's league has traditionally been known as the 'A League', with the women's league labelled the 'W League'. In September 2021, however, both competitions have been branded under the same 'A Leagues' umbrella. While this is a small change, the label represents the organisation's commitment to gender equality.
In a statement, A Leagues Managing Director Danny Townsend said, 'It's not men's football, or women's football, it's just football.'
Read more below:
The Guardian Australia - Australian football scraps W-League brand for gender-neutral A-Leagues
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Cricket Australia - 'Batsman' to 'batter'
In September 2021, Cricket Australia announced that the term 'batsman' would be officially replaced by 'batter' in language used within the organisation.
Read more about it here:
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Activity:
Think about the number of jargonistic sporting terms that have had to alter from male dominant to gender-neutral in order to accommodate female players. What are the most common gender-neutral terms for the following?
Traditional male term | Gender-neutral term |
Batsman (cricket) | |
Ruckman (AFL) | |
Wingman (AFL) | |
Holding the man (AFL) | |
Linesman (soccer) | |
Man up (as in: find your opponent) | |
Man of the match | |
Commenti