Retired Jillaroo Ruan Sims has backed calls from current NRLW players to have a full-time professional women’s competition within the next few years.
NRL boss Andrew Abdo told reporters at the competition’s season launch on Tuesday that there was no set timeline for when that could or would happen, but it’s clear that the appetite for more women’s footy is there.
“NRLW was originally not slated to kick off until 2021 – and it got fast-tracked because there was so much traction and so much interest,” Sims said.
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“I never thought that I would actually be playing in a semi-professional competition and be paid to play, in that respect, so we know it’s possible.”
Sims retired in 2019 and has taken great pride in how the game has continued to grow – the COVID-delayed 2021 season starts this weekend, with the 2022 comp taking place in the spring.
“[A professional competition] was something that I’d always thought of and always pushed for from the get-go,” Sims said.
“There’s the old adage of you can’t be what you can’t see, and now these young girls have something to aspire to. And the next step is to become a professional, full-time pathway.”
Ali Brigginshaw, the game’s best player, told AAP that she wants a full-time competition “in two or three tears time”, and a collective bargaining agreement even sooner.
“We need a CBA and hopefully we can get one soon,” she said.
“We want things set in stone. We don’t have multi-year contracts so we can’t get jobs because we don’t know where we will be playing. That puts a lot of pressure on us, especially the girls with families.”
AAP also reported that Parramatta captain Simaima Taufa wants the game to go full time within the next five years.
Typically when discussions around paying female athletes more money arise, everyone suddenly becomes an economist, offering reasons for why it can’t be done.
But even if it isn’t profitable – and sold out State of Origin games indicate that it can be – is that really a good excuse not to do something?
“People will have reservations, but they always will with change – because change is uncomfortable,” Sims said.
“But at the same time, we used to be told there was no space for an NRLW competition.
“You need to be able to have critical thinking – not outright criticism [of female athletes], but critical thinking. There are always going to be people that are unsure, and that’s OK. We’ve just got to continue the quality that the girls are producing.
“There’s a lot of girls coming through now that haven’t had to stop playing football at that 12, 13, 14 age group – which means the quality increases.”
Discussions around the women’s game, and in other women’s sport, often regress to a very tedious chicken and egg scenario. Some argue that the quality isn’t worth paying for, while others point out that more investment would lead to a better product.
The reality is that until female athletes can concentrate solely on their craft rather than juggling part-time jobs on the side, we’ll never see the full potential of the NRLW, or any other sporting league.
Sims’ own watershed moment came back in 2013, when a women’s competition got proper financial backing for the first time.
“We had to sell raffle tickets, meat trays, all sorts of things to make ends meet – but we went over to England for the women’s World Cup, and we won. It was the first time we didn’t say ‘whoever can afford it can go’, we fully funded a side and they come away with victory? That speaks for itself.”
The NRL has made a lot of verbal commitments to growth in the game over the past couple of years – but ‘growing the game’ isn’t an extra NRL fixture in Perth, or adding a new NRL franchise in Brisbane. It’s opening up a professional pathway for half of the population.
“The girls at the top deserve it, and the six, seven, eight-year-olds seeing their heroes on television – that’s amazing. I didn’t have that,” Sims said.
“Can you imagine how good that will be for these young girls that have an inkling about playing?”
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