Women’s basketball Manual EMPOWERING WOMEN IN BASKETBALL 622309-EPP-1-2020-1-HR-SPO-SSCP
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1: SITUATION IN PARTNER COUNTRIES .................................................. 6 Croatia ................................................................................................... 6 Italy ...................................................................................................... 8 Slovenia ................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 2: GOOD PRACTICES........................................................................ 13 Croatia .................................................................................................. 13 Other Croatian good practices examples ...................................................... 16 Italy ..................................................................................................... 18 Slovenia ................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER 3: WOMEN AND BASKETBALL THROUGH MEDIA ...................................... 25 Croatia - Recommendations for better monitoring of women's basketball in electronic media in Croatia ....................................................................... 25 Udruga ECHO focused its research on electronic media in Croatia. .......................... 25 ITALY - The career of the sports journalist Paola Ellisse .................................... 33 SLOVENIA............................................................................................... 35
2
INTRODUCTION This Manual is one of the results coming from our project Empowering Women in Basketball (co-funded by Erasmus+ Sport with Grant Number 622309-EPP-1-2020-1-HR-SPO-SSCP). The Empowering Women in Basketball project combines the efforts of five organizations from: ● Croatia (KK Dubrava, Udruga Echo, KK Akademija Anda Jelavic); ● Italy (ASSOCIAZIONE SPORTIVA DILETTANTISTICA MARGHERITA SPORT E VITA); ● Slovenia (ZKK KRKA Novo Mesto).
In order to address the general objective of the Erasmus sport program of promotion of equal opportunities in sports, with the focus on women in basketball, concretely the following specific target groups: ● athletes; ● managers of female basketball clubs/associations; ● female coaches; ● female referees. The need for this project arises from the national observations of the partnering countries and on the awareness that women in basketball field have fewer opportunities – especially when it comes to sport as professional activity and as leisure activity, which are increasing topics for EU. In both cases, sport represents a large and fast-growing sector of the economy and makes an important contribution to growth and jobs. Sport encourages social interaction, which is important for both young and old, women and men, and promotes physical and mental health. It can also foster education, communication, negotiation skills and leadership, vital for women’s empowerment.
3
Promoting equality in sports is one of the key goals of the Council of Europe since the very beginning of the program's implementation in the field of sports, which is often considered to be the area of prevalence of male values.
The main aim of our project is is strengthening capacity of women in basketball through Best Practice Exchange Workshops (BPEW) in order to: •
Increase the capacity of women sport administrators in order for them to gain new
knowledge and managerial skills; •
Motivate young women kinesiologists to become coaches in women basketball clubs;
•
Encourage former women basketball players to become basketball referees;
•
Increase the visibility of women’s basketball clubs in order to attract more girls into
sport. The expected outputs are: •
raising awareness on women’s basketball in project countries;
•
raising awareness on the importance of including more female coaches and referees
into basketball; •
building the capacity of women basketball clubs and female managers/administrative
staff in basketball clubs. As written in the resolution of the European Parliament concerning women and sport, ‘Women's sport is an expression of the right to equality and the freedom of all women to take control of their bodies and participate in sports publicly, regardless of nationality, age, disability, sexual orientation or religion.’ (2003).
In terms of qualitative outcomes, the project expects to achieve: ● Encouragement of the visibility and status of women’s basketball in project countries; ● Strengthening women’s youth basketball; 4
● Enhancing the status of women involved in basketball (administrative staff, coaches and referees).
The first chapter presents all three countries and their approaches to the issue related to women in basketball, which includes athletes, managers of female basketball clubs/associations, female coaches and female referees. Partners collected data and numbers, and some of them highlight a big difference between women in basketball and men in basketball. In each Country, there are clear difficulties dealing with the encouragement of female basketball; therefore, clubs, organizations, basketball federations try their best in order to help to improve numbers and figures.
In the second chapter, you will find many good practices coming from such important realities in female basketball sector within the partnering Countries. For example, you will read about the former national team player of Croatia, Anda Jelavic, who founded her own basketball club, or you will know how the Italian regional, Apulia, is rich in international basketball events and can count on such long-time experienced female basketball clubs.
In the third chapter, we present a different way for women to find their own professional path through the media world (e.g. basketball journalists, TV speakers, etc.).
5
CHAPTER 1: SITUATION IN PARTNER COUNTRIES Croatia In Croatia, despite the great basketball tradition, figures related to women in this field show a strong difference with those related to men. There are 50 women's clubs in Croatia that are members of the Croatian Basketball Association. According to the survey carried out by one of the Croatian partner, there are 1884 boys out of 34 basketball schools, whereas there are 947 girls out of 34 basketball schools. Speaking of employed people, questioning the interviewed clubs (51 clubs), there are only 66 women employees whereas men employed are 245. As well for coaches there is still a great job to do in order to improve statistics and the presence of women coaches in basketball clubs: 0 female coaches out of 46 clubs, 4 clubs have just one woman coach each, and only 1 club has 2 female coaches. Looking through male numbers, only 6 clubs do not have male coaches, 45 clubs have altogether 118 male coaches. Most female and male coaches work as volunteers in the Club. It is obvious that most Croatian clubs are in the largest regions . In the first place, the city of Zagreb counts on 10 clubs (19,6%), Koprivničko- Križevačka regions 8 clubs (15,7%), Šibenskokninska regions 6 (11,8%). There are no clubs competing in the most elite competition, EuroLeague Women , Euro Cup (2013/2014 the last time the Croatian club played in the EuroLeague). Considering these surveys and the knowledge of the Croatian organizations involved in this project, it is easy to highlight the main problems regarding women in basketball: ● Most Clubs in Croatia are run as amateur clubs; ● Coaches do not have a permanent job; ● A large number of girls at the age of 13-14 stop training basketball; ● As for women former senior players, they rarely stays in basketball and continues to pass on her experience and knowledge to younger generations;
6
● It is devastating fact that only 23 female coaches former senior basketball players work in 17 clubs; ● In men’s basketball it is different 118 male coaches former senior basketball players in 45 clubs; ● Out of 51 surveyed clubs, 29 of them have 66 female employees (employment contract, service contract, volunteer contract), while 22 clubs do not have female employees ● Out of 51 surveyed clubs, 47 of them have 245 male employees (employment contract, service contract, volunteer contract), 4 clubs do not have male employees; ● Most female and male coaches work as a volunteers in the Club.
7
Italy On Italy side, ASD Margherita Sport e Vita carried out a report divided into 3 parts: report regarding the data obtained through a questionnaire, report regarding the survey across referees and table official judge officers, report regarding coaches sector. The survey was carried out on 10 women basketball clubs coming from the regions of South of Italy: ● Apulia (n. 8 clubs); ● Campania (n. 1 club); ● Sicily (n.1 club). Even if the survey was made on female basketball clubs, the number of boys in basketball schools (470 boys, 388 girls) and clubs (515 boys, 445 girls) is higher. One must be aware that 4 sports clubs out of 10 do not have male basketball schools, it means that the difference in number is even stronger.
The Report regarding the survey across the referees and table official judges sector showed a strong difference between the first ones (referees) and the second ones (table official judges). Speaking of referees, in the first national level (First Male National League - A1/M) there is no woman referee.
In order to intervene to improve this aspect, the National Italian Referee Commision (CIA) has established special derogations in order to expand and increase the participation of women referees in the higher national basketball league: Women referees who referee in lower leagues have derogation to referee in the upper leagues.On regional level, the Apulian Committee has joined the project “PROGETTO DONNA”, which aims to: create a homogeneous level among women referees, provide the adequate tools to let women grow in a field which is mainly made of men.
8
Regarding the table official judges, The number of women table’s official Judges is higher than the number of women referees. Within the regional data, women table’s official Judges represent more than men participants. The focus on coaches was carried out especially on Apulian basis: the total number of female Apulian coaches is 45, while the male Apulian coaches are 525; the total number of female Apulian basketball physical trainers is 7, while the male ones are 47. As we can see, in some sectors (e.g. referee one) there is the strong will to enhance and increase the number of female participants. The Apulian Basketball Committee has joined and promotes special programs to dedicate special attention to women referees and create adequate preparation. Within table’s official judges numbers there is an important number of women. Unfortunately, there is too much difference in rates and numbers between women and male, especially within the number of basketball players. Management data show how the board sector lacks working people (even of male figures). There is a big rate of drop out in referee/players numbers (both women and men). It happens that once the Committee/Clubs have already invested in their education and preparation, but then the same referees/athletes have to go norther to find a proper job or study.
9
Slovenia
The Slovenian survey - carried out by ZKK KRKA - shows how in Slovenia it is very difficult to involve people in the basketball world even from an educational point of view. The research was carried out through 11 clubs in Slovenia. Clubs involved in the research are from all Slovenian regions. Convincing children to join basketball schools is a big challenge, because there is a greater offer coming from other sports. The same issue results regarding women coaches sector. In Slovenia there are 3 types of coach competences/levels: ● youth basketball coach; ● basketball coach; ● pro basketball coach. Every year in summer time there is the possibility to join one of the above mentioned courses. A higher rank than pro basketball coach can be obtained in three year study at the Faculty of Sports in Ljubljana or Maribor and it is called GRADUATED BASKETBALL COACH. Here statistic data of participants (M/F) on basketball coach educations:
10
Here is the statistic data of female participants on basketball coach educations:
In order to foster the women basketball movement, every year in the beginning of July in Postojna (Slovenia) there is a FIBA basketball camp for coaches, referees and players dedicated only for women. A good job could be developed, as well, by focusing on former basketball players becoming basketball coaches. In order to develop basketball progress in all specters, coaches are one of the key links to the main goal. Coaches who are former players are more efficient especially in younger teams because nowadays children are demanding and coaches need to know how and what these children feel in specific situations. Unfortunately, in Slovenia at the moment basketball coaches work performances are regulated by collaboration agreements and/or volunteer agreements. Even through the female basketball referee world some positive outcomes could be obtained. Nowadays (2022), in Slovenia there are 221 referees (23 women, 198 men). Here details regarding rankings of male and female referees: ● ● ● ● ●
A List → 1 woman, 15 men; SKL → 2 women, 20 men; SKL (Third Quality Competition) → 3 women, 21 men; SKL (Fourth Quality Competition) → 2 women, 23 men; Regional Competitions (all junior national league competitions) → 15 women, 119 men.
Every summer basketball federation organizes an educational course in order to gain new referees (male and female ones). In the last 2 years there were only 6 female candidates, and only 3 of them completed the education process. It would be useful to organize some national camps, where referee instructors could work with candidates through all week like is practiced in FIBA women camps. 11
Another important issue which deserves special attention concerns the management. Most of the clubs in Slovenia are managed by non-professional managers. People working for clubs on voluntary basis. According to the carried out research, management positions in basketball clubs in Slovenia are mostly male by gender. There are some women in club management positions but more as exception than rule. People who are on management positions are mostly volunteers. Most Slovenian basketball clubs are funded from national resources (“Nacionalni program”), but clubs must apply and fill a lot of forms in order to collect these funds. In Novo Mesto (Slovenia), every year the municipality gives a tender of financing for work with sport youth. Every sport club can register to that tender in order to get funds for normal operation. Sadly all of those funds and more are spent only on sport halls, in order to guarantee trainings and games for teams can. Almost every Slovenian basketball club has a private sponsor in the form of some successful company. Another important aspect to be considered is sports infrastractures. ZKK KRKA club is based in Novo Mesto (Slovenia), which is a city that counts on two big sports halls and for elementary schools sports halls. Municipality plans the practice dates for sports clubs.
12
CHAPTER 2: GOOD PRACTICES Croatia One of the Croatian partners KK Akademija Anda Jelavic shared with all the partners their experience and described their club which is based on the role of a very important former player of the Croatian Basketball team, that is to say Anda Jelavic. Thanks to her great national and international experience (Olympic Games, 2012), now she could bring and spread her knowledge and skills across kids, girls, coaches and management staff. In 2016, Anda founded her Basketball Academy - in Šibenik - whose staff is formed by: ● Thiana Juric: o University of Connecticut, Storrs,Connecticut – degree in Communication sciences; o Master of Journalism and Public Relations; o She is a great role model for girls in basketball; o She works as a volunteer in the Academy as a coach from 2016 and PR. ● Hrvoje Jelavic: o Volunteer in the Academy; o Vice-president; o Professional photograph, media relations. ● Valentina Vinšalek Stipić: o Financial Manager; o Manager in sports in our Academy; o Volunteer. ● Anda Jelavic: o Coach; o Coach of Zagreb University; o Member of the women's basketball expert council 2016; o Ambassador of the project “Her World, Her Rules”; o Ambassador of the campaign for greater visibility of women’s sports in electronic media.
13
Here are the words of Anda Jelavic: “In our academy we firmly believe and strive to return basketball in Šibenik to the highest level. We give children the maximum, especially when we see results and happy girls. Our member Leona Dobra is a member of the U-14 national team and that gives us an additional motive to continue working even harder, better and with a lot of love.
I think these days girls have better basketball conditions ( Gyms, schools, uniforms ) than when I was growing up when you were on your own, depending on family and area of growing up. I was lucky enough to grow through my basketball years surrounded by close basketball friends and being able to pass my basketball knowledge to younger generations with some of them. Tihana is one of them. When you know each other well on the court and respect each other as a player, then you know you are able to be a great role model for girls in this sport. Therefore, we are lucky to have 50 girls on the team, with more and more coming each year. The most important thing we both agree on is the importance to implant the love for the game in our youngest, not necessarily the knowledge itself. Knowledge will come sooner or later, but to love basketball and enjoy coming to practice to hang out with friends and play, that is the most important thing. That’s how you build friendships, through sport. Thanks to that, we are both here, enjoying what we are doing”.
14
15
Here some development goals of “Anda Jelavic Basket Academy”: ● Organize sports activities for children and youth more efficiently, especially through school basketball club programs and basketball training; ● Greater care for professional work and employment of new professionally educated coaches in clubs; ● Appropriate programs and customized basketball infrastructure enable as many children as possible to play basketball in an organized manner; ● By organizing international basketball tournaments, promote Croatia in the world and thus significantly contribute to the tourist promotion; ● Greater care for basketball facilities and encouraging the construction of new ones. The vision is to achieve more, to increase the popularity of basketball successes and make the sport even more popular, and to recognize and retain talents in Croatia in order to attract as many young people as possible to play basketball. The opening of the Basketball Academy "Anđa Jelavić" contributes to the increase of girls who want to play basketball, so that in the 7 years of the club's existence there are over 50 girls. The hope that this number will grow from year to year because there is a need for better work in clubs, hiring coaches who are qualified for such a responsible position. The popularity of the early deceased most famous basketball player in Šibenik - Dražen Petrović, is not waning and he is becoming an integral part of a kind of sports culture of the city. Many children who decide to play basketball see a role model in him and his dedicated commitment to training and the eternal desire to be better day by day in the sport you love. Other Croatian good practices examples The Croatian Federation joined a special program launched by FIBA Europe, called ‘Her World, Her Rules’. It is a unique project launched by FIBA Europe and implemented in partnership with national federations with the aim of promoting women’s basketball across Europe through various activities. The Croatian Basketball Association joined the project in 2019, when it was launched, but in 2020 it had to stop both competitions and this project. The primary goal is to attract our sport girls of primary and secondary school age (6 to 15 years) through a global campaign called "Her world, her rules". The ambassadors of the project in Croatia are the legendary basketball player and president of the Women's Basketball Professional Council Danira Bilić (r. Nakić) and former captain and former senior national team coach Anđa Jelavić and Vedrana Grgin, former national team member and winner of two WNBA rings, both also members of the Professional Council. Despite the fact that the COVID crisis has not yet passed, the conditions have finally been met for the project to continue in 2021 and again allow girls to love basketball and, in the future, continue or start training. 16
The Croatian Olympic Committee set the program “Development of women's sports in the local environment”. It helps former athletes in their careers after their sports careers. Playing sports from an early age brings many benefits, both physical and mental. It teaches them skills that can be applied outside of sports fields. Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, in addition to the importance of sport for a better society, emphasized the role of sport in the overall development of the person and the preservation of human dignity. Anda Jelavic Academy designed 4 tournaments throughout the county. The goal is to attract as many girls as possible to the halls. Coaches, Anđa Jelavić and Tihana Jurić, top basketball players, senior national team players, who are the greatest role models for the girls of our academy, have a big role in that. The two of them also take care of the psychological development of the girls and try to provide a sports environment in which the girls will feel safe. The emphasis is always on personal growth and development, not on the results of competitions in their early stages of sporting development. Through the program, they will try to provide girls with equal opportunities to participate and play sports in order to equalize that number with the number of boys who play sports. Playing sports is a human right - one of the fundamental principles of Olympism. Here a proposal of women basketball development flow:
17
Italy The Italian partner shared two main best practices which are very important and well-known: ASD Pink Sport Time Bari and the national and international events organized by the former Apulian Basketball Federation president, Margaret Gonnella. ASD Pink Sport Time Bari, is a female sports club, born in 2001 from the idea of 4 close women friends who invested in the gender equality issue. At the time the city of Bari lacked both women basketball clubs and women football clubs. The sports club has 2 main sectors: female basketball and football. Since the beginning, the mission has been focused on sport as a tool of inclusion and socialization. In 2001 the club started with 15 registered female basketball players. Nowadays – after 20 years – it counts on 100 registered female basketball players. Important factors for the increase in numbers: ● Good job on mini-basketball (4-12 years old) ● Nice and friendly basketball facility ● Expert basketball coaches (national level) ● Family environment ● Passion and Fun.
Here some achievements of the basketball club: ● Regional Cup Championships with youth selections (U14/U15/U16/U18) ● Access to Interregional and National Finals ● Call-Ups to the national youth teams for some of our athletes ● Participation to Senior National Leagues (up to final for the access to the second major national league).
18
Here are some points related to management which give solidity and make the club being appreciated: ● The club has always been managed as a family. The president has always been the same one. ● Each athlete receives a customized treatment – as well regarding economic issues. For example: normally junior players must fulfill a fixed payment (each quarter), but the management tries as much as possible to meet the family needs – if necessary. For special cases, the course is free. ● Direct connection between management and supporters. If it is possible the management helps and supports the fans by contributing with extra costs. Another way to involve the supporters in the life of the sports club is giving them job opportunities (drivers, press agent, etc). ● Research of local sponsorships in order to have a straight connection with community and territory. ● Strong relationship and collaboration with one of the main male basketball club over the territory 🡪 by using the same style of jersey, t-shirts, bags, colors. This helps to create a more reliable relationship with the community ● Collaboration with other female basketball clubs for players loan (e.g. the payment still goes to the origin club). ● Organization of both formal and informal parties and involvement in extra events (cultural and/or social events). Technical and organization staff as well has tried to include women figures: ● It has always been a gender-mixed staff – even if with a natural predominancy of male figures. In the past the club could enjoy the experience of an Olympic player, named Monica Bastiani, who played in Barcelona ‘92. She played with the team (at the end of her career, 40-years old) and in the meanwhile she trained the youth clubs.
19
● The players of U17/U19 are always asked to be assistant of basketball coaches with small rewards. ● During youth categories games, the ones that don’t play are asked to be the tables judges. The messages to the players, supporters, and all the people involved have always been the same: ● basketball activity is a tool for the future – whatever it will be; ● respect and use the principle of respect; ● study and sport don’t have just the S in common– if combined, you do a great job.
Always experiencing new adventures and events: e.g. basketball 3x3, international tournaments, studying abroad.
20
The second good practice on the Italian territory comes from the Apulian Basketball Federation which has connected basketball, basketball 3x3 and tourism. Actually, along these year this Committee has organized several national and international basketball events which gave the opportunity to exploit the Apulian land. During these occasions, a lot of women were involved in the organization and logistic activities. These activities were led by the former Apulian Basketball Federation female president, Margaret Gonnella, who was as well a former basketball player. She did a great job on team building:
●
A great group formed by volunteers among FIP Puglia basketball coaches, referees and tables officials;
●
Organization staff made of women mainly;
●
Collaboration and Support of the Regional Board Members – according to the type of event (e.g. Victor Casulli – President of Grotte di Castellana).
Here are some important clues and issues on which it was paid a lot of attention: ●
Volunteering Treatment– those who volunteered were offered eating and staying (if necessary);
●
Investment in 3X3 sector (bb court, balls, baskets);
●
Collaboration with the territory: ■
Research and use of different companies of private transportation, in order to let every company work;
■
Partnership and agreement with different local restaurants (not just one), in order to let tourists (basketball players, families, foreign players) know the Apulian cuisine;
■
Partnership and agreements with different hotels;
■
The big part of management in the hands of 2/3 women (1 for relationship, 1 for administration and economic issues, 1 for logistic);
■
Always a special attention to the surrounding landscape (trulli, grotte, molo di Bari);
■
Always offering external activities and parties.
21
22
Slovenia On behalf of Slovenian Country, ZKK KRKA presented its own good practice: ZZK KRKA Basketball Club, which is the only female basketball club in Novo Mesto (Slovenia) and counts on more than 150 members. The club, which was born in 2003, has always had the same mission and vision: ●
Involving as many young girls as possible in basketball.
●
Creating a healthy environment for physical and mental development of youth.
●
Strengthening all cooperation’s with local elementary schools.
●
Convincing as many children as possible to stay in basketball. Not necessarily as players, but also as coaches, referees.
One of the key strength is the cooperation with local elementary and high schools:
●
Club coaches lead activity of interest “Basketball for girls” on elementary schools.
●
Club coaches lead girl school basketball teams at national elementary school competitions.
●
Club coaches lead practices for club members on high schools.
●
Club coaches lead school basketball teams at national high school competition.
Here the goals achieved by the club: ●
All club youth teams compete in national competition under organization of Basketball federation of Slovenia and are ranked on the top of the scale. In almost every season at least in one category, our youth teams are classified on FINAL 4 tournament of national competition. Club greatest achievement is that ŽKK Krka has become one solid club with healthy, productive environment, and great athletes.
23
24
CHAPTER 3: WOMEN AND BASKETBALL THROUGH MEDIA Croatia - Recommendations for better monitoring of women's basketball in electronic media in Croatia Udruga ECHO focused its research on electronic media in Croatia. The media can play a significant role in either reinforcing or challenging gender stereotypes in sports. In reality, gender stereotyping of women and men athletes by the media is well documented and women athletes are often sexualized. They are frequently depicted in a way that contributes to the marginalization of women’s achievements in sport, due to the emphasis placed on femininity and sexual attraction instead of strength and skills. There are also significant differences in the media coverage given to women’s and men’s sports, with the latter receiving far more attention. It is necessary to envisage using the modern technology, and the new ways of cost-free communication with the mass populace (Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube) to present female basketball professionals (managers of female basketball clubs/associations, female coaches and female referees) as persons, who are self-confident, responsible, accessible, modern and successful women, who live a healthy and active lifestyle and who, through basketball have obtained the opportunities for self-development in all aspects of life (family, education, career). It is essential that we look to change the public perception of the female basketball coaches and referees and to present them as the role models with their high competences and strong leadership. By virtue of their influence on society, media and the professionals employed in media have a special responsibility for eliminating stereotypes as well as any grounds for discrimination and, in the case of sport, for contributing to the achievement of gender nondiscriminatory standards and models that encourage and increase the wide variety of sports activities existing in a pluralistic society. There is no doubt that media have a significant influence, social responsibility as well as the main role in combating gender stereotypes and in improving the visibility of women. 25
Regulatory bodies supervising the implementation of audio-visual legislation are responsible for acting proactively, thus contributing to eradicating inequalities, imbalances and stereotypes spread through audio-visual contents, particularly in those areas that have a strong media and social impact, such as sports. Therefore, the Croatian Council for Electronic Media has initiated and adopted the Recommendations for Better Coverage of Women’s Sports in Electronic Media. Women basketball players and professionals– who, due to their global success, were treated with suitable prominence and representation in Croatian media made a significant contribution to the success of Croatian basketball sports. However, the great interest shown by the media for their results has not been transposed to women’s sports in their entirety. On the contrary, a research shows that the representation of women’s sports in electronic media is extremely low and in great disparity with the results, our female athletes do achieve. The manner in which female athletes are represented in the media is often inappropriate, i.e. burdened with numerous stereotypes and sexism. All recent studies show unequal treatment of women in sports news and TV programmes, even nowadays when social progress is being increasingly accepted and new policies aimed at guaranteeing male-female equality adopted. The analysis of sports news that are broadcast as a part of the central news programmes on channels HTV1, RTL Televizija and Nova TV revealed that the share of women’s sports coverage is only four percent. The share of news items devoted exclusively to male sports in the analysed period on the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) is almost 80 percent (79.33 percent). At the same time, the number of items devoted exclusively to male sports in the sports news of RTL Television exceeded 90 percent (92.6 percent).
26
In a survey, AEM analysed the relationship between national Croatian sports federations and media in the production of contents and their exchange as well as the interest in women’s sport. The federations were asked same two questions: 1. Do you think that Croatian women’s sports are sufficiently represented in the news programmes of Croatian electronic media? 2. What should happen, namely improve, so that women’s sports are more represented in electronic media? Where do you see the problem and the possibility of improvement?
27
According to the Croatian Basketball Federation, the problem of low investment in women’s sports, and especially in domestic league competitions where experience is gained for the representative level, is the key issue, the Croatian Basketball Federation points out, along with the reciprocity of supply and demand for women in sports presented in electronic media. You can read about women’s basketball in the Croatian media only in articles on some Miss of Sports beauty pageant, they claim in this federation.
According to the conducted survey and analysis of contents, obtained on a sample of 11 journalists of leading sports newsrooms in Croatia who were asked the same two questions as above mentioned sports federations, it can be concluded that most editors determine which content would be published based on the popularity of sports, the size of the audience in the stands at a sporting event as well as data on reading/viewing of information, news and features on women’s sports. Croatian media are also guided by foreign competition and they do not see a lot of women’s sports in their daily headlines. They emphasize that the biggest problem is the commercial unprofitability of such contents. The data on reading audience of articles on women’s sports are defeating, and according to that numbers, the calculation seems to indicate that women’s sports are actually already overly presented.
Earning in sport In the world where money is all, earnings are a strong argument in discussing whether something is worth the public’s attention or not. Therefore, the great inequality in earnings between top female and athletes is the very base for the thesis that woman’s sports are less interesting than men’s. And these earnings in the most popular sports are often 50: 1 or even 100: 1 in favour of male athletes. ● NBA (basketball): $ 5.15 million ● WNBA (basketball): $ 36,500 - rookies, $ 50,000 - veterans, $ 95,000 - max Various studies show that male athletes have the greatest turnover in terms of sponsorship, advertising revenue and television rights. Therefore media strive to cover those sports, stories and athletes that will bring them more revenue. These sports stories are then designed mainly to attract male viewers. Likewise, male athletes, rather than their female counterparts, are most often chosen for advertising purposes. Since they are more famous and recognizable all over the world, the advertising revenue will be higher than if female athletes played the main role in those adverts. 28
Male athletes have nearly 13 times more photos in newspapers and sports magazines then female athletes. This form of bias against women’s sports condemns women to wait for the Olympic Games when they get a much better media coverage.
European Commission: Key elements are contracts between media, sports federations and sponsors ● The countries of the European Union are a large and rich market with highly developed numerous sports and a great interest of television viewers for them. Among viewers of TV broadcasts of women's sports competitions the male fans are predominant group. This is a valuable consumer group attractive to advertisers that is hard to reach through usual advertising. ● Studies in the EU Member Countries show that women are responsible for most consumer decisions in a family, and female athletes both have greater marketing potential than male athletes and enable advertising of more commercial brands. ● The key element for increasing the number of women’s sports broadcasts on television are contracts between media, sports federations / clubs and sponsors. Sports organizations need to work closely with television companies and other media to increase interest in women’s sports. ● In this regard, there are particularly important high-quality competitions attractive to media, such as the Women’s World Cup. A major role in increasing the volume of women’s sports in media is also played by aligning match dates with programming schedules of the media interested in broadcasting them. ● The most popular and richest world clubs also have such practice. Even the English and the Spanish football leagues, same as the American NBA league, align their matches to the early afternoon because of television broadcast. With regard to women’s sports, the WNBA league (professional women’s basketball) is played outside the NBA season. ● In some EU Members, sports federations already negotiate special clauses in television rights treaties where television companies demand that batch rights are guaranteed for men’s and women’s championships in popular team sports (football, basketball). ● A good example for the cooperation of a sports federation and a television broadcaster can be found in Croatia as well. The Croatian Judo Association, through the International Judo Federation (IJF), has secured that the Sports Television Channel obtains the television rights for the World Cup and other top judo competitions.
29
Recommendations Cooky, Messner and Musto1 have suggested to media three policy benchmarks that could make positive change in covering women’s sports, primarily on television, over a period of five years: 1. Increase the share of women’s sports in news, sports shows and broadcasts from the current 2 - 6 to 11 - 18 percent; 2. Present women’s sports stories in ways roughly equivalent in quality with the typical presentation of men’s sports. This refers both to the technical quality—deploying ample game footage, graphics, music and interviews to accompany a story—and to the quality of the sports anchor’s verbal presentation, including amplifying the enthusiasm in reporting women’s sports to a level on the excitement meter that is equivalent with the usual presentation of men’s sports; 3. Hire and retain on-camera sports anchors, editors and analysts that are capable and willing to do #1 and #2 and who are interested in women’s sports.
Media, especially electronic media, have the most important role in creating public’s attitudes towards women’s sports and overcoming the dominant stereotypes. They also have the largest influence on viewers and fans when it comes to increasing interest in women’s sports. Therefore, they have great responsibility for the future of women’s sports and improving the status of female athletes in the community. Given the starting position and the current practice, it is not possible to equalize the status of women’s sports with the status of the men’s sports in a short period, and no such accomplishment is expected from the present recommendations. They are possible guidelines for media for better coverage of women’s sports, increasing both the quality of their contents and the audience’s interest in them at the same time. 1. Increase the share of women’s sports Increase the share of women’s sports in news, sports programs and broadcasts from the current 4 to 10 - 12 percent in the period of four years. The four-year period, i.e. one Olympic cycle, includes the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and one or two World and European Championships in the most popular team sports, so it is possible to make the required shift within that time frame. 2. Equalize the presentation of women’s and men’s sports Present women’s sports in the same way that men’s sports are presented. This refers to the technical quality of live broadcasts, retransmissions and news features (number of cameras, graphics, image quality, photo quality), but also to verbal or written presentation of women’s competitions and women’s sports by sports journalists, commentators and analysts (interesting information, statistics , comparison of results, knowledge of an athlete’s sports biography). This also includes covering women’s sports with equal interest and preparation that is used to cover man’s sports. 1 Messner, M. A., Dunbar, M., i Hunt, D. (2000). The televised sports manhood formula. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 24, 386
30
3. Engage journalists and commentators interested in women’s sports Hire or employ part-time educated journalists, sports editors, commentators and analysts who are interested in serious and thorough coverage of women’s sports. Provide them with additional education, enable reporting from domestic and international competitions where our female athletes participate and provide enough airtime in news and other broadcasts.
4. Engage more women in sports newsrooms Hire or employ part-time more women in sports newsrooms. Studies have shown that female sports journalists will rarely use stereotyping and sexism in reporting and commentaries on female athletes. 5. Avoid gender stereotypes and sexism Female athletes should be talked and written about in the same manner as their male counterparts, without needlessly mentioning their marital and family ties, physical appearance, clothing, makeup and hairstyles. More space/air time should be devoted to presenting and analysing their results, sporting achievements and opportunities as well as comparing them with the results of other female athletes, their clubs and national teams. 6. Comparisons possible in features dealing with inequality Comparisons between female and male athletes are needed and possible in features and broadcasts that deal with their unequal treatment regarding the time periods and facilities they use for training and preparation, the allocation of funds from relevant sports federations’ budgets, the awards and wages, sexist and other inappropriate outbursts on sports grounds and in media as well as other issues that contribute to a better understanding and respect for women’s sports. 7. Broadcasting women’s competitions can be profitable Increase the number of live broadcasts and retransmissions of major competitions. Since the value of media rights for women’s competitions in popular team sports is still far less than for men’s, broadcasting women’s competitions can be profitable. Several experiences from around the world have shown that in such cases, advertising revenues by far surpass the amounts allocated to pay relevant media rights. 8. Make better use of the advertising potential of female athletes Make better use of the advertising potential of female athletes. Male fans prevail among viewers of women’s competition broadcasts, which is a valuable consumer group attractive to advertisers. On the other hand, studies in EU countries show that women are responsible for most consumer decisions in a household. Therefore, female athletes have greater advertising potential than their male counterparts have and enable advertising of a higher number of trademarks and thereby they are undoubtedly very attractive to advertisers.
31
9. Cooperation with sports federations and clubs It is important to establish good cooperation with sports federations and clubs. It should not be limited to obtaining information regarding announcements and competition calendars or downloading news and photos from their web pages and social networks. Such cooperation has to include active participation in the creation of schedules for various competitions and indicating to clubs and federations time periods suitable for better coverage of women’s sports. Additionally, some of the federations could, through their umbrella organizations worldwide, provide television broadcasters and web portals publishers with cheap or even free of charge broadcasting rights for major women’s sports events. 10. Sports stories and phenomenological themes Female athletes, women’s sports clubs and national teams and their performances on major competitions as well as day to day issues should be followed and promoted through interesting sports stories and even phenomenological themes in news sections and programs which are not exclusively dedicated to sports but generally affirm success, excellence, knowledge, skill and other human values. 11. A consensus on covering women’s sports Although the legislative and other regulations did not yield much results on similar occasions, some sort of consensus among media, i.e. a general agreement between editors and journalists on how to cover and how much space/air time to dedicate to women’s sports, would certainly contribute to their better coverage in electronic media. This would exclude viewing or reading data as a criterion, which determines whether something is worth publishing, or not. In a survey conducted among editors of electronic media, the media representatives themselves advocated this idea.
32
ITALY - The career of the sports journalist Paola Ellisse The Italian partner - ASD Margherita Sport e Vita - shown as well how it could be interesting if basketball clubs/basketball federations had the opportunity to launch initiatives for female journalists:
⮚ Creating position, roles, in each basketball club for young journalist → this would involve ⮚ ⮚
the proper young athletes that would challenge themselves as journalists for their basketball team The federations/organizations could organize sports journalists’ courses → if addressed to young basketball female player; it would build such a continuity (especially for those players who are most likely to drop up). These famous female journalists (such as Paola Ellisse) should have more visibility and should be better known (just to make the idea: there is no Wikipedia page regarding Paola Ellisse).
Paola Ellise has been the first Italian woman to conduct and comment on TV the first Italian male basketball league. She has spent 24 years in the most important sports TV channels (e.g. SkySport) commenting on the most important basketball events: ● ● ● ●
Italian leagues; NBA; Euroleagues; NCAA championships.
She reached one of her best moments in her career in 2018 when she interviewed Michael Jordan.
33
“It is not easy being a woman in a male world, even if I must admit that inside of the sports environment I have never felt discriminated - I have always been treated as “one” of the group, without distinctions. The problem comes from the outside, where it is more difficult. It is easier to forgive a mistake made by a man than a mistake made by a woman in this specific world. I must always show that I deserve the place where I have. During my job, for sure, I use a male language, but I try not to lose my female side. I am so proud of myself for having succeeded in a field, which is overwhelmed by male. I am proud of myself for having proved that even a woman can interview somebody at the end of a game. I just wait for some other woman willing to challenge and try it.”
34
SLOVENIA In order to develop basketball progress in all spectres, media coverage is one of those channels, which informs public about this sport, and maybe gain some new participants, fans, sponsors, etc. CURRENT SITUATION OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF WOMEN BASKETBALL IN SLOVENIA -
mostly local media (radio, websites, local TV,
-
national TV is covering almost nothing exception is national team competitions (EuroBasket for women, World championship for women
-
social media – every women basketball club has its own social media channel
REASONS FOR LOW INVOLVMENT OF MEDIA IN WOMEN BASKETBALL -
not so many fans
-
bad relationship between national federation and women basketball clubs.
-
lower contracts – weaker financial status
BRIGHT LIGHT A few years ago, the biggest commercial TV in Slovenia bought the rights for transmitting EuroBasket for women. They had the power to raise popularity of women basketball in Slovenia, because all nation watched that tournament. That year the number of new girls in basketball clubs grew bigger. Our opinion is that involvement of media in women basketball is very important. They have the power to raise popularity of women basketball. With popularity comes audience, with audience come sponsors, with sponsor funds basketball can develop, grow, and become better, more attractive. With development and popularity there will be much more new members in women basketball clubs. 35
Women’s basketball Manual EMPOWERING WOMEN IN BASKETBALL 622309-EPP-1-2020-1-HR-SPO-SSCP
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
36
