History reveals there has always been a strong showing of Australian women in sport. We can think back to post war Olympics with famous sports women such as Marjorie Jackson, Betty Cuthbert, Dawn Fraser. Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Shane Gould, Kathy Freeman and Sally Pearson (to name but a few).
In more immediate records we can site team sports, such as the Hockeyroos (Women's hockey) and the Diamonds (Women's Netball).
But what has been noted is that publicity for women's sport has sky-rocketed with the women's soccer team, the Matilda's – going on strike for more money, recent world cup semi-final berths and now the Rio Olympics.
It is so strange to that women's soccer players get such fabulous publicity when in real time they are far from being the top women's athletes in performance yet they get the lion share of media attention.
Similarly the men. Journalists write 500,000 words of how good the Socceroos are - when they lose - and yet the Kookabuarras (men's hockey) who are perennial winners on the world stage might sneak in a few lines here and there.
It's pathetic. It's a media conspiracy. The evidence is overwhelming.
Other women champion athletes must well and truly be annoyed by such media antics – don't they put in as much effort and energy – the rowers, the canoeists, track and field, soft-ballers, the unmistakable hockeyroos, the cricketers, all as true grit champions, let alone the tennis and badminton stars, golfers, netballers and volleyballers – yet it's the women soccer players who are darlings of the media.
Have they won a world championship yet? Have they won an Olympic Gold Medal? What have they done to write home about (to use a pun)?
Hockeyroos
There are just as many women's international hockey nations as women's soccer international teams. The Hockeyroos have won everything that walks and talks. Champions Trophies, World Cups, Olympics – the list goes on and on and on.
Winning is their by-line, their first name – but can any of our readers name more than two or three of these star studded women hockey athletes. What do they get on Australian media – an occasional test series or national championships on live television, a snippet on television news sport casts of them winning 'again' ..... They even struggle to find a sponsor.
Diamonds Netballers
They do a little better with their national series televised. They too are perennial world champions yet not allowed in the Olympics.
Every city and country town has netball courts galore. Every school girl it seems, dons on the netball gear and off they go Saturday mornings to their netball fixtures. It is ingrained in the national psyche, a national women's past time.
Yes, Australian women's sport is way up there. But give credit where credit's due.
Josh Hinds was a school chaplain on the Gold Coast for man years, now a businessman on the Central Coast of NSW. He is a family man and PSI's IT professional. Josh is an experienced writer on international sport.
Josh Hinds' previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/joshua-hinds.html
