There are many inspirational figures the AFLW has produced in the competition’s short existence, but one clear standout has captured the hearts and minds of many.
Erin Phillips made her return on Sunday in the grand final rematch between Adelaide and Carlton at Hisense Stadium. It was in the 2019 title decider against the Blues in front a record-breaking Adelaide Oval crowd that she injured her ACL , so it seemed only fitting she should make her comeback as these two sides met again.
Carlton gained a degree of revenge, this time defeating the Crows by eight points in a thriller as Tayla Harris and Darcy Vescio put on a show and defender Charlotte Wilson commanded the backline. But Phillips’ return, without incident, was a victory for the game and something for which the league should be most grateful.
The two-time AFLW best and fairest, two-time All-Australian, two-time grand final best-on-ground and two-time Adelaide club champion (to list just some of her accolades) has been an invaluable face for the competition. Her return signifies more than the resilience of a champion athlete, but also the narrative used to commodify the stories of women who sacrifice so much in this semi-professional stage of the AFLW.
Recently released research by Dr Adele Pavlidis of Griffith University, indicates that explicit positivity, inspirational and motivational language, and a sense of gratitude and luck can have harmful impacts on the players.
Pavlidis interviewed select AFLW players who had recently participated in the second season of the competition. Her research focuses on positivity, happiness and gratitude as concepts that can be restrictive for women athletes who feel their position in elite sport is precarious.
Of the players she interviewed, Pavlidis says that, “it seemed that it was important not to be seen as negative or as a complainer, and throughout the data there was a sense of the players governing their responses, and framing all comments in a positive light. It was as if they feared that by complaining or speaking negatively about the challenges and injustices of the league, they may be punished.”
We are still in the habit of celebrating and sharing in the stories of many women who have overcome many different kinds of adversity to be part of a national Australian rules competition, but we too are contributing to the work athletes must continue to do in order to keep a broader buy-in to the game. They feel responsible for the game’s future and do not want to damage it by speaking out or being perceived as negative about the opportunities afforded to them.
Pavlidis says: “Gratitude and generosity are entangled in relations of power. Marginalised groups, in this case women entering into AFLW, relate to the conditions of their precarity through positivity and optimism. It is their hope to flourish and experience social and personal power through experiences of adversity.”
This translates to how fans of the game consume the sport and its heroines. We look at players like Phillips and know what she has been through cannot have been easy. We watch her Instragram stories and follow her rehab and see how hard she has worked to get herself back. We know her back story of being denied a chance to play footy and going to basketball, where she was also a champion. We know of the current opportunities she has knocked back because all she wants is to play Australian rules, the game she has loved all her life. And that is celebrated.
It is celebrated because it fits the sensibility of women being good girls – of working hard, not making too much noise, being positive and grateful and doing things for the love of the game.
Phillips absolutely deserves to be celebrated. She has earned it many times over. And there are many other women athletes who deserve it too. Those who have come back from injury, those who will, unfortunately but realistically, be injured in the future. Those who had to give up the game because it was not a sustainable life choice. Those who never got the chance.
But they also deserve acknowledgment for this “invisible labour”, as Pavlidis calls it – the work they perform for the longevity of the game and for the next generation of women.
Pavlidis says these AFLW players, as well as many sportwomen, “are creating hope and new future for girls and women. This is an intense and affective form of labour that the women feel both compelled and drawn to produce. They care.”
