5 Step Guide To Creating Male Athlete Allies

The power of male athlete allies for women’s sport and how to create them

“You mean first MALE player” Andy Murray famously interjected to correct a journalist who had completely dismissed the women’s game as he asserted Sam Querrey was the first US tennis player to make a Grand Slam tennis final in 8 years. In fact, four women’s players including Serena and Venus Williams, Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe had claimed this feat.

Moments like these are why Andy Murray is considered one of women’s sport’s biggest male athlete allies. The Guardian dubbed Murray "the feminist tennis needs".

He hasn’t been the only high profile male athlete advocating for women in sport. Kobe Bryant was a huge women’s sport champion. He made WNBA’s orange hoodie iconic when he wore it front row at a LA Lakers game. He was a mentor to Naomi Osaka and was constantly supporting women and girls in sport and his legacy continues via the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation.

All Black, Aaron Smith jumped in to support women’s rugby when he called out a man snubbing it on Twitter. Smith burned a user who said not a single male rugby player would pay to go see a women’s rugby match by claiming he watches all the Black Fern’s games and the Seven’s women carve up.

There’s many more great examples but women’s sport definitely needs more male athletes advocating for women’s sport.

The power of male athlete allies

Of course, it’s equally important to have female athletes and people across the board championing women’s sport but this is already happening in greater volumes and male athletes can play a different and powerful part;

1. Influence

Male athletes cast huge influence not only with fans but across the community given their popularity and appeal. As a leading face in basketball, when Kobe was sitting front row at a LA Lakers game his image was broadcast to millions of people worldwide. Add in his credibility with other basketballers and it became a thing for NBA players to vocally support their female counterparts and don the orange hoodie, in turn making it the highest selling merchandise item across Fanatics which houses every major US league brand.

2. Scale and the ability to pull in new fans

Not only do many of these male athletes have brand power but they also have mass reach. Individual stars reach millions of sport fans on a single social media channel and have the ability to reach and pull in new women’s sport fans at scale with their advocacy.

3. Brand perception

Women’s sport is more gender balanced and is considered more inclusive. By having male athletes championing women’s sport it re-enforces that everyone is welcome and that it’s not just females who need to be at the centre of women’s sport fandom.

5 Step guide to converting male athletes into women’s sport advocates

1. Inspire them and make it connect

a) Inspire them to get onboard and become a champion of women’s sport by highlighting the struggles and challenges that women’s sport and female athletes have to overcome i.e. balancing full time work while still training the same number of hours as a male professional athlete.

b) Make it connect by pulling them into the story i.e. tap into the obstacles their daughters face that they didn’t, the opportunities that their sister and wife athletes don’t have that they did.

c) Facilitate introductions to their female counterparts or set them up on joint photo shoots or for joint PR stories so that they start to better familiarize themselves and form relationships with these female athletes as people.

2. Put them at the centre

a) Demonstrate the impact that they can have and show how the benefits flow on to the whole women’s sport ecosystem and to wider society.

b) Showcase how it can fuel their brand and provide new opportunities i.e. being a women’s sport champion can pull in new fans for them, provide new commercial opportunities and showcase them as a leader in gender quality.

3. Supply them with the goods

a) Provide them with content that can be easily shared on their own channels i.e. graphics of squad announcements, video highlights, entertaining and fun videos profiling the women’s players, licensed, high quality and near real-time photos of female players in action that they can legally share.

b) Send them gear that they actually want to wear and use. The WNBA orange hoodie worn by NBA players and other celebrities generated over half a million dollars of free media coverage and is still one of the most in demand items.

c) Keep them up to date with relevant information and news i.e. game schedules, tour announcements and squad profiles so they know what’s happening when and can better familiarize themselves with female players.

d) Give them tickets to attend games and provide them with give-aways that they can offer to their own fans.

4. Incentivise

a) As part of most professional male player’s contracts, they have clauses which include a set number of marketing activities. Be sure to include the promotion of women’s team, players or equivalents as part of their agreements if you are part of a sport organisation that oversees or has relationships with both the women’s and men’s athletes.

b) Commit to bringing them on board as official Ambassadors or as Advisors so they can play a genuine part and also gain new skills themselves.

5. Remind and proactively engage them

a) Invite them along to games and remind them when big events are happening.

b) Encourage further engagement via social tags or throw to them for challenges i.e. “What do you reckon the score will be in tonight’s game @AaronSmith?

c) Don’t forget to amplify and recognize their support. When they do turn up to watch women’s games or offer their support on social media, be sure to re-share it on your own channels to extend reach and highlight advocacy i.e. “great to see you at the game, thanks for coming along”.

Male athlete allies can help drive interest and support for your women’s sports so go out, include them, welcome them in with open arms and encourage them to get on board!

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