An insult to women's sport? Ticket detail exposes a gap for female fans

The Advertiser

20-05-2025

Parkas on, comfortable shoes, and all the excitement of walking through the graffitied tunnel from O'Connor to Canberra Stadium.
It was the first time my friend and I were to properly watch a rugby union game.
Before Saturday night, I thought Brumbies was spelt Brumby's, a dummy was for babies, and a drop goal is what I do to New Year's resolutions.
That all changed thanks to American social media star, the glamorous Ilona Maher. She was in Canberra to play for the USA Eagles in a Test against Australia's Wallaroos on Saturday night.
Maher has 5 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million on TikTok. Her legions of fans love her for advocating for women in sport and body positivity. She is possibly the world's most famous rugby player.
So imagine our surprise when my friend sent me the ticket and the women's match wasn't mentioned at all.
"ACT BRUMBIES, 19:35PM," it said.
We wanted to watch the Wallaroos play against the USA Eagles, but our tickets only mentioned the succeeding Brumbies game against the Queensland Reds.
That was the first time I realised the Brumbies, the ACT's male rugby union team, was playing on Saturday night as well.
Had we bought tickets to the wrong game? My friend called Canberra Stadium to check.
Admittedly, it was not the Wallaroos we were interested in, but the big social media star on the other side.
Even with a superstar like Maher to draw crowds, and a recent pay increase for Australia's female players, the national women's team was treated like the opening act to the local men's one.
The Brumbies match actually recorded its highest home crowd in six years that night - without a doubt due to the fans who turned up to watch Maher.
Her celebrity status transcends the sporting field, and we'll never know what portion of the crowd turned up just because of Maher, or the preceding women's game, because those people were technically buying Brumbies tickets.
People turned to social media to complain about the promotion of the women's match.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
I understand Rugby Australia was very keen to use Maher to promote the game, the Wallaroos and women's rugby in general. Maher (or at least Eagles team management) declined interview requests from media.
When Maher announced herself in Canberra (via Instagram of course), her post quickly garnered attention and more than 112,000 likes. Her Australia and Canberra-based fans were shocked she was in the capital.
And with women's sport gaining a bigger audience and stars like Maher inviting interest from a new cohort, the least Rugby Australia can do is sell tickets with both matches on them.
The crowd was full of Maher love - signs scattered throughout and cheers and shouts of "I love you, Ilona" whenever she was flashed on the big screen.
Anna Scares decided to shoot her shot, holding a cardboard sign saying: "Ilona Maher-ry me?'
"One of the great things about Ilona is that she sends a message of body positivity that you can be beautiful at any size, that strong is beautiful," Scares told me.
Like my friend and I, Siobhan Smith was at her first rugby game thanks to Maher. "I would happily come to heaps more women's games," she said.
The Wallaroos are ranked sixth in the world, two spots higher than the men's national team, the Wallabies (and yes, I had to Google the men's team name).
And as I learnt on Saturday, we have our own female rugby stars like Charlotte Caslick, Desi Miller and Faitala Moleka.
As the game concluded, with the Wallaroos beating the Eagles 27-19, I joined many others, including young women and families, in heading home before the Brumbies match started.
There were more people walking in the other direction - but perhaps they would have gotten in earlier if only they'd known what they were missing out on.
Parkas on, comfortable shoes, and all the excitement of walking through the graffitied tunnel from O'Connor to Canberra Stadium.
It was the first time my friend and I were to properly watch a rugby union game.
Before Saturday night, I thought Brumbies was spelt Brumby's, a dummy was for babies, and a drop goal is what I do to New Year's resolutions.
That all changed thanks to American social media star, the glamorous Ilona Maher. She was in Canberra to play for the USA Eagles in a Test against Australia's Wallaroos on Saturday night.
Maher has 5 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million on TikTok. Her legions of fans love her for advocating for women in sport and body positivity. She is possibly the world's most famous rugby player.
So imagine our surprise when my friend sent me the ticket and the women's match wasn't mentioned at all.
"ACT BRUMBIES, 19:35PM," it said.
We wanted to watch the Wallaroos play against the USA Eagles, but our tickets only mentioned the succeeding Brumbies game against the Queensland Reds.
That was the first time I realised the Brumbies, the ACT's male rugby union team, was playing on Saturday night as well.
Had we bought tickets to the wrong game? My friend called Canberra Stadium to check.
Admittedly, it was not the Wallaroos we were interested in, but the big social media star on the other side.
Even with a superstar like Maher to draw crowds, and a recent pay increase for Australia's female players, the national women's team was treated like the opening act to the local men's one.
The Brumbies match actually recorded its highest home crowd in six years that night - without a doubt due to the fans who turned up to watch Maher.
Her celebrity status transcends the sporting field, and we'll never know what portion of the crowd turned up just because of Maher, or the preceding women's game, because those people were technically buying Brumbies tickets.
People turned to social media to complain about the promotion of the women's match.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
I understand Rugby Australia was very keen to use Maher to promote the game, the Wallaroos and women's rugby in general. Maher (or at least Eagles team management) declined interview requests from media.
When Maher announced herself in Canberra (via Instagram of course), her post quickly garnered attention and more than 112,000 likes. Her Australia and Canberra-based fans were shocked she was in the capital.
And with women's sport gaining a bigger audience and stars like Maher inviting interest from a new cohort, the least Rugby Australia can do is sell tickets with both matches on them.
The crowd was full of Maher love - signs scattered throughout and cheers and shouts of "I love you, Ilona" whenever she was flashed on the big screen.
Anna Scares decided to shoot her shot, holding a cardboard sign saying: "Ilona Maher-ry me?'
"One of the great things about Ilona is that she sends a message of body positivity that you can be beautiful at any size, that strong is beautiful," Scares told me.
Like my friend and I, Siobhan Smith was at her first rugby game thanks to Maher. "I would happily come to heaps more women's games," she said.
The Wallaroos are ranked sixth in the world, two spots higher than the men's national team, the Wallabies (and yes, I had to Google the men's team name).
And as I learnt on Saturday, we have our own female rugby stars like Charlotte Caslick, Desi Miller and Faitala Moleka.
As the game concluded, with the Wallaroos beating the Eagles 27-19, I joined many others, including young women and families, in heading home before the Brumbies match started.
There were more people walking in the other direction - but perhaps they would have gotten in earlier if only they'd known what they were missing out on.
Parkas on, comfortable shoes, and all the excitement of walking through the graffitied tunnel from O'Connor to Canberra Stadium.
It was the first time my friend and I were to properly watch a rugby union game.
Before Saturday night, I thought Brumbies was spelt Brumby's, a dummy was for babies, and a drop goal is what I do to New Year's resolutions.
That all changed thanks to American social media star, the glamorous Ilona Maher. She was in Canberra to play for the USA Eagles in a Test against Australia's Wallaroos on Saturday night.
Maher has 5 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million on TikTok. Her legions of fans love her for advocating for women in sport and body positivity. She is possibly the world's most famous rugby player.
So imagine our surprise when my friend sent me the ticket and the women's match wasn't mentioned at all.
"ACT BRUMBIES, 19:35PM," it said.
We wanted to watch the Wallaroos play against the USA Eagles, but our tickets only mentioned the succeeding Brumbies game against the Queensland Reds.
That was the first time I realised the Brumbies, the ACT's male rugby union team, was playing on Saturday night as well.
Had we bought tickets to the wrong game? My friend called Canberra Stadium to check.
Admittedly, it was not the Wallaroos we were interested in, but the big social media star on the other side.
Even with a superstar like Maher to draw crowds, and a recent pay increase for Australia's female players, the national women's team was treated like the opening act to the local men's one.
The Brumbies match actually recorded its highest home crowd in six years that night - without a doubt due to the fans who turned up to watch Maher.
Her celebrity status transcends the sporting field, and we'll never know what portion of the crowd turned up just because of Maher, or the preceding women's game, because those people were technically buying Brumbies tickets.
People turned to social media to complain about the promotion of the women's match.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
I understand Rugby Australia was very keen to use Maher to promote the game, the Wallaroos and women's rugby in general. Maher (or at least Eagles team management) declined interview requests from media.
When Maher announced herself in Canberra (via Instagram of course), her post quickly garnered attention and more than 112,000 likes. Her Australia and Canberra-based fans were shocked she was in the capital.
And with women's sport gaining a bigger audience and stars like Maher inviting interest from a new cohort, the least Rugby Australia can do is sell tickets with both matches on them.
The crowd was full of Maher love - signs scattered throughout and cheers and shouts of "I love you, Ilona" whenever she was flashed on the big screen.
Anna Scares decided to shoot her shot, holding a cardboard sign saying: "Ilona Maher-ry me?'
"One of the great things about Ilona is that she sends a message of body positivity that you can be beautiful at any size, that strong is beautiful," Scares told me.
Like my friend and I, Siobhan Smith was at her first rugby game thanks to Maher. "I would happily come to heaps more women's games," she said.
The Wallaroos are ranked sixth in the world, two spots higher than the men's national team, the Wallabies (and yes, I had to Google the men's team name).
And as I learnt on Saturday, we have our own female rugby stars like Charlotte Caslick, Desi Miller and Faitala Moleka.
As the game concluded, with the Wallaroos beating the Eagles 27-19, I joined many others, including young women and families, in heading home before the Brumbies match started.
There were more people walking in the other direction - but perhaps they would have gotten in earlier if only they'd known what they were missing out on.
Parkas on, comfortable shoes, and all the excitement of walking through the graffitied tunnel from O'Connor to Canberra Stadium.
It was the first time my friend and I were to properly watch a rugby union game.
Before Saturday night, I thought Brumbies was spelt Brumby's, a dummy was for babies, and a drop goal is what I do to New Year's resolutions.
That all changed thanks to American social media star, the glamorous Ilona Maher. She was in Canberra to play for the USA Eagles in a Test against Australia's Wallaroos on Saturday night.
Maher has 5 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million on TikTok. Her legions of fans love her for advocating for women in sport and body positivity. She is possibly the world's most famous rugby player.
So imagine our surprise when my friend sent me the ticket and the women's match wasn't mentioned at all.
"ACT BRUMBIES, 19:35PM," it said.
We wanted to watch the Wallaroos play against the USA Eagles, but our tickets only mentioned the succeeding Brumbies game against the Queensland Reds.
That was the first time I realised the Brumbies, the ACT's male rugby union team, was playing on Saturday night as well.
Had we bought tickets to the wrong game? My friend called Canberra Stadium to check.
Admittedly, it was not the Wallaroos we were interested in, but the big social media star on the other side.
Even with a superstar like Maher to draw crowds, and a recent pay increase for Australia's female players, the national women's team was treated like the opening act to the local men's one.
The Brumbies match actually recorded its highest home crowd in six years that night - without a doubt due to the fans who turned up to watch Maher.
Her celebrity status transcends the sporting field, and we'll never know what portion of the crowd turned up just because of Maher, or the preceding women's game, because those people were technically buying Brumbies tickets.
People turned to social media to complain about the promotion of the women's match.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
I understand Rugby Australia was very keen to use Maher to promote the game, the Wallaroos and women's rugby in general. Maher (or at least Eagles team management) declined interview requests from media.
When Maher announced herself in Canberra (via Instagram of course), her post quickly garnered attention and more than 112,000 likes. Her Australia and Canberra-based fans were shocked she was in the capital.
And with women's sport gaining a bigger audience and stars like Maher inviting interest from a new cohort, the least Rugby Australia can do is sell tickets with both matches on them.
The crowd was full of Maher love - signs scattered throughout and cheers and shouts of "I love you, Ilona" whenever she was flashed on the big screen.
Anna Scares decided to shoot her shot, holding a cardboard sign saying: "Ilona Maher-ry me?'
"One of the great things about Ilona is that she sends a message of body positivity that you can be beautiful at any size, that strong is beautiful," Scares told me.
Like my friend and I, Siobhan Smith was at her first rugby game thanks to Maher. "I would happily come to heaps more women's games," she said.
The Wallaroos are ranked sixth in the world, two spots higher than the men's national team, the Wallabies (and yes, I had to Google the men's team name).
And as I learnt on Saturday, we have our own female rugby stars like Charlotte Caslick, Desi Miller and Faitala Moleka.
As the game concluded, with the Wallaroos beating the Eagles 27-19, I joined many others, including young women and families, in heading home before the Brumbies match started.
There were more people walking in the other direction - but perhaps they would have gotten in earlier if only they'd known what they were missing out on.