International Women’s Week: Alexandra Lyons

At UWA Sport, we are committed to providing everyone equality of opportunity, experience and outcome.

We #ChooseToChallenge the equality of sport for women all around the world. We are celebrating IWD this year by featuring our sporting game-changers, kicking off with Alexandra Lyons from UWA Nedlands F.C.

I’m Alexandra Lyons, also known throughout UWA-Nedlands FC as ‘Ritchie’. I’ve been playing soccer since I was 9 years old back in Albany and have been at UWANFC since I moved to Perth for uni in 2014. Alongside being a player, I’ve also been a referee, a coach, and an administrator. As I write this, I’m watching a game of AFLW on TV – something I never imagined could happen as a 9-year-old starting organised sport for the first time.

The importance of International Women’s Day for me is about mostly about the conversations it prompts – it reminds us of what progress has been made, but also helps our society reflect on what still needs to be done. I play a male dominated sport, and work in a male dominated industry, and IWD is important to build visibility of the achievements of women across the world.

Being a female in soccer and engineering has always come with some extra challenges that aren’t always visible from the outside. Playing in mixed teams growing up meant that I always felt a need to prove to people why I deserved to be there (often as the only girl). Soccer is an old, traditional sport, and the women’s game is less mature than the men’s – which often leads to instances of structural inequality in club and governing body setups. The same goes for male-dominated industries such as engineering. Overcoming these challenges requires representation at the decision making level, and increased promotion and visibility of the female game. Simple ways clubs can do this is by using their social media to promote their men’s and women’s teams equally – often people just aren’t aware of what we’re doing!

I’m really proud of the big steps forward that UWANFC has made in the last two years in truly providing equal conditions across our male and female pathways and tiers, particularly at the higher levels of competitions where we would be one of the only clubs in Perth to provide that equality.

Early on in my sporting days, I learnt that no-one cares about your success more than you do (and this applies to the workplace as well). No-one is going to hand opportunities to you, and how far you go depends on your own work ethic, resilience, and tenacity. When you’re a female in sport, that goes double, as we have structural barriers that other athletes and workers don’t. At this point, you need to use that work ethic, resilience, and tenacity to get yourself a seat at the decision-making table, and find yourself a team of champions and advocates, both male and female. Gradually, through inspiring successful athletes and local grassroot administrator advocates, we are building a world in which AFLW is televised, and girls can see professional sport as a legitimate career pathway – and that’s a world I’m excited to live in.