Caroline Wilson addresses sexism in sport

Fairfax sports journalist and Footy Classified presenter Caroline Wilson has spoken about sexism in sport whilst delivering the Andrew Olle Media Lecture last night in Sydney.

Wilson said she felt sick after media personality and Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire and a group of commentators joked on a Melbourne radio station about holding her head under water for $50,000.

“Although I mentioned it on a regular radio segment the following day, the issue was glossed over until a group of women podcasters called the Outer Sanctum addressed the comments,” Wilson said of that 2016 incident.

“My own thoughts were complex but it was important as someone who is seen as strong and even tough to admit to feeling humiliated.”

McGuire later apologised.

Wilson said it is now more important than ever for those in the media to think before speaking.

“Especially now that facts more often go unchecked and immediacy is everything,” she said.

Wilson also used the lecture to slam former Geelong ruckman Sam Newman, a former long-time presenter on Channel Nine’s The Footy Show.

In 2008, he attempted to mock her by putting a photo of her face to a lingerie-wearing mannequin.

“I was criticised for taking that episode so personally and speaking up about it to colleagues and bosses at Channel Nine,” Wilson said.

“My own newspaper said nothing to me about it for a week.”

She also noted, “If Australians get the media they deserve and sport is a microcosm of life as well as a key stakeholder then the game that has punctuated so much of my career and my life — Australian rules football — has reflected that progress.”

Andrew Olle Media Lecture 11am Saturday on ABC.

Source: ABC Fairfax
Photo: Twitter