Two years ago, I celebrated International Women’s Day commentating at the Pakistan Super League with a wonderful crew, including leading women broadcasters from around the world. We reflected on how far women in sport have come and we were excited for the years to follow and the further advancements to come. But we weren’t ready for what was to come!
Happy International Women’s Day from all of us in Rawalpindi ❤️How things have changed in cricket broadcasting 🙏 Let’s continue to drive inclusion and diversity 🙌#tayyarhain @nancy_woodpekha @erinvholland @LiquiSue #IWD2020 #hblpslv pic.twitter.com/wnHgD1qppR
— Kass Naidoo (@KassNaidoo) March 8, 2020
Fast forward to a few days later and everything changed. Covid-19 hit, and the world of sport was rocked to its core. As borders closed around the world and live sport came to a standstill, I arrived back home in South Africa and had to make a big call on the work we do at gsport.
How do we still continue operating when the majority of what did centred around live sport? Previews, reviews, match reports… these were no longer possible. We quickly gathered around and started throwing ideas around.
After a while it became clear that there was no way we could shut down operations. We needed to keep up our support of women’s sport and do something every day to raise the profile of our athletes to ensure that when things returned to normal, we could seamlessly pick up where we left off.
We decided to tell one story a day to keep up our efforts in closing the visibility gap. At first, it was hard. Everyone was hit and with the shutting down of live sport, women in sport had very little to celebrate, but we encouraged them to find pockets of sunshine and inspire others to keep going.
This blog, which I penned last year on 16 March, recaps the strides we made after a year of coming good on this commitment.
Today, I want to look back on how a further year of daily commitment in 2021 changed the game for gsport and set us up on path of ensuring that we continue to be the leading media and recognition platform for women’s sport in South Africa and on the continent.
Signing Nine gsport Partners
The work put in to consolidate our learnings over the past 15 years and building a commercial case for gsport paid off handsomely in 2021 as we secured nine partners for the Momentum gsport Awards. This included a three-year renewal with Momentum; a first-ever research partnership with Nielsen Sports South Africa; securing Imperial as Naming Rights partner to the African Woman in Sport award category; Sasol, who took up the Global Woman in Sport award; Telkom, who became the Naming Rights partner to the Woman of the Year award, and a key partner to the Momentum powered gsport Newsroom. We also signed SuperSport as the exclusive broadcast partner to this premier event, allowing us to showcase the event to an eager audience.
These partnerships came at a time when the industry was shedding sponsors and sporting programs were struggling to stay afloat. It goes to show how a steely focused attitude backed up by strong teamwork can result in real success.
Momentum Renews Headline Sponsorship of gsport Awards for a Further Three Years
Nielsen Sports South Africa and gsport Partner in Strategic Move for Women’s Sport in Africa
#Newsflash! Telkom Partners with gsport to Celebrate Women in Sport
Hosting Back-to-Back In-Person Momentum gsport Awards
The signing of these partners ensured that, for the second year running, and despite the impact of Covid-19, we were able to host back-to-back in-person Momentum gsport Awards events.
In 2020, we were limited to inviting only the winners to the awards but in 2021, through clever organising and the use of multiple venue spaces, we were able to accommodate winners, sponsors, and a full broadcast team, allowing us to produce a top-class TV product to set the event up for the future years to come.
Elevating the gsport Newsroom
Renewing the Momentum partnership for a further three years which included Momentum taking over the Naming Rights to the gsport Newsroom and encouraging Telkom to see value in also backing South Africa’s only 24-hour women’s sport media coverage provider, ensured that we could up our game in how we cover women’s sport. We now have correspondents in provinces outside Gauteng, including North West, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape. The aim is to have a presence in all nine provinces by the end of 2022.
Growing #gsportAfrica Chapter
Securing Imperial as the Naming Rights Partner to the African Woman in Sport category allowed us to invest in the growth of the #gsportAfrica chapter by appointing our first ever correspondent on the African correspondent. The role of Tatenda Gondo in amplifying coverage of African women in sport will positively impact the quality of nominations when it comes to celebrating women in sport in Africa.
Publishing a Stand-Alone Netball Supplement in M&G
Our partnership with Mail & Guardian, which came together in 2020, has allowed gsport to impact the coverage of women’s sport in mainstream media. In October 2021, we published our first ever netball supplement in the paper when we celebrated the success of the Telkom Netball League. We went a step further by hosting a Supplement handover party when we got to present the supplement to competition winners, the Gauteng Jaguars.
Making #GAL2021 Bigger and Better
In 2019, we launched the gsport Annual List, the first ever newsmakers event for women’s sport. We invested in it for two years by hosting an intimate lunch for around 20 guests. In 2021, through support of Momentum and other partners, we elevated #GAL2021 to a proper media event, where we unveiled the Top 10 Newsmakers of the Year, attracting leading sports media, who showed their sincere support for an event that is set to grow in stature in the coming years. Yet again, M&G came on board to produce a top-class supplement to celebrate increased mainstream media coverage.
Appointing Our First Ever #gsportGlobal Correspondent
Last week, on the eve of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, we announced the appointment of former Indian professional cricketer turned journalist, Ananya Upendran, as our first ever #gsportGlobal correspondent. Having launched our global chapter back in 2019, and with the support of our partners, we felt it was time to inject some resources into closing the gap between Africa and the rest of the world.
#gsportGlobal Receives Timely Boost Ahead of ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup
The gsport Newsroom at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup
I have been fortunate to be booked by the International Cricket Council to commentate on the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. This has allowed me the opportunity to represent gsport here and ensure that the Momentum powered gsport Newsroom in partnership with Telkom has a front row seat to the Momentum Proteas campaign as they go in search of that elusive World Cup win.
Calm before the storm in Dunedin 🏏
Are you ready to see the #MomentumProteas take to the field in New Zealand? #CWC22 #AlwaysRising @Momentum_za pic.twitter.com/OCWcl2jPS7
— gsport4girls (@gsport4girls) March 4, 2022
As we observe International Women’s Day 2022, I look back on a year of amazing advancements, and I know that none of this would be possible, if we didn’t make a decision nearly two years ago, to keep the fire burning and commit to daily action, despite Covid-19 threatening to spoil the party.
Women’s sport has come too far for us to throw in the towel. We are committed to daily action to raise the profile of women’s sport and encourage greater corporate support. Ultimately, it’s about women’s sport turning professional and entities like gsport playing our part to close the visibility gap.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Photo 1 Caption: Momentum’s Head of Brand Marketing, Charlotte Nsubuga-Mukasa (pictured left), Momentum Proteas captain and #GAL2021 Newsmaker of the Year, Dané van Niekerk (pictured middle) and gsport Founder, Kass Naidoo (pictured right) at the 2021 gsport Annual List event at Radisson Red Hotel in Johannesburg. Photo: gsport
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