A lot has been said about what a year 2023 has been for women’s sport and South Africa had another chance to witness the year that has been. Cape Town hosted the second leg of this season’s Sevens World Series, when twelve women’s teams battled it out for the top prize between 9-10 December at the DHL Stadium.
The Springbok Women’s side weren’t able to bag a win in the Mother City but there was a glimpse of some good performances during matches which the team can build in the new year. Australia were crowned the eventual champions having won the opening leg in Dubai the previous week. New Zealand were beaten by up and coming side France in the the tournaments semi-finals. The Black Ferns won their bronze final and remain one of the favourites when it comes to Sevens rugby.
gsport spoke to four women Seven’s captains who were in action for their teams in Cape Town. They spoke about how their sport has grown, and how 2023 has closed The Visibility Gap.
Australia captain Charlotte Caslick says her players have been inspired by the various women’s teams from their country, who have been performing well on the international stage in 2023.
“I think the Matildas had a huge impact on women’s sport in Australia, and the interest that has been shown in women’s sport just grew so much during that time. Our netball team won the Netball World Cup in South Africa, which was amazing as well. I guess we have always been quite a successful sporting nation, and it’s great that the girls are leading the way at the moment. Our cricketers, the Matildas, the netball girls and ourselves, our rugby league girls also won a World Cup. We are quite a lucky nation that in a sense that we have so many sports available to us, and great resources to help us be successful, and we hope to follow in the footsteps of the other teams.”
South African Women’s Sevens co-captain Mathrin Simmers says her team has seen how the country has shown their support for the women’s teams in Mzansi this year and says that they want to be on the receiving end of that support too.
“It’s huge for us, this year has been quite amazing with how well the teams did and even the Proteas T20 cricket team.”
“Getting confidence from that and seeing how South Africans are backing them, it feels like we want to be part of that and we want to do well to receive the support from our nation.”
Canada’s captain Olivia Apps says that the profile of women’s sports has certainly benefited from this year and she feels her country is one of the leading nations when it comes to driving the growth of women’s sports.
“It’s been incredible to be part of it, and seeing our women’s soccer team getting gold at the last Olympics and being able to see the excitement of the country backing them. The number of people who watched the women’s 15’s World Cup in those final matches has been super exciting.”
Photo: Alicia Pillay / gsport
“I think we can see in recent years, especially with the Sevens tournaments now being equal with men’s and women’s tournaments, we are seeing less disparity between the sexes and that is incredible and inspiring. I think that we know that there is a lot more that can be done and that we are not just satisfied with equality, but we are satisfied with exposure across the world and empowering female athletes across the world, so being able to do that in Canada is special and hopefully it can continue to go from there.”
New Zealand captain Risi Pouri-Lane says 2023 has impacted her on a positive note on and off the field.
“Definitely for sure, even for myself, to be honest, I never really watched women’s football before the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
“But witnessing them bring a nation together like that, not just for New Zealand but also for Australia and around the world, illustrates the growth of women in sport, which is cool.”
Main Photo caption: A lot has been said about what a year 2023 has been for women’s sport and South Africa got to witness yet another taste of the year that has been when Cape Town hosted the second leg of the IRB’s HSBC World Sevens Series, when Australia emerged champions after 12 women’s teams battled it out for the top prize between December 9-10 at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town. Photo: Alicia Pillay / gsport
Photo 2 caption: Canada captain Olivia Apps chats to gsport about what a year 2023 has been for Women’s Sport. Photo: Alicia Pillay / gsport
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