Radha Lath Gupta: “I Would Describe Myself as An Advocate for Women in Sport”

Radha Lath Gupta is a FIFA-accredited freelance sports journalist, who is currently covering the U17 World Cup in India.

Gupta started a platform called SheTalksBall, with the intention of creating digital content, coverage and conversation around women in sport. It is now a media accredited platform that can be found on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and OneFootball.

Speaking with Oarabile Diphoko, Gupta takes us through her journey into the sport industry and some of the work she has been involved in to date.

Radha, for people who don’t know who you are and what you do as a profession, how would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as an advocate for women in sport and that could mean a variety of things. It could mean that I play sport, promote it, and talk about it with my friends. I really love the word advocate because it means that I am actively propagating it. I believe this is something we have to do to more of to bring more people into this space and that’s how we will continue to grow it. This is what I enjoy doing and that’s honestly the best way to describe myself.

Where did your passion for sport, particularly women’s sport start?

It was actually during the first hard lockdown period where I had so much time on my hands and I asked myself, why don’t I sit and read up on people that look like me or talk like me. For example, I only learnt of India’s women football team recently, which is crazy because they have been around for a long time now. Reason behind that is, they never get talked about, nor do they have their games covered. It was then where I realized, surely there is something I can do about this. That’s when I started volunteering at small women’s sport media outlets. It was during this time that I discovered that video content as opposed to written work might be my forté. That’s where I started doing all kinds of different video as something I can present as my portfolio of work. I really like talking and I am good with words but I find video content is more in line of how I want to present my work.

How did you tell your family that you wanted to be a sports journalist?

It is still an ongoing conversation to be honest. I come home and tell them tomorrow I am going to work in a different city, catch a flight and off I go. Even when I come back, a few days later I am off again. In the beginning it was hard for them to understand but because this year has been so good to me, they are a lot more understanding of it. I often share my work in the family group so they get to see what it is that I do. I would like to believe that they saw the passion in my eyes which made it easier for them to accept it.

Tell us a little more about ‘SheTalksBall’.

With SheTalksBall, I felt that there was a lack of representation of female athletes in the media; and being a young adult in sports, I really wanted to see that representation. SheTalksBall is a media accredited platform and has been active in changing the narrative and increasing the coverage and conversation around women in sports.

I thought it was as simple as putting out a Tweet about the next match, or putting out a small video, or a graphic – and I took it upon myself to do my part. I didn’t realize that it would take off as well as it has. Once things opened up following Covid, I did more and more video analysis and I got some really good responses. Since then, one thing has led to another and now I am sitting here at a FIFA World Cup covering our nation and it really does not get any better than that.

Speaking of the U17 FIFA World Cup that is currently happening in your country; how are you finding the tournament?

It has been spectacular. Our team really does not play in such massive tournaments unless we are hosting. A World Cup gets eyes on the girls and questions are asked. My duty at this tournament is to ask the right questions such as why the U17’s only get to play one month in an entire calendar year and the senior teams get to play all year round? This is my 1st year doing live stadium journalism reporting and it has been so special because we have hosted the AFC Asian Cup as well. Something that has never happened in the history of my country is having both these tournaments happen in the same year. This year has been a perfect launch pad to my career and I could not have asked for anything more to get my foot into this industry.

What are some of the things that you still want to achieve with SheTalksBall?

I noticed that football has a larger platform of things I can cover. Hence, I want to keep SheTalksBall strictly about football. I want SheTalksBall to be able to have the power to accreditate people into tournaments. I want to be able to represent my platform at major tournaments and report live from there. However, there is no pressure on that right now as I am happy with where I am and what I have achieved so far with it, so I am not completely worried about it right now.

What do you think us as the media need to do more of to keep shining the light on the amazing women we have in our sport?

We, “media”, hold a lot of power and one of the few things we can do, is what we do well. Talking about these women and the issues we have. Asking the right questions to the right people and demanding answers and holding people accountable. If you talk about something and go to sleep and the next day you wake up and it is still the same, you will be talking about the same thing for days to come.

If you ask a question and you go to sleep, in the morning you are going to have 10 more questions. That is maybe the difference between an average fan and a media person who is heavily invested in creating content for this space. These answers we are searching for help us grow the system. If you have the “it is what it is” mentality, you might as well not cover the event at all. There are a lot of people who rely on people in media who have a certain flare with words and make the difference in terms of raising awareness and that’s the responsibility we carry.

Where do you get your motivation from when you are faced with all the challenges we encounter in this industry?

I have connected with a lot of older female journalists across the world on Twitter and that has helped me a lot. I saw people who were doing what I want to do and I reached out, asked questions and they would reply. I realized that this is a space I never knew existed. Our schools never told us about sports journalism and when I found this space I was absolutely thrilled. I have built relationships with people that have been doing this and their support is what keeps me going. It is very exciting to be part of the growth that this industry has embarked on and I cannot wait to grow within this space alongside it.

What are some of the things you have achieved so far in our career that you can say you are proud of?

Last season I collaborated with Chelsea Football Club for a 6 episode series where I got to interview some of their women players. It was so special that they saw my work and reached out to me. The other thing would be that I received a Woman in Sports grant from the Sports Innovation Lab in the US. They were granting 4 female content creators across the world. To be honest, at first I thought the email sounded like a scam but obviously it was not. Thanks to that grant, I was able to work on some more content, get better equipment and achieved my first media pass to a major tournament. The thing about media passes is that, once you get the first one, it leads to the next one. My credibility has since been improved and my content is well received.

What are your future plans?

I recently graduated this year and I have been doing a lot of freelance work since then. I do want to go back to studying at some point. Looking at SheTalksBall; it will be celebrating its 2nd year in December, and I would like to do something to celebrate that achievement. The momentum that I have built for myself is my biggest win right now and I don’t want to let that go.

How can we as women sports journalists build the next generation?

In every media box that I have been in, has had a maximum of 3 women, myself included, and at least 20 men. There has always been a huge difference in ratio but I have never been intimidated by that because I knew that, when someone scans the media box, I will always standout. You will always be visible. Fortunately or unfortunately there are two sides to it. The fact is, there has not been enough representation for women. If you do it, you will be the first one to encourage others to do it after you. There is enough space and there are enough people who are willing to hold your hand and show you how it is done. All you need to do is come out of your shell and reach out to people who are doing what you would like to do. Take the first step because there will be women who will be there to catch you if you ever fall.

Photo 1 Caption:  Radha Lath Gupta is a FIFA-accredited freelance sports journalist, who is currently covering the U-17 Football World Cup in India. Photo: Supplied