Layla Arrison has been catapulted into sports broadcasting as she has graced the SuperSport screens becoming its first female English rugby commentator. Arrison is someone who knows a thing or two about being a pioneer in the industry she finds herself in.
She was a trailblazer during her rugby career at Maties in 2018 where she was part of a group of players that got the sport off the ground at Stellenbosch University. They initially trained on a volleyball sand pit .She went on to play for the Springbok Women’s Sevens Invitational team as well as women’s rugby powerhouse the Bulls Daisies. Arrison is again breaking new ground again with her television achievements.
Like most sportswomen, Arrison played more than one code and for her, it was rugby and cricket. She says that one afternoon after a cricket game her dad said she needed to choose one of the two sports. At the time the former rugby player was already on TV and unbeknownst to her she this would be where her journey to sports broadcasting would start.
“My first TV moment was in 2015 when I was cast on a show on Kyknet and my dad said, as you are in cricket, should I get you in touch with Kass Naidoo to have that conversation about being on screen? I shrugged it off and I said ‘Yes’, but wasn’t really sure because I was determined to be a fully fledged athlete at that time.”
SuperSport’s First Female English-Language Rugby Commentator, Layla Arrison
“It’s funny how life does full circle and brings you back to a place that initially wasn’t your road and because life is incredibly funny in a completely different sport code it gets me back to it. The seed (to become a broadcaster) was planted in my mind but I didn’t think that I would go with it or that life would lead me there and it did in such a strange way.”
Arrison finds it hard to believe that her career led her to where she is now.
“I always wanted to be a voice for women in sport or a voice for women’s rugby in the country and internationally and now I quite literally have that opportunity.”
“I always knew that I could do more for the sport and for women’s sport outside the four lines that especially in the time that I was playing, women’s rugby wasn’t a thing,” says Arrison. “Now we’re getting to a point where I was never going to play until this age, and now I can contribute in a much bigger way, and I think that was always supposed to be my path.”
The former teenage actor says being thrust in front of the camera has given her the necessary skills to do her job as a broadcaster. She says acting allowed her to grow up a lot quicker and mature from a young age.
“I had to balance, school, sport, homework, exams, and shooting almost 12 hours a day in grade 9 and grade 10 which is a very weird and strange time in your schooling career. It allowed me to grow up very quickly and it allowed me to become responsible but also to realise that people count on you for certain things. Now stepping into the broadcast world where people do count on me not to mess up.”
“I carry a lot of what 15-16-year-old Layla had to go through with me into this. I am forever grateful to the people who gave me the opportunity when I was 15-16 because I don’t think, I had not gone through that I would have never known television would be something I would want to do. Now I get to do it and I hope I can be a role model for girls at school to see that this is something that they can do.”
Arrison shared that it was two women who piqued her interest in sports broadcasting and it’s none other than former gsport Award winner and 2024 gsport Presenter Squad member Cato Louw along with the incomparable Motshidisi Mohono. Arrison says her now SuperSport colleagues paved the way for her to join the industry.
“As I got older, when I hit 19 or 20, it was Cato Louw and Motshidisi Mohono that you saw in women’s rugby, and my life started changing, and I was becoming more rugby-focused. Those are the two voices and faces that we heard and we saw and I owe everything to them in the rugby space because they went through tough times being the first women in the rugby space.”
“If they hadn’t gone through that, it wouldn’t have given me the opportunity to now be able to do what I do. So I want to be the Cato, the Mots for the girls coming through. I want to be able to say that I am the first English female rugby analyst that SuperSport has ever had but I was the one that opened that door for future female analysts to come through. They crawled so that I could fly.”
Arrison is thrilled by the amount of women who are now joining sports broadcasting. She believes the industry is in such a good space where women are becoming the faces and the voices that you see as soon as you turn the TV on.
“It takes us out of the norm and it forces people out of the norm. It forces people to realise that we are not going to just sit around the table we are going to have a voice around the table and we are going to become the first choices around the table, which I think is brilliant to see. We are in such a good space that we are all building each other up, no one is trying to put the other one down, and we are not trying to block a way for another person. How much can we help each other grow because we understand what it means to not have those opportunities and want to be able to create those opportunities for others?”
She added that she wants to see women on screens become a normality rather than a rarity. “We are in such a positive space now, people will have their say and not want to see a female on TV or female in a male-dominated industry but it’s going to become the norm.”
“I don’t want it to become a thing of saying I can’t believe Layla is there or I can’t believe there is a woman there,” says Arrison. “I want people to say why aren’t they there, why haven’t you put women onscreen next to the men? That is the point that I want us to get to, and I think we are slowly getting traction in that.”
The former Bulls Daisies player says one of the key lessons sports broadcasting has taught her is to believe in herself especially when the nerves kick in.
“I need to back myself like how other people back me. I still step into spaces and fell like I don’t belong there or I don’t think I am good enough or I don’t have as much experience as the other guys around me.”
“Also realising that I have been put in these spaces because people feel that I am good enough and that I am the only one that is holding me back. You learn a lot of self-love and not the arrogant cocky type but being able to understand that we are good enough to be in these spaces.”
“I am also just a drop in a puddle. What I am doing now is such a small and minute part of what is going to become the biggest thing in sports broadcasting. I need to always be better than the person next to me because they don’t want women in sports, I always have to work harder,” says Arrison.
“It’s working hard, staying on top of your game, researching more than anyone else has to research, doing more courses, and always that hunger and drive and want to be better every time you step inside the camera.”
She is hoping 2025 brings her more success as she looks to be part of more rugby tournaments and would like to be an African representative at the Rugby World Cup next year.
“From a SuperSport point of view, it’s just to start doing the bigger tournaments. I did my first challenge cup game, so (i would like to do) more Challenge Cup’s, and more Champions Cup’s games. United Rugby Championship games, and to be a more recognisable face in these competitions. Just to grow strength by strength and do the big studio stuff, do the bigger international games.”
“I got the awesome opportunity to do the Rugby Championship in 2024 which was incredible. Just to remain at that level of professionalism so that I get invited back. There’s a Women’s Rugby World Cup and so to be able to go to that. They have never had an African voice in the Women’s Rugby World Cup and I think 2025 is going to be the biggest World Cup there has ever been if we see how many tickets were sold. So definitely to be a part of that is a goal. Also to one day be a voice at the Olympics as I was never able to be there as an athlete.”
Arrison’s advice to women who are looking to join the sports broadcasting industry is to always believe in yourself in order to have the confidence that you will need to succeed.
“My biggest thing is always to work hard and back myself and this is without a doubt the top two things that I have to say, it’s not arrogance but rather confidence. To remember where you come from and remain humble but to be able to walk into the space and own the space. Also, hard work beats talent. I am blessed with the right tools to do what I do but I always have to sharpen those tools and I always have to be better.”
She had this simple message for sportswomen and women in sport for 2025: “Be bolder, be louder, and take up space!”
Main Photo Caption: Layla Arrison has been catapulted into sports broadcasting as she has graced the SuperSport screens becoming its first female English rugby commentator. Arrison is someone who knows a thing or two about being a pioneer in the industry she finds herself in. All Photos: Supplied
Photo 2 Caption: Arrison’s advice to women looking to join the sports broadcasting industry: Always believe in yourself, to have the confidence that you will need to succeed.”
Photo 3 Caption: Arrison tells gsport: ““My biggest thing is to work hard and back myself, and this is without a doubt the top two things, it’s not arrogance, but rather confidence!”
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