Sound the patronising alarm!
Cricket Australia has signed Fox Sports News presenter Lee Furlong as its “female ambassador”.
You see, she’s a woman. So she can explain the rules of cricket to women. Who would love cricket if only they could get their silly little heads around it. And if a man explained it to them they’d probably get distracted.
I don’t know anything about Lee Furlong. But one of our best performing and most consistent sporting teams over the years has been the Australian Women’s cricket team, so surely one of those women would be a better ambassador if the ACB really think they need a female voice?
Given that she’s a WAG – Shane Watson’s partner – this makes sense. But I do like Rascal’s suggestion! Belinda Clark (first double-century in an ODI) or Karen Rolton would be fantastic!
You will find that CA has also appointed three CommBank Southern Stars as female ambassadors for cricket.
Jodie Fields, Alex Blackwell and Ellyse Perry.
Perry is a freak. She has represented Australia in both cricket and soccer !
So she can explain the rules of cricket to women? Does CA think that women not understanding the rules of one of the worlds most boring games is their biggest problem at the moment?
Is the the 14th hole at the Lakes golf course in Sydney ?
While Rascal does make a good suggestion, there’s more to television presenting than having an understanding of sport. Lee Furlong has excellent on-camera skill which qualifies her foremost for an on-camera role!
Calm down, it’s the worlds most boring sport.
Don’t want to learn the rules, then I’ll have to care and be even more bored.
I’d have to agree with Rascal. While Lee may have good camera presence, a good cricket commentator is one that can also comment on technique of the players and the on-field strategies of the teams not just the rules. It will be itneresting nonetheless to see how Channel 9 utilise her. Let’s hope it’s not to make inane remarks that the broadcaster thinks women want to hear.
Fair shout from CatintheHat, but I was thinking a) Could it be the 3rd at the Australian? and b) Already forgotten what she was talking about as I’ve got to book a tee time…. So much for the promotion of cricket….
Pretty sure it is the Lakes. Played it at a property industry corporate day years ago where they had built a three story scaffolding tower as the tee off.
This cameraman is an artistic genius!
See how he has Lee out of focus, but the background in focus and sharp? Do you know how hard that is to acheive??
Give this man an award!
I know nothing about cricket and would rather have Lee explain it to me than some boring old duffer like tubby taylor. But I’m not a woman.
I’m not a woman but correct me if I’m wrong; there was nothing in that clip that would constitute a compelling reason for a woman to drop everything and watch let alone go to a cricket match. In my books…..a fail.
Agree with Matthew, nothing compelling in that clip at all to increase women’s engagement with the game.
Hopefully this isn’t the only thing CA are doing to increase cricket’s appeal to females given what their research has told them. As I doubt that a few ambassadors with a blog and a spot on the Channel 9 commentary team is going to get many women talking about and interested in cricket on a day-to-day, season-to-season basis…given these women aren’t really watching or taking an interest in cricket…
CA might want to look to their grass roots / community programs and create specific marketing programs that target those already attached to cricket (mum’s, girlfriends,) and those participating in relevant physical activity (school girls) initially…then use these engaged women as local CA brand ambassadors to spread the word to friends and family that cricket is a great social experience for us chicks.
There was some mention of Lee hosting high tea’s at internationals in an article but again how does CA propose to extend the reach of this campaign so that it reaches women / girls at a community level which is ultimately what they have to do if they are going to increase both their gate and viewership numbers over time from both a female and ultimately male perspective given we tend to influence how a family’s spare time is utilised.
Maybe they should have had Lee talk a little bit more about the overall plans for the summer marketing campaign in her video rather than the importance of understanding rules as a way to drive engagement…if anything all this did was create a tie-in to her other ambassorship with the website She Knows The Rules.