Kate O`Halloran is a Victorian sports journalist and former cricketer. She hosts the AFLW radio show Kick Like a Girl on Mondays from 12pm to 1pm on RRR. If the 2020 AFLW offseason was marked by difficult collective bargaining, where a significant minority of players insisted that a vision of the speed of competition could be professionalized, this seemed to be the culmination of a crisis. And contrary to Matthews` guess, these measures have been strongly supported by men who Play these sports, such as Socceroos captain Mark Milligan. The media coverage that followed indicated that a solution could be found in the form of a collective agreement between the men`s and women`s competitions – the AFLPA having presented the idea to the clubs. But while the idea of splitting income between men and women may be detestable for Matthews, it`s common in other sports in Australia, such deals, both in cricket and football, resulting in huge pay increases for the respective women`s national teams and giving names like Ellyse Perry and Sam Kerr the opportunity to work full-time. If the parties still fail to reach an agreement, the use of litigation is likely to be more likely and could have significant repercussions on both organisations and on the management of professional team sport in Australia, as this would be the first time that the legality of a salary cap (one of the key points of the dispute) has been challenged in Australian courts.5 Our female sports stars are the brightest. So why hasn`t there been a corresponding increase in media coverage of women`s sport, Hinds asks. Rugby Union in Australia has been looking at a collectivist model of labour relations since the advent of professionalism in 1995. In other words, wages and conditions of employment were set through collective bargaining between the various Australian sports unions (employers) and the Rugby Players` Association.

Two collective agreements have been negotiated at the Australian Rugby Union. This report examines the rise of players` associations in professional team sport, both in Australia and abroad, the particular circumstances that together gave rise to the collectivist model of the Australian Rugby Union and the content of the two collective agreements. . . .