The Fight for Equality in Sports
Ripley, not her real name, is sifting through messages in the inbox of the Instagram account she co-founded, Not All Clubs. “Honestly, our DMs are an absolute dumpster fire,” she told Jo Trilling on 102.5 ABC Radio Perth.
Not All Clubs is a group that aims to highlight inequality in sports by sharing stories about discrimination and neglect. One post features a men’s sport podcast where a host says, “I would beat the f*** out of them” while discussing a group of female sports content creators. Another story reveals a convicted domestic violence offender appointed to a Western Australian sporting club committee.
Further down the feed, there’s an article about girls’ netball teams in country Victoria being barred from playing because the boys couldn’t field a footy team. Ripley, who played state-level AFL, wants players who experience exclusion, intimidation or abuse to know they are not alone.
“We want to be a space where we amplify the voices so people know that they aren’t by themselves, they’re not experiencing this on their own and that together we can hopefully implement a lot of change,” she said.
Message after message on the same themes appear — women and girls who play sport do not have enough facilities, sponsorship or support.
“We’ve had people message us and say their football pre-season training was meant to take place in some cricket nets,” Ripley said.
“We’ve had people message us and tell us that the club has organised the main event, the big gala event, and it’s on the same night as when they play two hours away. The gala starts at seven and their game’s not till five.”
“We have people messaging us saying that they have coaches that are abusive, that are sexist, that are overtly racist and when they bring this attention to those clubs, they’re basically met ‘what you’re complaining about is not really a big deal,’” she said.
For safety, and to lessen the risk of defamation, the founders of Not All Clubs operate under pseudonyms, keep their sources anonymous and don’t name clubs. “It’s more for us to highlight that these are systemic issues and not that it is one individual club,” Ripley said.
Not All Clubs only references specific organisations when they are already well documented in the media.
Wear Red for Gender-Based Violence
This weekend is the Wear Red round, an initiative Not All Clubs started in 2025 to raise awareness of gender-based violence. Any team from any code can take part by wearing two red armbands during their game and sharing a photo to social media.
“One is to honour the women who have been lost or killed by gender-based violence. And the other one is to drive accountability at sporting clubs,” Ripley said.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, there were 48 female victims of domestic homicide in 2024–25. In 2026 so far, 29 Australian women have been killed as a result of murder, manslaughter or neglect, according to Australian Femicide Watch.
Ripley says cultural issues that enable gender-based violence can have their roots in community sport. “We want to bring awareness to this and hopefully educate the men how to behave, how to be allies and teach the women how to fight for equality for themselves,” she said.
‘Custodians of the Game’
While there is power in individuals sharing their stories, Ripley is calling on state and national sporting bodies to be accountable at all levels. “Because it’s not a good look when you’ve got a racist coach out representing your game. It’s not good when you have a sexist person who is involved in the community club,” she said.
“As individuals, we take a bit of responsibility and we want to work together to make things better. But yes, some government input would be fantastic, particularly in the form of funds. But I do think that the sporting organisations need to take a little bit of responsibility for what is happening within their sports.”
