Telegraph Women's Sport

“If the people who have the power to put money into women’s sport all saw it for what it is, which is an investment and not a cost, that change in mindset would make a huge difference.”

That is a snippet from the activism episode of the Telegraph Women’s Sport Podcast. It is also a fitting description of how the Telegraph has committed to increasing the depth and breadth of its women’s sport coverage over the past four years, with the podcast a new addition to an already strong offering across print and digital channels.

The podcast, which launched in the summer of 2023, delves into the issues that affect sportswomen, from periods to anterior cruciate ligament injuries to motherhood to diversity in coaching, and garners the views of athletes themselves as well as experts in the field.

As podcast host Sam Quek, the Olympic gold medallist, says: “Although I’ve experienced everything we talk about in the different episodes at some point in my career, hearing about so many other people’s perspectives is fascinating, inspiring and warming. I’m learning so much.”

Telegraph Women’s Sport highlights such topics to readers as well as listeners. Take the September edition of its monthly Women’s Sport supplement: The kiss that changed football. Focusing on the fallout from Luis Rubiales’s actions at the Women’s World Cup final, TWS writers highlighted the wider impact of the scandal, from Spain’s MeToo moment to the need for change in the highest echelons of football administration. The article 'Marginalised, groped and abused: Life for women in football' also raised awareness of sexism across the game with first-person accounts from players, administrators and coaches, including a seven-year-old girl who said: “The boys don’t pass to me. It makes me feel sad.” Through the Telegraph’s Diversity and Inclusion Work Experience programme, Daisy Ruddock joined the TWS team for a fortnight and investigated the experiences of female athletes becoming mothers, unearthing numerous failures relating to how they are treated both during and after pregnancy.

The impact of the work TWS has done in shining a spotlight on the unique challenges women in sport face has also been clear in 2023. In April it was announced that the Lionesses would switch from white shorts to blue after Telegraph Sport first raised players’ concerns of leaks while on their periods during the previous year’s European Championship. The Telegraph had set the agenda on the topic, also discussing anxieties over kit in other sports, and the change in shorts story was the lead on page three of the newspaper, illustrating the Telegraph’s commitment to women’s sport. That is also shown in its coverage of live events. For example, the Telegraph had three journalists at Stadium Australia for the Women’s World Cup final and staffed every match of the Women’s Six Nations and Women’s Ashes. From the sport itself to the issues around it, TWS has everything covered.