One Tuesday night in 2016, Nicole Hayes, Alicia Sometimes, Kate Seear and the Race sisters – Emma, Lucy and Felicity — went out for dinner to celebrate the release of From the Outer, an anthology by several women about their connection to Australian Rules Football.

The group of six had met each other after Hayes released her 2013 novel The Whole of My World. They would form an online group chat to discuss their footy opinions. Three years later, on that Tuesday night dinner, the group spoke all things football like they always did. However, one conversation would change their lives forever.

“A couple of glasses of wine later and I think it was Emma said that we should start a podcast and have these conversations on air, instead of just at dinner when we’ve had a few glasses of wine,” Hayes tells upstart.

By the end of the dinner, Emma Race had convinced them to show up and record the first episode on the Thursday.

This night would mark the birth of The Outer Sanctum podcast. The platform enabled the six women to continue those footy chats. The only difference was that they were now recorded and posted online. Hayes says that podcasting enabled the group to share their views without any formal media background.

“We did not have a profile, we were not officially media trained in any way,” she says.

But they didn’t let their lack of technical proficiency stop them.

“It was the only way we were going to have a voice.”

The first episode was recorded at Emma’s house, with no equipment or studio. The panel spoke into a phone in the kitchen, pausing every time a train went past the house. Emma’s purchase of a boom microphone in time for the next episode proved that the group were committed to the cause.

By the thirteenth episode, The Outer Sanctum gained mass popularity after Eddie McGuire’s controversial comments about Caroline Wilson prior to taking part in FightMND’s ‘Big Freeze 2’. On Triple M’s Queen’s Birthday episode of ‘The Rub’, McGuire jokingly said that he would pay money to see Wilson solely go down the slide in the name of charity. The women unpacked the transpiring of events on their podcast that Thursday, surprised that none of the major media outlets had shed light on his comments. What they said would put the podcast on the map.

“It just went viral. On Monday we had like 35,000 downloads or something obscene,” Hayes says.

“Then by the following week it was being talked about by Malcolm Turnbull [at the Federal Election campaign]. So it was just a very strange conspiring of events that resulted in this very small show becoming something bigger.”

That “very small show” went mainstream in 2017, when it was picked up by The Age for the inaugural AFLW season. After a year with the publication, The Outer Sanctum became a radio program when it signed with the ABC. For five years, the show would air on Saturday mornings, covering all things football, before announcing the team were going on hiatus prior to the 2023 AFL men’s competition.

Since The Outer Sanctum recorded their first episode, podcast listenership has increased significantly. The 2023 Infinite Dial Report from Edison Research found that 33 percent of Australians listened to a podcast per week, compared to 10 percent in 2017 (when Australia first published the report). Hayes says that although they took advantage of a niche market, the rise in interest in media related to women’s sport podcasts has been pleasing.

“Podcasts weren’t huge then, so I guess to the media world it seemed like a new take and it just sort of carried on from there,” she says.

“Since then, there’s been a lot more podcasts that have obviously emerged out of that and a lot of female driven sports commentary which is fantastic.”

One group that is taking advantage of the boom in women’s sport media is Blue Abroad. Founded in 2017, Blue Abroad is a social media network from Carlton Football Club that is made “by the fans, for the fans”. With almost 11,000 subscribers on YouTube and 17,000 followers on Instagram, Blue Abroad began the BA W Show at the end of 2021, becoming one of the only AFLW supporter podcasts.

Hosted by Shannon Gore and Kirra Johnston, the weekly show discusses the hot topics related to Carlton’s AFLW team, as well as previewing and reviewing their matches. Johnston says that the inspiration for the podcast is to even up the amount of coverage between the men’s and women’s teams.

“It’s trying to align as much as you can to what the men have and I suppose media is something that is still not at the same level,” she tells upstart.

“It’s just about learning and listening and being open to the women’s game and I think that’s what we’re trying to create on the BA W Show is just the opportunity for people to tune in, listen and grasp a better understanding of the team.”

The buzz around women’s sport has intensified over the last few months after the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. 11.15 million Australians tuned into the Matildas semi-final clash against England, making it the most watched TV event in Australian history. However, Johnston says the Matildas’ popularity presents a harsh reality for AFLW.

“I think the Matildas have inspired the nation in many ways,” she says.

“But in some ways, it’s made us really impatient and really frustrated because we still are so far away from that.”

Johnston believes that providing more media coverage for AFLW is the key to enhancing the game.

“People are so invested in the men’s competition because of the media surrounding it,” she says.

 “It’s more than the game and I think that’s what the AFLW lacks at times.

“The more people can learn about the game and become interested in the game, the bigger the game will grow.”

Photo: Podcasting by Nicholas Solop found HERE and used under a Creative Commons License. The image has not been modified.