The Game Changers

It’s been a massive week for women’s cricket (and wider women’s sport) with the first player auctions in the inaugural Women’s IPL breaking all records.  It feels very timely then, to re-release this powerful interview with former England Cricketer and World Cup Winner Ebony Rainford-Brent.  Having been a trailblazing player, and the first black woman to play cricket for England, Ebony has gone on...

“Sponsors and brands are looking at women’s sport with new eyes. They are looking at what they can get from women’s sport from the story and the purpose. Ultimately it’s about what it says as them as a brand.” Lisa Parfitt, The Space Between Why are we finally seeing a massive increase in women’s sport sponsorship, and what does women’s sport offer brands that men’s doesn’t?  How do the experts th...

In the past 5 years we’ve seen huge changes in the size of crowds coming to watch women’s sport.  Records are constantly being broken as fans flock to the biggest stadia, and we’re seeing a very different make up in the audience – a more inclusive, friendly fan base. But what’s driving this change and how can clubs and sports help accelerate this growth? And who are the fans of women’s sport anywa...

In this episode we revisit the conversation with legendary broadcaster and best-selling author Clare Balding CBE.  Clare has hosted numerous major events including the Olympics and Paralympics, Wimbledon, the Boat Race and The Grand National.  Clare is a huge sporting trailblazer, and, along with sharing her own career path, in this podcast she also explores how we might drive gender equality in s...

Why does women’s sport receive so little media coverage?  When a sports editor says ‘no one is interested in women’s sport’ does he actually men that ‘he’ is not interested in women’s sport? Is that why are our newspapers are full of men writing about men’s sport for men?  And what of the quality of coverage? What impact do we see when broadcasters finally invest in high quality production? Finall...

Why do women only play three sets of tennis at Grand Slam tennis events and not five like the men? In this chapter Sue explores how historical beliefs about women’s bodies and the impact of physical activity are still impacting women’s sport today. Did we really believe that women only had a finite amount of energy or that their wombs might fall out if they were too energetic? And how did that pse...

The opening chapters of the book ‘Game On’ – which featured in audio on the previous episodes of this podcast – mentioned the incredible Kate Richardson Walsh OBE. Kate was captain of the England and GB Hockey team when they won bronze at London 2012, and then went on to win gold in Rio at the 2016 Olympic Games.  We’re sharing Kate’s remarkable story again here this week on The Game Changers. Tha...

Hello and welcome to The Game Changers, the podcast that celebrates trailblazing women in sport. I’m Sue Anstiss, and I’d like to start with a big thank you to our partners, Sport England who support The Game Changers through a National Lottery award. I’m excited to say that this 13th series of the podcast will be a serialisation of my book, ‘Game On - The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’. This...

Hello and welcome to The Game Changers, the podcast that celebrates trailblazing women in sport. I’m Sue Anstiss, and I’d like to start with a big thank you to our partners, Sport England who support The Game Changers through a National Lottery award. I'm excited to say that this, the13th season of the podcast is a serialisation of my book, Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women's Sport....

In this special episode we’re sharing a roundup of some of the highlights from 2022.  First up, Paralympian Hannah Cockcroft talked about being an advocate for all wheelchair users.  Next, in a fascinating conversation with Radha Balani from Beyond Sport we addressed the issues of anxiety, depression and eating disorders in WSL footballers.  We brought together a powerful panel of experts to explo...

Sally Munday is CEO of UK Sport and a former CEO of England and GB Hockey.  To mark our 100th episode we returned to talk to this extraordinary woman, considered by many to be one of the most influential individuals in British Sport. This episode was also recorded live in front of an audience at Leaders Week London.   To find out more about Sally’s early life and the transformative work she did in...

Rachel Pavlou was described as the most selfless person in women’s football by former England coach (and a previous guest on this podcast) Hope Powell. Rachel has over 30 years of sports development experience, specialising in the development of women's football at The FA for almost 25 years.  Rachel is currently the FA Women’s Development Manager specialising in Diversity & Inclusion. He...

Garnet Mackinder, Anne Wafula Strike & Shruti Saujani join Sue Anstiss to explore equality in sport. As we fight for gender equality in sport are we doing enough to ensure our approach is intersectional? What needs to change to ensure all women feel welcome in sport from grassroots participation to elite pathways & the boardroom.  It’s a topic that can be uncomfortable as people worry they...

Emma Mitchell was Red Rose number #19, with an international rugby career that spanned 15 years. She won 57 caps for England and Great Britain, competed in 4 World Cups with the 1994 World Cup win being her career highlight. Following her retirement in 2002, Emma went on to coach at club, regional and international level in the USA, Canada and the UK. In 2007 Emma joined the English Institute of S...

To  celebrate Jill Scott being crowned Queen of the Jungle, in the 2022 'I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out If Here', we’re giving you another chance to hear this brilliant interview with her. Enjoy!  Football legend Jill Scott MBE won over 160  caps for England, played in four World Cups, was part of Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics and was a member of the winning England team at this sum...

Donna Fraser is a 4-time Olympian who now specialises in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in sport.  Donna won medals at 400m at World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games and reluctantly retired from Athletics in 2009 after a breast cancer diagnosis. She went on to become UK Athletics’ first Equality, Diversity and Engagement Lead, working to champion ethnically diverse communit...

Rimla Akhtar, Wendy Taylor, Tess Howard and Holly Bradshaw join Sue Anstiss to consider the impact of sports kit for women and girls.  There's been much talk about women's sports kit recently, from issues around Wimbledon whites, girls forced to wear skorts for PE and women not allowed to wear the hijab to play sport to extremes of female athletes objectified and sexualised with revealin...

Sarah Hunter is a rugby legend. The world's most capped female rugby player and most capped England player (male or female).  Sarah captains England into a World Cup Final this weekend. A World Cup winner in 2014, Sarah has played in four World Cup Finals, and captained England to Six Nations Grand Slam wins and a record breaking run of over 30 consecutive wins. Sarah took over the England ca...

Hannah Cockcroft is one of Britain’s most successful para-athletes who burst onto the world stage in 2010, breaking 9 wheelchair sprinting world records. She went on to win two golds at the London Paralympic games, with three more at the 2016 games in Rio and two in Tokyo 2021. In the summer of 2022, Hannah won gold in the T33/34 100m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, setting a new Games re...

Fantastic news for all fans of women’s sport and equality - The Game Changers podcast returns on November 1st with an incredible line up of guests and the one hundredth episode featuring one of the most influential women in sport, Sally Munday. The new series also includes two panel discussions considering women’s sport clothing and racial equality in women’s sport. Once again, this season of the...

Jodie Cunningham is one of Rugby League’s most recognisable stars playing for St Helens and England.  She was named  Woman of Steel for her incredible form during Saint's treble winning season in 2021, and, having represented England in two world cups, she's now working towards her third as England compete in the Rugby League world cup on home soil this autumn. A huge advocate for women&...

 Fiona Morgan is SailGP ’s director of purpose and impact, who's driving the championship’s commitment to a better future and a better sport. She's been instrumental in creating the pioneering ‘impact league’, Sail GP’s world first initiative to make sustainability essential to the fabric of sport. With nearly 20 years’ experience in the sports industry, Fi has an exceptional track recor...

Sophie Carrigill is a British wheelchair basketball player who represented and co-captained Great Britain at the World and European Championships and at the Paralympic games. She’s won world and European silver medals and reached the Paralympic semi-finals in a first for Great Britain.    Sophie’s just returned from playing wheelchair basketball professionally in Italy and continues to explore her...

Radha Balani is a much-respected industry professional who's having a huge impact in the sport for development arena. Radha started her career in the university sports sector before working for leading organisations in sport, including the Football Foundation, Women in Sport, London Sport, and now as co-Managing Director of Think Beyond . It’s a fascinating conversation as we explore the worl...

Ali Donnelly is Executive Director of Digital, Marketing and Communications at Sport England.   She is a former Senior Civil Servant, who worked at Downing Street where she was the Prime Minister's Deputy Official Spokesperson and the Head of News. Ali was previously Head of Communications at Premiership Rugby club Wasps and has also worked in media and public affairs roles at the BBC have st...