FangirlFurious: Halo

Piling onto the hate train of a platform that is already disbanded probably seems excessive but if I am one thing at my core it is: a hater. So, even though Halo by SkySports has been shut down I still have a myriad of feelings about it. So, I decided to bring back FangirlFurious.

This past week, when I saw that SkySports was launching what they deemed, “the little sister to SkySports.” my initial thought was “Oh okay, a platform for women’s sports they just missed on wording for the roll out.” SkySports is a media outlet I spend a lot of time interacting with because they are my top source for F1 & the Premier League coverage. Thinking that if there was any sporting platform that could right the ship, it’s SkySports. I was wrong.

From the moment it went live, they continued to put out some of the most sexist, patronizing sports content imaginable. I don’t have TikTok & haven’t for years so I was only seeing the screenshots of their posts that made their way onto other platforms. Let’s all thank the higher powers that be that I don’t have Tiktok because I would’ve been in the comments & probably banned from the app for harassment. Their posts were along the lines of dumbing down & speaking in the most AI generalized pop culture references that apply to sports for women. They missed the mark in a major way & sparked such outrage, that this needs to be taken as a warning to not only sports teams & organizations but other male dominated spaces with a growing female audience.

Women in the sports space isn’t a new concept. It’s an ever evolving & growing segment that has really hit it’s stride over the last few years. We are seeing more women in male dominated positions in spaces across sports. We are also seeing women fandom growing across sports as well. So, when a well respected sports media outlet like SkySports decides they are wanting to target women in sports you have to think, they wanted to be able to highlight women’s sports & those involved in them. That this idea went through multiple levels of approval & review before they hit post on their content. Instead, we got a pink washed profile picture & content that makes it seem like whoever was approving these posts have never spoken to a woman who follows sports a day in their lives.

Now, I am hesitant to consider myself a woman in sports even though I got my Master’s in Sports Business & worked extremely hard for that & let’s be honest, was better than a vast majority of the men in the room at it as well, I am not actively working in sports. I mean we can say me having a blog about sports qualifies, but does it actually? Let’s be real. But as a woman fan? That I can speak about. So, here are 2 suggestions for teams and organizations moving forward that I really think they need to take as a starting point.

First off, there is simply no need to change how you speak about the sport or the content you post in order to appeal to a female audience. We found the sport naturally, we follow, we take in all of the same information that you have been posting for years. If there is one thing you should do in terms of how you cover the sport, get more women in the room you clowns. There are so many killer women building platforms around covering sports & have that built in audience. Make them a part of your team specific content. Allow them media access & let them do their thing. Maybe it’s just me but I have not seen a team successfully pull off a campaign targeted at women yet. How about we get women who are fans in the room before hand? This can not be a new concept.

This next thing is really something that we have been screaming from the rooftops for years. STOP MAKING THESE UGLY V NECK, PINK WASHED, ILL FITTING WOMENS MERCHANDISE. We simply do not want it. Stop. It’s ugly. We are 99% of the time going to buy the mens version. Just do us all a favor, offer more unisex options instead. I have never looked at a women’s section of a merch shop & hit purchase. Making it pink doesn’t mean that women want it. I am just confused as to when the men in charge decided that pink was the color they needed to make everything. It’s just the most consistent miss across sports.

This post has been a bit all over the place & for those who have followed the stream of thought to this point, thank you. The bottom line is just make the spaces more welcoming for women, less abrasive & sexist. It’s not like we are going anywhere. Whether you like it or not, we can really drive the market so it’s better to include us than exclude us.

Being a fangirl is a state of mind, yes, I can talk about these teams and athletes in ways that is silly and light hearted but I also know what the heck I am talking about when it comes to the technical things as well.

So, again, take this as a warning to all higher powers that be in the sports space that obviously read my blog. Don’t pull that s*** again. Halo only lasted about 3 days. Next time, we will sink the platform even faster.

Okay, enough ranting for one day.

Have a glorious week.

Talk soon.