Bitter-Sweet celebration of Women’s Premier League 2024 and the advertised Queendom!

As the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore came on stage to receive the winner’s trophy for the Women’s Premier League 2024. A few things caught my attention. It was definitely a sight to behold! One, the echoing cheers of the supporters in the background. Two, the shiny golden trophy in the hands of the excited women players. Three, the red and the golden flashes of colours that is attributed to the Royal Challengers Bangalore Team. And four, the word “Queens” flaunted on the screens. It is a breeze of passion, gratitude and celebrations.

 

 

 

 

Sports audience support the players based on their skills and their performance. However, opportunities to play are required to showcase one’s talents. And this is what Women’s Premier League brought for the Indian cricket fans and women cricket players. But it got me wondering, why is it called WPL. While Indian Premier League is the men’s cricket tournament, why is the women’s tournament not called IPL- women. Rather it is called, WPL, an equivalent of men’s tournament. In both cases, teams have been identified with regions (five women’s teams and Ten men’s teams) and have a similar format organised by BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Both tournaments have the practise of sponsors and auctioning of players. Both tournaments include players from other countries.

 

And in both cases, the organisers claim to showcase world class performance for global cricket audience. The only difference being IPL is played by men and WPL is being played by women. Then the question is why are the tournaments not merged and conducted parallelly. Let us leave aside the economics of the tournament considering the tournaments are happening in sequence with hardly a week between WPL Finals and IPL inaugural match. IPL has gained popular support at the national, regional and even the global levels. Then, would it be not the right stage for the women to show case their talents, rather than an allocated days before or after the men’s tournament. Can this be merely a progress for the sake of progress, rather than respectful treatment of women players? For they are not just women, but also sportspersons with immense talent.

 

 

 

 

Let us say the WPL tournament and IPL tournament is happening in the same Mumbai stadium, one after another, similar to sports tournaments that happen at the school level. It might be an unconventional thought, but stay with me. Would that not allow the male players who wished on social media to be actually present at the matches and support the women who are technically representing the same regional teams as men? If the Indian society can be influenced to buy a perfume or sports shoes championed by their favourite male cricket players or teams, can they not be influenced to embrace the women’s team in equal fierceness similar to their support of IPL tournament? Yes, women are not products but the idea of influence that is utilised for a mere product in the market could be imitated for a higher purpose. Not just in this country but even in the global scale, the inequality between the genders in sports have been well deliberated, in terms of pay, investment in women sportspersons and access to the glory of world-class performance, in other words, a place in the hearts of the supporters.

 

In the inaugural season, 2023, it was announced that the women will have free tickets to witness the matches and this season, the inaugural match had allowed free entry to women to enjoy the inauguration ceremony and cultural performances. Again, it only highlights that the gender disparity is not just in playing sports but also in reception of performance and players. The success of the tournament is also judged on the financial aspects such as whether the organisers can sell tickets for the matches. Whether the players can open up new avenues and new faces for brands and marketing. And whether the organisers can earn through advertisements. Yet, for the audience and the supporters of the regional teams, the winning moment is the appeal. And for the players, it is a huge opportunity. A platform to perform and showcase talents and charm the audience. This was desired by the women players and now the stage has been set to enjoy it annually (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

Yet, there are possibly other categories of the population such as men and women who are not fond of cricket or any sport, men and women who love to support women in any field, not specifically interested in cricket, and the other groups which are detached from these episodes of spectacle. Sports for time immemorial have been majorly emphasising on the virtues of fairness, respect and integrity beyond the lessons of winning and losing. It is not just for the players but for the audience too. Just like Greek theatre performances which evokes the process of catharsis among the audience, any sport is cathartic to the spectators. With celebration of the winning, for players and audience, the philosophical underpinnings of the virtues are equally important. What is equal, is it also fair? What is fair, is it also respectful? In the celebration of sports, is there integrity?

 

The advertisements for WPL 2024 often blared “Queendom” before the start of YouTube videos. It is a colourful video with the actors mimicking the action of wearing a crown on their heads, and the popular women players are posing on the screens and posters. However, there is a displeasing difference to those of the IPL advertisements that often tend to show the men in action, either with a bat or a ball. There have been ads where the excitement of the crowd to watch their performance is captured by the actors on the advertisements. When would such be the joy of celebrating the women’s performances? Similarly, there was a news report on the new verticals for advertisements such as beauty brands which is opened by WPL. And this where I ask the question, are we fair and respectful of the women players? Sports is about celebrating not just what one is capable of and who one is, but what one does. WPL or for that matter, any women’s tournament, is not acknowledging that players are playing although they are women but rather, they are women players with impressive skills.

 

 

 

 

Let us take the example of Royal Challengers Bangalore team that won the title of WPL 2024. The team’s winning is considered magnificent for the Royal Challengers men’s team have not been able to triumph in any IPL finals. The women team’s performance is significant regardless of the men’s performance in IPL. Is it ethical to compare the victories of IPL men and WPL women? Because these comparisons would bring in ugly connotations rather than accentuate the splendid efforts of the women players, not for this one team but of all teams in each of their matches. It is each of our responsibility then to put in equal effort to not be ignorant to their struggles in performing the way they have in this season of WPL. The struggles and performances are distinct from that of male players but no less. What should shine is the WPL players’ passion and dedication to the game, rather than a superficial acceptance of women sportspersons in market or as mere entertainment.

 

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