Why women aren’t allowed to call male sporting games on TV.

Australian sport has a certain sound. It fills the space with intensity. It’s the sound of the cheering crowd, the whistle, and the smash of a ball against a bat. It’s the familiar sound of boyish excitement. It’s a male voice, thick with emotion.

Flick through the channels on your TV and you’re unlikely to hear the voice of a female commentator. It’s a field that is dominated by men.

Women in sports media have gained a lot of ground. In the 1980s female sports journalists were rare. Fast-forward 30 years and sport savvy women are heading websites, radio shows and publications.

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Debbie Spillane was one of the original female voices to be included within the sporting landscape. She was the first, full-time female broadcaster to be hired by ABC Sport. It was 1984 and she was thrust into a field of men.

“I was usually the only woman at any press conference or in any press box, and I was treated as something of a novelty, or even an oddity or a joke,” she said.

“By the time my career ended it was commonplace to encounter other women in such situations.”

Spillane said the real glass ceiling for women is the commentary booth.

“Until women are trusted to be the person who describes the action, play by play, ball by ball, then women in sports media will always be second class citizens,” she said.

Professor David Rowe, a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney, argues this is because sport has come to define manliness.

“It has been somewhat of a bastion of masculinity, and there has been a resistance, quite a lot of it, to the involvement of women in sport,” he said.

“There is a clear gender hierarchy, and that makes it difficult for women to break through, to acquire the same sort of status.”

Women struggle to gain the cultural right to an opinion about sport. This is a big problem for aspiring female sports commentators. There are a handful of female sports commentators in Australia, a sprinkling at the ABC and a few on commercial TV, such as sports journalists Mel McLaughlin, Roz Kelly and ex-cricketer Mel Jones. But they are in the vast minority.

It’s a big problem for women like Brittany Carter. To gain commentary experience she had to find opportunities outside of her role at ABC’s sports radio program Grandstand.

“Obviously commentating is allocated to our senior and polished team members, so I realised I needed to try and obtain experience outside of the ABC,” she said.

Carter contacted Netball NSW to get advice on gaining the necessary experience. She was lucky enough to score the opportunity to call the NSW Premier Netball League for Bar TV sports.

Netball NSW has pioneered opportunities for women to move into commentating roles. Carter suggests this is because the sport is female dominated. She also believes it's an out of the ordinary situation. Female commentators don't get the same opportunities to commentate other sports.

“I'd love to commentate league one day, and that's obviously way, way far in the future,” she said.

“It is just harder for us to gain that credibility in sports industry.”

“We have to really prove that we know what we are talking about.”

Danielle Warby is not known for sports commentating. She is know for her commitment to gender equality within the sporting landscape. Off the back of her successful website, Sporting Sheilas, Warby teamed up with SBS.

Together they started the broadcaster's first online project dedicated to women and sport. SBS Zela ran for eight months before it shut down in September.

Warby isn’t shy about her opinion that ending SBS Zela was a mistake. Her face beamed as she talked about the work they achieved.

“I think it’s very important to make sure women have a voice, because traditionally in media, and particularly in sport, there’s not as many women involved,” she said.

At the women's AFL! @sydneyswans lead @gwsgiants so far. #WomenInSport

A post shared by Danielle Warby (@daniellewarby) on Apr 8, 2016 at 8:50pm PDT

There are some opportunities for women to get into commentating. Although, it’s not as simplistic as having women commentate on women's sport.

Spillane has always argued the gender of the athletes should have no bearing on the gender of the commentator. The role of the commentator is for the benefit of the audience not the athletes.

“By that reasoning, women have been under represented in sports media for a long time,” she said.

A 2014 Roy Morgan survey shows 35% of Australian women watch the AFL on TV and almost 30% watch the NRL. Neither of these sports currently employs female commentators.

If you want to listen to women calling AFL or NRL you’ll have to turn to alternative media, such as online podcasting.

The goal for a lot of female commentators is to call men’s sport on traditional media networks. Warby explains it’s a huge step up for big broadcasters to give women a chance.

“I have followed women that try and get in to commentate on men’s sport. Let’s be honest it’s where the money is at the moment, where the prestige is,” she said.

“You are constantly hearing about challenges they face just even getting into it, let alone continuing on and succeeding.”

Getting my Sixes poster signed like an excited child #NoShame. Thanks @ellyseperry, you're a good sport! #WBBL #womeninsport #teamzela

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Professor Rowe proposes there’s an extra sexist attitude set effecting women and sport. This set suggests women don’t have the authority to comment on high-level sport and has often led to women being criticised when they commentate on men’s sport. Sometimes it’s a woman’s sporting knowledge and opinion condemned. Other times it’s the way she’s dressed or the sound of her voice.

Warby believes we are conditioned to prefer male voices in the media.

“Whether that’s just for the lack of hearing female voices or a lack of diversity in voices, but it kind of ends up becoming a preference for a lot of people,” said Warby.

“Until we hear more women calling games, sadly I think it’s probably going to continue.”

Carter explained Australian networks and broadcasters have started to show they want women involved. She's hopeful the opportunities to balance out the gendered sound of Australian sport will continue.

“I think now its just time for some of the older guys to retire and give one of us a go,” she said.