They’ve been elevated to legend standing in Australia’s sporting corridor of fame, however now the mission for Layne Beachley and Mark Ella is to raise the subsequent era.
Seven-time world browsing champion Beachley, and former Wallabies rugby captain Ella, hope to see extra equality for girls and larger Indigenous participation of their respective sports activities.
The pair had been formally turned Legends within the Sport Australia Hall of Fame on Monday, becoming a member of elite firm together with Sir Donald Bradman, Cathy Freeman and Rod Laver.
Beachley, who’s now chair of Surfing Australia, is set to make some adjustments.
“Equality within surfing, because it was notoriously sexist, chauvinistic, misogynistic,” Beachley stated.
“And unfortunately, we’ve still got a lot of people, still a lot of pale, stale white males in positions of influence and power and in decision making.
“And we’re not equal enough in our elevation of leadership opportunities. I know at Surfing Australia, we’re really focusing on getting more women into the sport and that it’s probably one of the fastest growing sports in female participation in this country.
“So I know we’re on the right track, but I’d love to make it a more safe, equal environment for women, and that starts with the attitude in the water this morning – we outnumbered the guys [at Freshwater beach] and that to me is progress.
“We need women who want to keep giving back, raising their voices, but then men being our greatest allies, we just need to find more allies in the boardroom and at the beach.
“Just that level of respect and acceptance that, ‘Hey, you are what gender you are, where you come from really doesn’t matter’.
“We all just have the desire to belong. And we just want to feel accepted and respected irrespective of our talents, gender and skillset.
“None of that needs to matter because at the end of the day, the ocean is non-discriminatory.”
Ella, who performed 25 Tests for Australia and has been described as one of many best gamers to put on the gold jersey, has been saddened to see union lag behind rugby league in nurturing Indigenous expertise.
“We’ve got a very specific base and they do a wonderful job, but like the AFL and NRL and football and soccer, we’ve got to actually start getting out in regional areas and support them,” Ella stated.
“It’s got to start from the bottom and it’ll take a few years – maybe longer than we can probably wait for.
“But we need to bring Indigenous players back into rugby union. It’s a hard struggle [with competition] from rugby league, they do it so well with the Indigenous players, so why can’t we do the same? There’s any reason we can’t do the same.”
Originally revealed as Layne Beachley and Mark Ella named Legends of Sport Australia
Source: www.news.com.au
