“Your games aren’t hype enough.” 

“Wait, the girls had a game before this one?”

“Is our girls’ team actually doing well this year?” 

These are all things I hear when trying to get people to come to the women’s basketball game, or when watching a men’s game. What are the women’s basketball games missing? We have a group of talented athletes that love basketball just as much as the men’s players—so where is our crowd?

Maybe it’s the “girly” music on the playlist used during our timeouts. Although “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé will always be a bop, I’m not sure if it’s the best song to get a crowd or players amped up for a competitive game. Compared to the men’s playlist that consists of hype rap and hip hop, our playlist seems like it should be used for a Sweet Sixteen. 

Senior player Natalie Busch said, “In Kenna McCafferty’s article she published in the Beacon two years ago, she wrote of the men’s team that ‘there is a distinct tenor of performance both on and off the court for the approval of other men, often to the detriment of women.’ It’s this performance of masculinity that I think entices fans.”

No matter the reason, it’s unjust for the women’s team to walk to their locker room after winning an exciting overtime game just to see crowds pouring through the door to watch the men’s game that is about to begin. 

Sophomore Rachel Davey of the women’s basketball team said, “It’s so deflating to have the gym be basically empty for our game and then see a sea of students for the men. A lot of people say Emerson isn’t a big sports school, but that’s not true. The stands overflow for all of the men’s games.”

Junior teammate Quinn Madden added, “We work just as hard as them and we would get hyped up by fans just as much as the men’s team.” 

There is no evidence of recognition for the women’s team coming from the student body. This problem does not stem from the athletic department; it is an issue within Emerson’s student population. Davey commented, “I believe it’s up to the students to decide whether or not they want to support women’s sports.”

Davey continued, “What is always the most frustrating is the lack of support from other women’s teams at our games. It feels like everyone that comes to our games was personally invited or persuaded to come, while the men’s game feels like an event that everyone will go out of their way to get to.” 

These attendance issues could also be due to the lack of equal representation on Emerson athletics social media platforms. 

Davey said, “I messaged the Emerson Lions account on Instagram a few times this season to ask for more support. Once, they posted two times for our game and six times for the men’s game. I asked why they didn’t put our final score up and one of the other girls on our team asked why we only got two posts. They didn’t respond to either of us.” 

Another issue involving the @emersonlions Instagram account occurred when they re-posted a photo that said to “watch out for Emerson College men’s basketball, a team on the rise.” What they failed to do was post the same photo that gave the women’s team the same recognition. Madden said, “I would like the athletic department to make more of an effort to make women’s sports feel just as important as men’s.” 

Outside of all the school-level issues, there are obvious and demeaning differences between the men’s and women’s game of basketball. Some people say women’s basketball is boring and that comes down to the refs and NCAA rulebook. 

In 2013 the NCAA decided the men’s games were too physical and implemented a few stricter fouling rules, but these rules were only guidelines for referees. These changes were not made for the safety of the men’s players, though. Ncaa.org states, “the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee concluded that physical play, particularly on players with the ball, was disrupting the flow of game.” The NCAA was disappointed that the overall scoring average was the lowest it had been since 1981-82 and wanted men to start scoring more. 

It wasn’t until 2015 that women’s defensive post players were allowed to place one hand or forearm on the back of the offensive post player, as long as their back was to the basket. Although the rules are slowly inching in the direction of equality (men’s games becoming more strict and women’s looser) there is still a physical factor the NCAA allows only the men to have. 

Madden said, “I think refs call fouls more closely with women players because it is assumed women cannot handle too much physical contact. Women are assumed to be weaker or more docile so fouls are called with only little contact.” 

Men’s players often get personal and loudly discuss calls with the refs during their games, yet women players would not dare to do this in fear of being given technical fouls. Men can also get away with trash talking and taunting the other team’s players, yet women cannot. Men will get a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk for too long, but not for shoulder-bumping a player on the opposite team.

The women’s basketball team is proud of what the men’s team has accomplished this past season and done for the Emerson athletics program. But our team cannot help but wonder— if we made it to the championship, would anyone have shown up?

Busch concluded, “We played some great basketball that was fun to watch and we had our best season in program history. Everyone [on the team] cared about basketball and cared about getting better. I was finally surrounded by committed athletes who played with pride, not just people playing basketball.” 

If the rest of the student body does not recognize this, that is their loss.