THE pay disparity between men's and women's sport is a national talking point due to the Matildas' World Cup run, but the inequity in our own backyard is especially glaring.
Let’s focus in on our biggest local competition, the Sunraysia Football Netball League.
As it stands, most of Sunraysia's top netballers and coaches get paid nothing, while even the most average footballer - of which there are plenty in the SFNL - is guaranteed good money for a senior game.
The best SFNL footballers receive more than $1000 per game, while many hover just under that. Coaches are on contracts that run into the tens of thousands per season.
Yet a netball coach with the massive workload that comes with being head of a netball program gets zilch? Does something feel off?
The inequity needs addressing by SFNL clubs, who are vastly underestimating the value of netballers to their bottom lines.
And to say we are behind the times is an understatement.
More than a decade ago, my wife was playing A grade netball in the Geelong Football Netball League, where every player in her club was on $60 per game. The coach was on a separate contract.
That competition has only grown in semi-professionalism since. As it should, netball is a big part of every club’s business.
Us old male blokes who love our footy need only to look around on match days, or at trainings, or in the rooms for meals on Thursday nights, to understand that the success of a football and netball club is the sum of many parts. It is certainly not built around a senior football team alone.
Last year's SFNL netball grand final was an epic contest that came down to a final shot. The Mildura Sporting Precinct stadium was packed and the noise deafening.
It was incredible sporting entertainment. Not everyone paid at the gate to watch the footy.
We are kidding ourselves to think that without strong netball programs our clubs would be as financially viable as they are. The netballers are, in many respects, the lifeblood of clubs. Right now they are generating plenty of revenue, and getting nothing in return.
One of the arguments put forward by a club official this week was about the respective "market value" of netball and football.
So if more value is placed on winning a football premiership than a netball premiership, who is making that judgment call? Is it the men in the room or the women?
Part of the issue, of course, is that the majority of netballers don’t whinge, they don’t have their hands out for money.
Many footballers, in contrast, are far more entitled, whether they get a kick on Saturday or not.
Sunraysia Daily sports reporter Matt Taylor has spoken to many, many netballers over the journey, and while many are not willing to complain publicly, they are not happy with the inequity in their own clubs. It is a particularly sore point for them.
Therefore it is on the leaders within clubs to stop ignoring them and find a much better balance. Ask themselves would their club survive without netball and all that it generates, or be able to afford to pay the footballers what they do?
Currently, the salary caps for football teams in the SFNL range from around $100,000 to $140,000, while player budgets for many SFNL netball teams is zero.
The money generated is flowing one way.
It's dark ages stuff and a shift in patriarchal attitudes is needed.
Perhaps start with a survey of club members and ask them if they think the current pay disparity is fair.
Just ensure the women get a vote.
