Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – US women athletes & Mel Morris
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - US WOMEN ATHLETES
We have seen plenty of incidences of sports stars using their voice to highlight perceived injustice or discrimination in recent years.
Colin Kaepernick refused to take the knee, which ultimately ended his American football career, while Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has called out racial abuse and Marcus Rashford has campaigned for an end to child hunger.
There are some who suggest that sport and politics should not mix, but given the profile and the platform of today’s sports stars, it would be remiss of them to sit back and ignore the issues that affect society at large.
Earlier in September, the US Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law which bans abortion after six weeks should be upheld, undermining the 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling which effectively made abortion legal across America.
This latest Supreme Court ruling effectively sets back women’s rights by decades, with Mississippi now also appealing to block abortions in early-stage pregnancy.
No wonder, then, that 500 women athletes, coaches and sports associations collectively referred to as Athlete Amici and including 26 Olympians, 276 college athletes and 73 professional athletes such as US Soccer star Megan Rapinoe and WNBA All-Star Sue Bird, signed a formal appeal urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect abortion rights.
The filing which is called an amicus brief, argues that the right to abortion is vital for women athletes to pursue their sports at the same level men are afforded.
The filing says: “Amici believe that, like themselves, the next generation of women athletes must be guaranteed bodily integrity and decisional autonomy in order to fully and equally participate in sports.
“These constitutional protections supported the extraordinary accomplishment of American women in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where they won nearly 60% of Team USA’s world-leading 113 medals.
“Were these rights to be abrogated, Amici understand first-hand that women’s participation in athletics would suffer, including because some women athletes would not be able to compete at the same level—or at all—without access to abortion care and without the knowledge that the decision whether to continue or end a pregnancy remains theirs.”
The report includes arguments about pregnancies caused by rape, the financial struggles and health concerns that young athletes have gone through
Rapinoe said in a statement to USA Today: "I am honored to stand with the hundreds of athletes who have signed onto this Supreme Court brief to help champion not only our constitutional rights, but also those of future generations of athletes.
“Physically, we push ourselves to the absolute limit, so to have forces within this country trying to deny us control over our own bodies is infuriating and un-American and will be met with fierce resistance.”
Whether the Supreme Court pays heed to the Athlete Amici and the ramifications for sport and wider society remains to be seen, but last week’s campaigning yet again shows that when important issues arise, sport stands up for those without the voice or the profile to be heard.
MISS – MEL MORRIS
When Derby County survived relegation to the third tier of English football on the last day of the 2020-21 season after a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, it appeared to be the end of a nightmare for the club’s fans.
The news got better for the Rams when the English Football League (EFL) decided not to appeal against a decision to just fine the club £100,000 for their accounting policies.
An appeal could have warranted a points deduction - which would have brought relegation to League One for a club built for the Premier League and with a modern stadium and former Manchester United and England forward Wayne Rooney as manager.
A statement read: “While the EFL does not agree that those sanctions are commensurate to the breaches found, following consultation with our legal advisors, the EFL Board has regrettably determined that there are insufficient grounds to appeal the sanction imposed by the Independent Disciplinary Commission.”
That should have been the springboard for Derby to turn around their on and off-field fortunes and look to compete at the top of the Championship but with the new season little more than a month old, the club face another relegation battle and a threat to their very existence.
Their accounts for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are already being re-examined after they were found to have broken accounting rules and they could face more points deductions, although the EFL said that no decision had yet been made.
Derby’s Board then made a statement admitting that the failure to find a new owner and the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that they had to put the club into administration.
Being honest and transparent and communicating with your key audiences is fundamental for any organisation, whether that is in times of calm or of crisis.
The fact that Rooney only found out about the club’s plans to go into administration through news channels was not a good start and he later admitted that Morris had been avoiding his calls since the start of the season.
But Derby’s statement suggests that the problems the club is facing are purely due to lockdown and the lack of income during the pandemic.
The statement said: “The impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the unpredictability it has created represents too much of a strain. As the COVID-19 pandemic and lock down tightened their grip, the Club’s revenues and cash flow took a circa £20 million hit. This season, COVID-19 has continued to have a negative effect on the Club’s revenues.”
While all clubs have struggled without fans over the past 18 months or so, Derby’s statement appears to ignore their recent record of financial mismanagement and looks to blame circumstances beyond their control instead of taking responsibility for the problems themselves.
In a BBC interview, Derby owner Mel Morris appeared to also lay the blame on Covid.
He said: “Covid has had a massive impact on the bigger clubs who were effectively pushing towards promotion but not in receipt of parachute payments. The numbers speak for themselves.”
At least Morris had some humility, apologising to the fans who now fear for the future of their club.
He added: "It's tragic, there's no question. I can only apologise to the people there.
“Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I sorry to the fans? Yes. I desperately wanted to get this club right up there if we could do that.
“From my perspective, I've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears - and a heck of a lot of money - into this club and it's had some really good times under my tenure, but ultimately I've failed.”
It’s been left to Rooney to face the media and think of the wider implications during Derby’s malaise, offering sympathy for the staff amid his own personal experiences.
He said: "My mum is still working as a dinner lady at the school I went to. There are discussions about whether that school gets closed down, so my mum is in the same position as some of the staff are here," he said.
"I know how life works. I know the struggles people have with their bills and their mortgages and to put food on the table. I have gone through that at first hand as a child.
"The best way to handle that is to be open and honest with people because if you are not, people see right through it. That transparency of communication and honesty, it does mean a lot.”