Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Tour de Femmes & Jon Gruden
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - TOUR DE FEMMES
It’s been 33 years since there was a female version of the Tour de France, arguably the greatest test of cycling endurance and prowess in the world.
The first attempt at a women’s Tour took place in 1955, when 41 women competed in the five-day Tour de France Féminin, but was met with mockery from the media.
The race disappeared the following year and only returned in 1984, this time organized by the group behind the men’s Tour de France.
During the three-week tour, women rode the same routes as the men, albeit slightly shortened to ensure they finished ahead of the men’s peloton, but a lack of peak media coverage saw the race cut and then just five years later it was cut entirely to focus on the much larger men’s audience.
a number of smaller events have tried to take the place of the men’s Tour but without governing body the UCI giving races WorldTour status and without the exposure of mainstream media exposure, the events have failed to attract the audiences and thus the sponsors needed to survive.
These days women have had to make do with La Course, which only takes place thanks to a campaign by a number of female professional cyclists, including Marianne Vos, who won the inaugural event in 2014.
A much smaller event, it extends a mere 89 kilometres on one day compared to 3,500 kilometres over 21 racing days for the men.
In 2016, accounts for organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) showed that they had made 45.91m euros in profit in 2016, so had the funds to invest in establishing a women's Tour.
Highly decorated Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey lamented as recently as 2019 that La Course is simply not enough in this day and age of gender equality.
“When you look at (La Course) and place it side by side with the men’s Tour it has to be said it feels like a token gesture,” she said.
“It’s not that the race has gone backwards. It’s just it has not gone forwards. We have had the Champs Elysees, we have had the Alps, we have experimented with chase-style races. But it feels as if we are as far as we’ve ever been from having a proper women’s Tour de France.
“It’s a shame because ASO are the most powerful organisation in professional cycling. They should be leading the way in the fight for equality. Instead they give the impression of not wanting to do any more than the absolute minimum.”
Finally last week ASO announced that it will stage Le Tour de Femmes from 2022 starting on the final day of the men's Tour, and featuring eight stages including a summit finish for the last stage in eastern France.
Men's Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said he hopes the women's race will have longevity on the calendar, but making it a financial success could prove tough.
"If it had been [sustainable], the women's Tour would have been held for 40 years," said Prudhomme.
"The biggest challenge is to broadcast the race. We've done a good job, with the race starting the same day as the men's race ends in Paris.
“The birth of this race represents the prospect of seeing a women's race rise to the top of world sport. The riders and champions will no doubt be eager to take on some tough routes and go after the most prestigious of prizes, the Yellow Jersey.”
Lizzie Deignan, winner of the inaugural women’s Paris-Roubaix earlier this month, described it as “an important day for cycling, not just women’s cycling. It is a key indicator that the sport is still progressing as we are now able to compete in the most well-known bike race in the world. I think the organisers have done a really good job preparing the route for this edition.
“It will showcase the best that women’s cycling has to offer with a stage suited to every type of rider, something I was really hoping for. Each stage is dynamic, different and interesting. There are so many challenges thrown into just eight days of racing!
“The inclusion of a stage with gravel sectors will mean it’s likely to be a complete rider who wins the Tour de France Femmes – but I expect the first yellow jersey to go to a sprinter, but then also to change hands many times along the way which will be exciting for the fans.”
Given the popularity and profile of some women’s cycling events around the world, the next challenge will be to increase the sponsorship and broadcast rights to increase the prize money for the event.
The Tour de France Femmes will have a prize fund of €250,000, making it the richest race on the women's cycling calendar with the winner receiving €50,000 - significantly less than the men’s total prize pot of €2,288,450 in 2021.
MISS – JON GRUDEN & NFL
Sport in the United States has gone through a raft of reputational challenges in recent years.
The high profile case of Larry Nassar and his long-term abuse of top gymnasts; the controversy with Colin Kaepernick taking the knee which left the quarterback without a team; and the recent NWSL scandal involving sexual misconduct by prominent coach Paul Riley have all left US sport reeling.
The latest sorry episode revolves around Jon Gruden, coach of NFL team the Las Vegas Raiders, who resigned after emails were leaked that showed him using racist, homophobic and misogynistic opinions.
The resignation came shortly after The New York Times reported Gruden’s comments sent in emails to Bruce Allen, then the president of the Washington Football Team, and others during a seven-year period that ended in 2018.
Gruden said in a statement: "I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone."
Given that we have seen recently Raiders star Carl Nassib come out as the first gay NFL player and the fact that two thirds of NFL players are black, this latest development raises questions about what the predominantly white NFL coaches really think about their players.
The picture painted by the New York Times is of a tawdry culture within the NFL, with predominantly white male decision makers shared pornographic images, derided league policies and shared racist and homophobic language - in complete contradiction to the NFL’s vow to be inclusive and supportive of everyone.
The NFL clearly needs to undertake a widespread educational campaign to teach everyone involved within the game what is or is not acceptable - and that cannot happen overnight.
But the leaks also raise questions about the investigation and the motivations for undertaking it.
Gruden’s emails were among 650,000 reviewed by the NFL during an investigation into misconduct at the Washington Football Team and the selective nature of those which have currently been disclosed raises more questions than it answers.
Gruden’s comments are indeed reprehensible, but surely he is not the only person to have his communications leaked, particularly since his criticism of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have caught the eye.
Washington owner Daniel Snyder was fined $10 million in July following the investigation into multiple complaints from former employees.
But what else does the NFL have to hide - and what is preventing them from sharing in greater detail the findings of their email and documents review?
Examining those documents could also prove that Kaepernick and Eric Reid were indeed the victims of collusion to exclude them from playing after their protests against racial injustice.
Kaepernick and Reid reached an out-of-court settlement with the NFL in 2019, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that their relatively low pay-offs, reportedly for less than $10 million combined, may be open to review.
And while the NFL says the right things much of the time about opportunities and equality, the fact that there are only five head coaches of colour among the 32 NFL teams suggests that there is significant room for improvement.
Will revelations in the documents show deeper systemic barriers for not only coaches but also investors and senior executives.
The NFL Players Association plans to request that the league releases the remainder of the 650,000 emails and lawyers representing 40 former Washington Football Team employees also urged the NFL to do the same: “It is truly outrageous that after the NFL’s 10-month long investigation involving hundreds of witnesses and 650,000 documents related to the long-time culture of harassment and abuse at the Washington Football Team, the only person to be held accountable and lose their job is the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
“If the NFL felt it appropriate to release these offensive emails from Jon Gruden, which it obtained during its investigation into the Washington Football Team, it must also release the findings related to the actual target of that investigation.
“Our clients and the public at large deserve transparency and accountability. If not, the NFL and Roger Goodell must explain why they appear intent on protecting the Washington Football Team and owner Dan Snyder at all costs.”
The NFL told USA Today they have no plans to release the emails as a matter of confidentiality but clearly the pressure will mount following recent developments.
The NFL has to do more.
Selective disclosures give the impression of a witch-hunt that intends to protect as much as it convicts, leaving the NFL vulnerable to further leaks and scandals.
Beyond a widespread education campaign, it needs to be thorough and transparent to identify and call out any misdemeanours that threaten to tarnish its national and international reputation.
Anything half-hearted will confirm that the NFL has little appetite to truly transform into an inclusive governing body rooted in equality and integrity fit for the 21st Century.