AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex
Women Sport Australia. Since its incorporation in 2005, Women Sport Australia has worked with industry stakeholders to provide women and girls with greater opportunities in sport and physical activity. Women Sport Australia has conducted numerous initiatives in recent years, including “Women in Leadership” workshop to provide further access to women seeking coaching and other leadership roles in the sporting industry, and “Women in Sport Mentoring Program” . Soccer is one example of a female sport that is continuing to grow in Australia. According to Football Australia’s National Participation Report for 2021, there were 174,380 women and girls participating in outdoor soccer, social and regis - tered futsal that year. This represents a growth of over 21% or 30,507 players since 2020. Follow - ing the success of Australia’s national football (soccer) team, the Matildas, at the 2023 FIFA World Cup, female participation in soccer and other sports is expected to continue to grow significantly. Women’s cricket has also seen significant growth. The Women’s Big Bash League (Aus - tralia’s women’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition) was recognised as the fourth most- watched domestic sports competition in Aus - tralia in 2021, amongst both men’s and women’s sport. In 2023, Cricket Australia also reported significant growth in female participation, with registered participation among women and girls in cricket clubs reaching over 50,000. Cricket Australia’s official census numbers for the 2022- 23 season boasted a 26% increase in women’s participation from the previous year. Notably, in mid-2024, Cricket Australia announced a ten-year plan to bolster women’s cricket in Australia, including increasing finan - cial investment significantly, placing a greater
emphasis on grassroots participation, improving infrastructure and introducing a new state-based Twenty20 competition. Moving from the field to the race track, motor - sport has seen significant investment over recent years to boost female participation. Through the FIA Girls on Track initiative, Motorsport Aus - tralia (Australia’s motor racing governing body), together with other motorsport organisations and local car clubs, have been providing girls aged 8-22 with more tools and support to get more involved in motorsport, whether that be as drivers, engineers, mechanics, volunteers or in one of the many other roles in the motorsport industry. 10. NFTs, AI and the Metaverse 10.1 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Notable Usage of NFTs in Australia’s Sports Industry In 2022, following the success of the US National Basketball Association in the NFT market, selling basketball’s greatest “moments” as NFTs called “NBA Top Shots” , Cricket Australia in conjunc - tion with the Australian Cricketers Association signed a multi-year official licensing deal with Rario and BlockTrust regarding the creation of an online platform for the trading and sales of NFTs, in particular “digital memorabilia.” 2022 also saw the launch of the “AO Artball” NFT collection by Tennis Australia. Tennis Aus - tralia continued with the NFTs before dropping them prior to the 2025 Australian Open, follow - ing a significant decrease in the value of its NFTs of up to 90%. The Australian Football League also launched the AFL Mint in 2022, which sells exclusive AFL
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