The best part of a women’s basketball game at the University of Victoria is when it finishes, or so it seems — that’s when the spectators arrive.
At UVic, the women’s team plays first, usually at 6 p.m., and the men’s team plays immediately afterward, at 8 p.m. It’s been the case for as long as I’ve watched UVic basketball, and, as far as I can tell, it’s been the same way since 1968, the beginning of women’s basketball at UVic.
Why is that noteworthy? Because 70 per cent of the crowd at UVic basketball games shows up for just one game — the second.
At the start of a women’s basketball game, 100 or so people sit dotted around in a gymnasium with more than 2,000 seats. By the end, there might be 500 or 600, all waiting for the men’s team.
These last five minutes are the most exciting in the women’s game, because the team is finally rewarded for how well they’re playing. Impressive plays earn cheers rather than the smattering of applause that they would have received earlier in the night. The players get a lift from the crowd; the crowd gets to enjoy meaningful and exciting basketball. It’s an incredibly gratifying experience for both spectators and players.
And then the game ends, and the men’s team start to play in front of a stadium bouncing with energy and raring to go. They get four full quarters of enthusiastic support as opposed to one-half of a quarter for the women’s team.
So why isn’t it ever the other way around? Why can’t the women’s team sometimes play after the men’s team?
If the response is: “Because the men are better,” you haven’t watched enough women’s basketball games and you need an argument that doesn’t belong in the early 1900s.
I can only assume UVic knows people prefer to go to the second game because they make a bigger deal out of that game than they do the first. Even the UVic band shows up only halfway through the women’s game. Sometimes they play for a quarter or two, sometimes they don’t. They do, however, start playing right from the beginning of the men’s game.
This is not just a UVic problem. As far as I’m aware, every university in Canada has its women’s basketball team play before their men’s team. It’s not even a basketball-specific issue — when the UVic soccer teams play back-to-back games on the same pitch, the women will play before the men.
There are no rules that dictate the men’s team must play after the women’s team. The Canada West Universities Athletics Association says it’s up to individual universities to determine starting times for games. If UVic were so inclined, they could switch the playing times tomorrow.
And there’s also a financial incentive to switch the teams. This year, UVic will host the women’s national basketball championships. As hosts, UVic will be competing. If the university is counting on local basketball fans to buy tickets and fill seats, why not get them engaged with the team they’ll be supporting?
I’m not suggesting we completely turn it around and have the men play only the opening game and women after, but why not switch it up?
What harm could be done by giving women’s teams a bigger crowd and a much-deserved, brighter spotlight?
I could never come up with a good argument why, at the very least, the men’s and women’s team didn’t take turns with the large crowd.
If you can think of an answer that’s better than the banal and semi-insulting, such as: “That’s the way it’s always been,” then let me know.
You can find me in UVic’s Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities at 6 p.m., watching a fantastic basketball team that deserves far more respect than UVic offers it.
Cormac O’Brien is a University of Victoria student majoring in creative writing. He is a contributing sports and culture writer for The Martlet, UVic’s independent newspaper, and writes about soccer as a freelancer. This commentary first appeared in The Martlet.
