From Breakthrough to Build: Why 2025 Changed Everything and Why 2026 Matters Even More

The spotlight arrived. Now we decide what we do with it.

2025 will go down as the year women’s sport finally became impossible to ignore. The noise grew louder, the numbers sharper, the stages bigger. Stadiums filled. Digital engagement soared. The calendar looked like something we’d been waiting decades for: Rugby World Cup on home soil, Wembley moments in rugby league, women back at Queen’s Club after half a century, cricket pushing new boundaries, global tournaments arriving one after another.

Everywhere you looked, the signal was the same:

The appetite is here.

The product is strong.

The audience has arrived.

But the moment that stayed with me wasn’t a headline. It was the sight of the Red Roses filling stadiums in a way this country had never seen — thousands of girls watching women own that kind of power and space. Couple that with a digital landscape where girls chose their own highlights, heroes, and stories (instead of waiting for broadcasters to catch up), and you could feel a cultural shift breaking through.

And yet visibility doesn’t automatically become access.

A viral try doesn’t guarantee a girl a local pitch.

A packed stadium doesn’t mean her school will open the hall after 4pm.

Confidence doesn’t magically appear for a girl who’s never felt welcome in PE.

The breakthrough is real, but it’s uneven.

It’s not reaching everyone — not yet.

Because beneath all the celebration sits a truth we don’t say enough:

only around 7% of women in the UK play team sport regularly.

And when you look closer, the gaps widen. Girls from lower-income families, girls from Black and South Asian backgrounds, disabled girls, LGBTQ+ young people, older women, carers — and anyone who has ever walked into a space and felt it wasn’t designed for them.

We talk about “inspiration,” but inspiration only works if there’s something solid to land on.A system built around male norms doesn’t suddenly fit women and girls just because the marketing looks better.

Girls aren’t the issue.

Women aren’t the issue.

The system is.

And still — there are bright spots.

Sessions held together by passion and grit.

Dads showing up as genuine allies.

Coaches shaping spaces that feel safe, human, and welcoming.

This is where momentum begins: not in the roar of a stadium, but in the everyday choices made in school gyms, community halls, and local clubs.

If 2025 showed us what women’s sport could be, 2026 will show us whether we’re willing to build the system to match.

Because the future won’t be defined by the next big event.It will be defined by whether we:

• Stop designing sport around men and hoping women adapt

• Invest properly in community sport — not in one-off pilot theatre

• Fix access to facilities and school spaces

• Listen to girls, not just leaders miles removed from delivery

• Resource small organisations doing the heavy lifting

• Bring male allies into the centre of the work — not as guests, but partners in progress

  
  

2025 gave us a breakthrough.

2026 needs to give us structure.

And this is where the work becomes personal for me.

From my roots in South Africa to the world we’re trying to shape here, I’ve always believed sport is about more than competition. It’s about what it gives people — confidence, community, choice. The chance to be seen and belong. The chance to move without apology.

This year has reminded me why this matters.

Why we keep pushing.

Why the work doesn’t end when the stadium lights fade.

If 2025 was the year women’s sport arrived on the world’s stage,

2026 must be the year we build a system worthy of that moment.

Because breakthroughs are fleeting.

But a better system — built intentionally, collectively, bravely — can last generations.

#WomensSport #GirlsInSport #SportSystemChange #RedRoses #ParticipationGap #WomenWhoLead #CommunitySport #InclusionInSport #BreakingBarriers #2026Goals #SportForChange