An interview with Tammy Parlour, co-founder and CEO of the Women’s Sport Trust
By Ilaria Biancacci
For decades, women’s sport has been framed as a story of catching up — smaller crowds, less funding, fewer sponsorships. But Tammy Parlour, co-founder and CEO of the Women’s Sport Trust (WST), believes it’s time to move beyond comparison.
“We’re proving now that women’s sport is a standalone cultural product,” she says. “It’s about shifting the focus from deficits to value — celebrating what women’s sport brings in its own right.”
Tammy’s perspective is rooted in lived experience. A lifelong martial artist, she began training at 13 and still teaches today. “I don’t know who I’d be without it,” she reflects. “Sport transforms confidence, builds leadership, and creates community.”
Since its founding in 2012, the Women’s Sport Trust has been at the forefront of a movement to elevate women’s sport, not as an offshoot of men’s competitions but as a vibrant, culturally significant industry. Tammy is passionate about language. Words shape perception, and how we talk about women’s sport matters. “We need to move away from phrases like ‘finally getting recognition,’” she explains. “Instead, let’s celebrate momentum, growth, and the individual value women’s sport brings. These achievements are powerful in their own right.”
This change in narrative, she explains, is already reshaping how audiences connect. Research by the Trust shows that fans are drawn not to comparisons with men’s leagues, but to authentic storytelling and rivalries — the kind of emotional pull that defines sport at its best.
Visibility: The Heart of Growth
At the core of WST’s mission lies one essential ingredient: visibility. “Without visibility, everything is harder,” Parlour says. “Greater media coverage means more fans, which attracts more sponsors, which leads to more investment — and then more coverage. It’s a positive feedback loop.”
Examples abound. Barclays’ investment in the Women’s Super League didn’t just elevate football; it also led to broader broadcast commitments. Similarly, Vitality’s support of cricket and netball funded storytelling and coverage, not just kits or tournaments.
More positive examples are coming from across the Atlantic, such as the financial company Ally’s 50/50 pledge — a commitment to achieve equal media and sponsorship spending between men’s and women’s sports by 2027. This marks another step towards parity. “For sponsors, women’s sport offers a fresh, authentic narrative,” Parlour adds. “It’s about inclusion and progress — values that resonate with consumers.”
Role Models Who Shape Futures
Visibility is not just about numbers — it’s about representation. When girls see women excelling on screen, it changes how they view themselves.
“Role models inspire not only the younger generation but this generation too — older women, men, everyone,” says Parlour. “Parents tell me their kids are growing up seeing strong female athletes on TV, and it’s just normal to them. That’s a societal shift.”
She recalls the moment the Lionesses won the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022: “It created a seismic cultural moment. Girls suddenly saw themselves on the biggest stage.”
As the saying goes, ‘If you can see her, you can be her’ — and Parlour agrees. “Media visibility is a form of empowerment. When we see people like us having platforms, we think, maybe I can as well.”
But representation must go beyond gender. “There’s more than one way to be a woman,” Parlour says. “If we just replace men with one type of woman, we haven’t solved the problem.”
WST works to hold the industry to account, collecting data and encouraging broadcasters and sponsors to diversify their stories. “We can’t just have one type of woman being made visible,” she insists. “And we can’t just focus on one sport.”
That’s why the Trust’s elite athlete programme, launching its new cohort this November, includes women from 27 different sports — a reflection of the range and richness of women’s sporting talent in the UK.
“Inclusion has always been at the heart of what we do,” she adds, recalling how the energy of the London 2012 Olympics inspired the founding of WST. “It didn’t matter who you were — everyone felt included. That’s the spirit we wanted to capture.”
The Summer of Women’s Sports
Summer 2025 has been a landmark season for women’s sport. The latest Women’s Sport Trust report, “The Summer of Sport: How women’s sport is being seen in 2025” highlights powerful data confirming that women’s sport is not just thriving — it’s a sustainable business that’s here to stay, grow, and expand. Record female viewership, soaring viewing hours, and strong engagement across global tournaments are driving this momentum.
From January to September alone, audiences watched 357 million hours of women’s sport on TV, surpassing previous records, while female viewership reached unprecedented levels—44% of UEFA Women’s EURO and 43% of Rugby World Cup audiences were women, rising to nearly half for both finals. The EURO final between England and Spain drew 16.22 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched moments of the year. Online engagement soared too, with 15.5 million EURO streams on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport, and star athletes like Leah Williamson and Ilona Maher driving high engagement among young female fans.
“The biggest moments on UK television have come from women’s sport, and audiences are watching for longer than ever before,” said Tammy. “Women’s sport isn’t a niche interest – it’s now part of the national sporting conversation. The challenge is to sustain that visibility year-round and translate it into long-term commercial growth.”
This surge in visibility is reshaping not just how people watch sport, but how they invest in it. As women’s sport captures mainstream attention, brands are realising that genuine support can no longer be performative. Parlour acknowledges that while symbolic gestures once dominated the landscape, the tide is shifting. “We’re seeing a move from tokenism to genuine commitment,” she says. “Gen Z demands it. They want brands not only to do well, but to do good.”
Today, true commitment means sustained investment — not one-off campaigns around International Women’s Day, but year-round support for coaching, mentoring, and media coverage. “Fans and consumers respond to authenticity,” she notes. “Women’s sport needs that long-term, structural commitment.”
Data backs this up. The latest Consumer View report from the Women’s Sport Trust shows that awareness of women’s sport sponsorships has reached nearly 29 million UK adults, marking a new high. Crucially, sponsorship in women’s sport drives stronger emotional connection and purchase intent than in men’s sport — with 9.96 million adults more likely to buy from brands that support it.
As Tammy puts it, “Women’s sport sponsorship works, but it works differently. It demands a sharper focus on relevance, values, and storytelling.”
The Rise of Grassroots Media
Digital and community-led platforms have also transformed the visibility of women’s sport. “They’re shifting the balance of power,” Parlour explains. “By building authentic fan connections, they’re showing broadcasters that there’s a real audience out there.”
That audience is not only growing — it’s deeply engaged. According to the Women’s Sport Trust’s research published in December 2024, 43% of UK adults feel more positive towards brands that support their local communities through women’s sport, and one in three say they’d be more likely to recommend a brand that sponsors sport at grassroots level.
While sustainability remains a challenge, she believes these platforms are essential. “They create bottom-up demand for visibility,” she says. “And that pressure is what changes systems.”
Across the board, data echoes her point: audiences are increasingly drawn to stories that feel close to home — the local clubs, players, and initiatives that reflect their own communities. This growing engagement isn’t just building fandom; it’s redefining what loyalty looks like in women’s sport.
From her board level experience, Tammy has learned that emotion alone isn’t enough — evidence is essential. “We started with a moral case. Now we have the business case. Data has made women’s sport a business priority.”Collaboration is key. “When athletes, media, sponsors, and fans work together, that’s when real change happens.”
Today, the Women’s Sport Trust works to make women’s sport visible, viable, and valued, holding the system accountable for progress. Tammy’s vision is ambitious but clear: “A world where women’s professional sport is independently successful, valued, and driving positive social change.”
And as she points out, every story, every broadcast, every role model helps build that world — one where women’s sport is celebrated on its own terms.
