There has been a statue erected of a female sports player who earlier this year was viciously trolled online in a sexism debate.

The player is of Taylor Harris who plays in the national Australian Football League for women (AFLW). She has only played 22 games and kicked 17 goals.

The AFLW itself has only been around for 3 years (. Compared to men’s AFL that has been around at least 100 years. ) and was a huge step forward for women’s sports in Australia.

Internet trolls and now also legends from the AFL (including one that has a statue himself) are saying it is too soon for a statue to be erected and if they want to make one for her they should wait until her career has ended because otherwise it is going to always be marred in this sexism controversy. Others say there are far more deserving athletes that don’t have a statue that could be equally symbolic for women’s sports (I.e. Cathy Freeman who is indigenous and won Olympic gold medals in early 2000).

Others say the statue is for

“Rather than celebrating the career achievements of a past great, as is the case with most bronze statues, this particular one is said to represent “the potential of a generation,” as the AFLW moves towards its fourth season and an expanded 14-team competition.”

The controversial photo the statue has been made to look like:

The comments from men became quite disgusting as you can imagine and the AFL took down the photo without comment. However a day later they posted the photo again due to backlash from fans/media accusing the AFL for allowing the misogynistic vitriol and not supporting their player. There are plenty of photos like the one above of male football players and no body has anything nasty to say about them.

Quotes:

AFL great ““She is getting a statue for being trolled online. Mystifying to me. One of the most mystifying things I have ever heard of. I am not happy about it,” Blight said.””

Harris herself said she doubted she would understand the significance of it for another two decades but was humbled by the experience.

“It’s a pretty surreal feeling, it’s incredible and it’s more than me just kicking football, it’s a message, it’s a turning point in Australian society, so it’s something I can be personally proud of,”

Some people have said that it is just an attention grabbing advertisement by NAB (a bank) who sponsor AFLW and commissioned the statue since its grand final week in the AFL.

Do you think there should be a statue of Harris modelled after this photo and should it be now? Or is it too soon?

Should other female sports women who have proven accomplishments be represented first?