Hello from Ladies who League

... and where I've been lately.

Hi everyone

It’s Mary K here from Ladies who League. I hope you are all doing well.

You may have noticed I’ve been a little absent from social media lately. Life has been joyful and busy. But the decision to be less on social media has been a difficult and purposeful one.

Truthfully, I found myself deeply ingrained in the US Political election last year. This is not a place where I want to talk about politics, but I found the result of that election deeply troubling most simply because a person with values so anathema to my own had been elevated to the highest office in the world. After that election I needed to pause and rethink, and I wondered whether it was healthy for me to be spending so much time on social media and on my phone. For myself personally, I decided it was not.

I stepped back from Twitter cold turkey (I will always call it Twitter). This was brutally hard. I loved Twitter. It’s how I built my beautiful ‘Ladies who League’ community from scratch. I made so many friends and really connected into a place where advocates of women in sport could connect and shine a light on each other. The place I loved no longer exists and it was not serving me to hold onto it.

I’ve felt lost the last couple of months and disconnected from a community that gave me so much joy. It has been hard for me to grapple with the idea that I am an advocate left without a platform. There has been a shift toward video, reels and visual content. I understand this is how so many people are consuming their news, but this is not me. I am trying to spend less time on my phone. I am trying to move away from the idea that every time I have a thought in my head that I need to share it. I don’t want to create just for clicks or create quickly, without doing the thinking behind what I am producing.

So I’ve joined Substack. I’m not sure what this place will become but I can tell you what I’m hoping for – to be able to continue to share my writing with you on things that are important to me; women’s sport, rugby league, gender equality and probably the Parramatta Eels. I’ll also try and migrate some of my favourite pieces of work from other platforms to share with all of you

I continue to value the organisations that support my work including ESPN, the Roar and SEN, but thought it was time to dip my toe back into doing what I love, writing.

I hope to connect with you soon.

With love

Mary K

P.S. Here are some of my favourite photos from the last couple of months.

A photo of me at Bankwest Stadium after the Parramatta Eels first win of the season over the St George Illawarra Dragons. I celebrated like we had won the Grand Final.

A photo of Jimmy and I at Bendooley Estate, celebrating our first wedding anniversary.

A photo of me with two of my best friends, Bronte and Ollie on Good Friday.

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