Welcome to Between Victory & Visibility, a biweekly editorial space where we track not just the wins but the systems, the struggles and the shifting lines of visibility in sport.

Past weeks’ landscape of sport was anything but flat. From Supreme Court hearings to locker room silence, from algorithms to legacy fights, the field is stretching in every direction; culturally, politically and philosophically. Whether it’s boxing rings or broadcast rights, what’s at stake is no longer just competition but representation, access and the stories we choose to amplify.

This dispatch gathers key moments across formats and continents, where sport intersects with power, policy, identity and progress.

🏀 1. Toxic Fandom: When Growth Comes with a Price

As the WNBA enjoys record breaking audience, like the New York Liberty’s +16,000 per game, a darker side is surfacing. The league now faces the urgent task of addressing a new kind of hostility in its fandom: one that’s louder, more tribal and at times racist and misogynistic.

🔗 Washington Post – WNBA’s Fandom Turns Tribal 

🥇 2. Netflix’s First All Female Boxing Card: History in the Making

This Friday July 11, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will face off for the third time. This isn’t just another fight, it’s a legacy moment, testing the limits of longevity, identity and rivalry in women’s boxing. Another detail that will make this match memorable; it will be streamed globally on Netflix, live from the Madison Square Garden in New York.  

🔗 Boxing Insider – Trilogy of Taylor vs Serrano

🧗 3. IFSC World Cup – Chamonix Highlights

Lead World Cup in Chamonix is unfolding right now (as of July 9), drawing elite athletes to Mont Blanc’s iconic venue. Chamonix is the 4th Lead stop of 2025’s World Cup series. Performances this weekend will heavily influence the overall standings, the stakes are high for athletes aiming at season titles or Olympic qualification. The next stop will be in Seoul. 

🔗 Olympics.com – How to Watch the IFSC World Cup Chamonix 2025

🏉 4. Australia’s NRLW Expands – but Who’s Watching?

The NRL Women’s Premiership will grow from 10 to 12 teams, welcoming back the Warriors and Bulldogs. While this signals institutional support, the broader cultural investment, media coverage, fan attention and funding, still lags behind.

🔗 News.com.au – NRLW’s Expansion Ambitions

🧠 5. Ghosting the Game: Why Women Drop Team Sports by 30

A UK survey reveals a harsh truth: by the time women hit their 30s, only 7% are still involved in team sports. Barriers include caregiving burdens, lack of inclusive programs and deeply internalized gender norms around aging and activity.

🔗 The Sun – Survey on Women and Team Sports

🧪 6. Invisible in the Data: AI Bias in Sports Reporting 

Recent research from arXiv shows how language models default to male-centric reporting unless women’s sports are explicitly mentioned, highlighting how even our algorithms sideline women.

🔗 arXiv – Bias in LLM Sports Coverage

📚 7. A Call for Deeper Research

Frontiers is calling for a broader research push to understand the sociocultural, hormonal and psychological barriers to women’s sports participation. The gap isn’t just physical, it’s epistemological.

🔗 Frontiers – Research Topic Proposal

🏁 8. Women Drive the Fan Boom in F1 and Football

In an unexpected twist, Formula 1 reports that 75% of its new fans are women. Meanwhile, Nielsen forecasts that women’s football will reach a fan base of 800 million by 2030, becoming one of the top five global sports.

🔗 SportsPro & Reuters – Women Shape Sports Fandom

🥊 9. Tracy Cortez: Fighting Through Tumors

In a deeply personal revelation, UFC flyweight contender Tracy Cortez shared that she underwent emergency surgery for three large abdominal tumors discovered late last year while training in Brazil. Her return at UFC 317 ended in a unanimous decision victory, marking not only a professional comeback but a powerful narrative of bodily autonomy, vulnerability and grit.

🔗 MMAmania – Cortez’s Immediate Surgery  

⚖️ 10. The Politics of Fairness: SCOTUS Takes Up Trans Athlete Bans

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases from Idaho and West Virginia over bans on transgender women in women’s sports. These legal battles will shape the future of gender inclusion and fairness debates across all levels of competition.

🔗 Washington Post – Supreme Court Reviews Trans Athlete Laws

🧪 11. Combat Sports & Well-Being: Academic Focus Expands

Frontiers in Psychology has opened a call for papers exploring how combat sports promote health, social inclusion and well being, especially for women and adaptive athletes. The aim is to shift public perception beyond violence and into therapeutic, educational and identity-shaping roles.

🔗 Frontiers – Combat Sports and Wellbeing of Women and Adaptive Athletes

⚽️ 12. FIFA’s Ethics Process Criticized

A case involving Jamaican coach Hubert Busby Jr. has revealed serious flaws in FIFA’s procedures. A complainant reported being ignored and traumatized by bureaucratic barriers, spotlighting systemic failures in addressing sexual misconduct.

🔗 The Guardian – FIFA’s ‘Broken’ Case Management

🎥 13. Surviving Ohio State: Sexual Abuse in U.S. College Sports

The HBO film “Surviving Ohio State” documents a large scale sexual abuse scandal from 1978–1998, revealing institutional negligence and the weaponization of power in collegiate athletics.

🔗 The Guardian – We Were Powerless: Inside the Devastating Ohio State Sexual Abuse Scandal

💉 14. Gender Testing Controversy in Athletics

World Athletics, under Lord Coe, has introduced mandatory biological testing (SRY gene + testosterone levels) for female-category competitions. The policy has ignited debates around fairness, privacy and the rights of transgender and DSD athletes.

🔗 Sky News – World Athletics to Introduce Mandatory Sex Testing

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Sport doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It reflects our contradictions, tensions and hopes: not only in the ring or on the field but in data, in courtrooms, in fandoms and in the stories we pass along. Past two weeks reminded us that every match, every policy, every silence or spotlight is part of something bigger: a slow and uneven redefinition of who gets to play, who gets to be seen and what we believe sport should stand for because it means much more than sharing news based solely on wins & victories.

Stay tuned, stay critical and stay moving ♥

In sport and in thought,

See you next time!