The Game Changers

Meghan MacLaren, is a hugely successful professional golfer, and significant voice in the sport, commenting on the game and the culture that surrounds it through her hugely popular blog and social media presence.

Meg graduated from Florida University in 2016 with a degree in English and Political Science, along with seven Division 1 College Golf victories. She was a member of the victorious 2016 Curtis Cup team, won two ladies European tour Access Events and in 2017 received the LET order of merit. She's a three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, a winner on the LPGA Symetra tour in the US and is currently ranked sixth on the Ladies European Tour order of merit. 

Meg is incredibly passionate about gender parity in golf and women’s sport, which forms the basis of much of our conversation. We explore Meg’s path into professional golf and why the pay, coverage and opportunities for the women’s game are still so far behind men’s. 

Meg talks candidly about why she turned down the opportunity to play in a Saudi backed LET event last year and how the new LIV series could potentially impact the future of the game. We talk wider diversity in golf, changes at the LPGA and her plans for the future both as a professional player and beyond. 

Thanks to Sport England who support The Game Changers through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Alice Dearing is one of the world's top marathon swimmers and a true game changer in the sport. In 2021 she became the first black woman to swim for Great Britain at an Olympic Games, representing a huge milestone for diversity in the sport. 

Alice is also co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, an organisation that advocates for water, safety and inclusion for Black and Asian minorities within swimming. 

 Her passion for diversity and inclusion has seen her recognised globally as an advocate for change. 
 Alice talks about her journey as a Black swimmer and how she transitioned into Marathon swimming. We explore the work of the Black Swimming Association and how they are working to overcome some of the societal myths about Black swimmers. 

We hear why Alice thinks it’s important to step forward and change perceptions as a role model for others and her plans for the future… including Paris 2024.

Find out more about the Black Swimming Association here: https://thebsa.co.uk/

Thanks to Sport England who support The Game Changers through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Fantastic news for all fans of women’s sport and equality – a new series of The Game Changers will be released on Tuesday July 26, 2022. And for the first time, all seven new episodes in series 11 will be released immediately, ensuring there’s plenty of great, inspiring content to listen to this summer.

Once again, this season of the award-winning podcast is backed by Sport England through a National Lottery award.

The podcast sees Sue Anstiss MBE talking to trailblazing women in sport who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls across society. Along with openly sharing their historic careers, what drives them and how they’ve dealt with tough challenges, each episode also addresses key issues for equality in sport and beyond.

This season’s line-up includes:

• Alice Dearing – The first black woman to swim for Great Britain at an Olympic Games talks about what more can be done to break down barriers for African, Caribbean and Asian communities in aquatics
• Megan McLaren – Much respected professional golfer, Meg considers why the pay, coverage and opportunities for female golfers are still so far behind the men’s and what’s changing now.
• Ali Donnelly – An Executive Director at Sport England and author of ‘Scrum Queens’, Ali considers the current state of play for women’s rugby how we can all play a part in the drive for equality in sprot
• Radha Balani – the Managing Director of Think Beyond, Radha highlights how sport can change the lives of women and girls across the world
• Sophie Carrigill - British wheelchair basketball player shares how sport can challenge perceptions for all women with disabilities
• Fi Morgan – Sail GP’s director of purpose and impact, explores the power of sport to drive wellbeing and to ensure a better world for all.
• Jodie Cunningham - St Helens and England Rugby League star, named Woman of Steel in 2021, considers the future growth of the women’s game & the impact of this autumn’s home World Cup

The Game Changers is hosted by Sue Anstiss, author of ‘Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’, CEO of Fearless Women and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Collective.

Game changing guests from the previous series including Jess Ennis-Hill, Judy Murray, Gabby Logan, Katherine Grainger, Lucy Bronze, Judy Murray, Sarah Storey, Denise Lewis, Clare Balding, Kate Richardson-Walsh and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Phil Smith, Executive Director of Partnerships at Sport England explains why the organisation is supporting The Game Changers:

"Supporting the development of existing and aspiring leaders a focus of Uniting The Movement. We think it’s a catalyst for bigger change in the industry. The Game Changers podcast champions women from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. The amazing and inspiring stories they uncover, from women of all backgrounds, makes it a must-listen.”

Commenting on the launch of the 11th series, Sue says: “We are delighted to be partnering again with Sport England as there’s such synergy with the work they do to tackle the inequalities women face across all areas of sport.

“Sport England’s backing and collaboration enables us to broaden the reach of the podcasts, ensuring more people, from all backgrounds, have the opportunity to hear these inspiring stories.”

You can find out more about all the guests from this and the previous series, and listen to all the episodes, from the Fearless Women website. This is also where you can find out about the 

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Lizzie Deignan is one of the world’s greatest ever female cyclists.

She’s won World, Commonwealth and National titles as a road cyclist and is an Olympic silver medallist.

Lizzie is now also changing the narrative around motherhood and elite sport. Having returned to cycling after the birth of daughter Orla, last October she won the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes after pulling away from the peloton with more than 80km to go in what a spectacular race.

In this fascinating episode we talk about how Lizzie’s team, Trek Segafredo, are supporting her during her latest pregnancy, the importance of the Tour de France Femme this summer for the profile of women’s cycling and what can be done to ensure equal prize money in the future.

Thanks to Sport England who support The Game Changers through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Isa Guha was the first woman of South Asian origin to represent England in sport when she made her international cricket debut in 2002, aged 17.

Her career, which spanned a decade, included winning the 2009 Women's World Cup, Women's World T20 and three Ashes Series.

Isa is now firmly established in sports media, having broken many barriers along the way both presenting and commentating for global broadcasters. She’s currently an integral part of the Fox Cricket coverage in Australia and Test Match Special combined with heading up the BBC TV coverage in the UK.

It’s recently been announced that she will also be joining the BBC line up for Wimbledon this summer. 

As the first woman on the Professional Cricketers Association board, Isa has overseen an important time in the transition of the game as women strive for equity in cricket but also as the game aims to tackle racism.

Isa is incredibly open as we discuss what more cricket can do to make the sport inclusive for women of all backgrounds and she shares how she built her broadcasting career. Isa also reflects on Shane Warne’s legacy and the new foundation she is establishing in her mother’s name, Take her lead.

You can order Isa’s mum’s beautiful cookbook - Roma’s Recipes -  here.

Thanks to Sport England who support The Game Changers through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Today’s guest is transforming the way women talk about their bodies.   Dr Emma Ross is the former Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport where she led the smartHER progamme, educating coaches and athletes about the female body in high performance sport. 

 Since then, Emma’s worked with everyone from elite athletes and top coaches through to head teachers and schoolgirls - passionate about making sport a better environment for all women. 

 In 2020 Emma co-founded The Well HQ, an organisation that educates and empowers women to understand their bodies and use that knowledge to thrive in sport, health and life. 
 In recognition of all she is doing for the wellbeing of women and girls, in 2021 Emma received the Sunday Times Sports Women of the Year Changemaker Award.  

 In this important episode we explore the lack of female focused sports science research and why that matters for women of all ages.    Emma shares her journey from education to applied sports science at the English Institute of Sport to all she is doing today with the Well HQ. 

We talk about the challenges facing male coaches working with young female athletes, how some sports are finally having conversations about women’s bodies that have been deemed taboo for decades but also recognise that one football club talking openly about tracking players’ periods doesn’t mean we’ve solved the problem across sport. 

 It’s such a powerful conversation and Emma’s passion to ensure sport is something that all women can enjoy throughout life is infectious. 

Find out more about Emma and her work at https://www.thewell-hq.com/

A big thank you to our partners, Sport England who support The Game Changers podcast through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Orla Chennaoui is an extraordinary woman who has many talents including being a multilingual TV sports presenter. 

Having worked at Sky News and Sky Sports, Orla is now a Lead Presenter for Eurosport, working across cycling, MotoGP and the Olympics.

With her background in hard-news and investigations, Orla has always had an open and frank approach to sports reporting whether that’s in front of the camera or hosting podcasts and writing regular columns for Rouleur magazine and the Metro newspaper.

Amongst her many accolades Orla’s also just been nominated as sports presenter of the year at the Sports Journalists Awards 2022.

In this fascinating episode we explore Orla’s work as a broadcaster, including her move from news to sports presenting, the perception of female broadcasters and why it’s been so important that she retains her authentic style on screen.

Ahead of a massive summer for women’s cycling with the Tour de France Femmes in July, we discuss the growth in coverage and whether cycling needs to be re-packaged to attract new audiences.

Orla talks openly about why she stopped drinking, as she, and podcast host Sue Anstiss, celebrate the huge positives of living a life without alcohol.

With thanks to Sport England who support The Game Changers through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Pippa Britton is Wales’s most successful Archer, a double Paralympian and double world champion. Pippa made the podium at six consecutive world championships and won 24 medals at 24 international events. 

Pippa also represented the Welsh able bodied archery team on more than 20 occasions and has broken many world and national records.  
 After retiring from competing, Pippa decided to give back to sport and society combining her understanding of diversity and equality with her experience of governance. She's had a number of prominent non-executive board roles, including the vice-chair of Sport Wales and UK anti-doping and the chair of Disability Sport Wales. 

We explore much in this conversation including the importance of diverse sports boards and what more needs to be done to improve the way we treat athletes at the end of their sporting careers.

A huge thank you to our partners, Sport England who are kindly supporting the next three series of The Game Changers podcast through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Along with game-changing women in sport, The Game Changers features male allies and today’s guest is having a huge impact on the visibility of women's sport. 

Jonathan Licht is a managing director of Sky Sports. He originally joined Sky back in 1998 after starting his career at Eurosport, he was appointed managing director for Sky Sports in 2021 and is leading the business into its fourth decade of operation. 

During his career at Sky Johnathan has overseen a number of significant initiatives that have made a massive impact on the profile of women's sport, especially in cricket, netball, golf and football.

Jonathan shares his own journey as a male ally for women’s sport, and we explore what more broadcasters like Sky can do to ensure gender parity across the sector both in front of and behind the camera. 

A huge thank you to our partners, Sport England who are kindly supporting the next three series of The Game Changers podcast through the National Lottery.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production