‘We want to be loud’: Australia’s first women’s sports bar can change the game

The Ladies League will showcase women’s sports with a bar, lounge, six screens and 80 seats at the new venue on Oxford Street in Sydney. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Plush banquettes, floral designs and pink LEDs don’t make for your average sports bar – but as Australia’s first women’s sports bar, The Ladies League isn’t in the business of maintaining the status quo.

Soon to open, the 80-cover bar is wedged between the LGBTQ+ bars of Oxford Street, and Allianz Stadium and the Sydney Cricket Ground. It’s a strategic safe spot: there’s a natural overlap of women’s sports and the queer community.