Corners of Canberra's sporting sector fear speaking out in search of more funding will see them "punished by the government", while calls are growing for further investment to save the women's teams left "fighting for scraps".
Independents for Canberra leader Thomas Emerson and Sue Read - the former Matildas goalkeeper who spearheaded a campaign to save Canberra United - are pushing for an overhaul of sports funding in the capital ahead of this week's ACT election.
So when they sat down to outline their vision for sport in Canberra, it's little wonder the Giant elephant in the room entered the conversation before too long. The ACT government has a 10-year, $28.5 million deal with the GWS Giants to bring games to Manuka Oval.
The deal has been a major source of frustration in community sporting circles, with officials crying out for investment in new facilities and existing venue upgrades.
But many stay silent in fear of losing the funding they already receive from the ACT government.
In the midst of a push to regulate social media use for kids in the name of mental health and wellbeing, Emerson questions whether adequate funding is in place to encourage activities to really help people build confidence, self-esteem, and positive body image.
"We're not taking the steps we need to turn the tap off when it comes to mental health issues. Where is the conversation about how we help people live healthier lives," Emerson said.
"All of the conversations I've had so far with community sporting organisations across a spectrum, no one has had enough support. Everyone is worried about facilities, everyone is worried about whether they'll be able to maintain what they've got, everyone is worried about volunteers. There's a huge demand for more investment. It just does not make sense that they're not seeing it.
"If some of those conversations were had more publicly, people would be pretty surprised, but there is a little bit of a fear that if people come out too vocally, that they'll be punished by the government, which is a real worry."
On the elite front, Canberra United is facing a fight for survival in the A-League Women's competition - unless a backer can be secured to fund a men's and women's team - while the Canberra Capitals, who boast more WNBL titles than any rival, could become "a development pathway team".
The Capitals and Canberra United both receive $250,000 per year in ACT government funding, but there are calls for that number to swell - and Read says "the money must be there" given Chief Minister Andrew Barr has committed more than $1 million per season to an ALM team, while promising to pump $3 million per year into a Big Bash franchise.
Barr has vowed to increase funding for the ACT Meteors, Capitals and Canberra United in his election pitch, while many believe the ACT government cannot be relied upon to prop up professional sports teams.
Read finds it "very hard to fathom and understand that inequality in funding" between men's and women's sports in Canberra, considering Canberra United almost collapsed following the success of the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia.
"Our two teams [Canberra United and the Capitals] are now probably becoming more development pathway teams, because we don't have the money to fund them appropriately and we don't have the money to pay better players," Read said.
"This past year, although we saved the team [Canberra United], many of the players had to make a decision; do I stay here getting paid base-level wage or not at all, or do I go to a team who can secure me for three years on a more liveable wage?
"They've got to secure their future, so now we get crops of 18-year-olds playing against Lauren Jackson and some of the best players in other leagues. That means the viability of the product diminishes over time. Like we saw this year, the real risk was actually losing the team altogether.
"We don't have men's teams, so shouldn't the funding that would have gone into an A-League Men's and an NBL team, shouldn't that be going into our women's teams?
"The money must be there, because all of a sudden, we've got $3 million to put towards the BBL. And of course, the GWS funding. It's great to have GWS here, but they're fly in, fly out workers. These two women's teams are here, on the ground, in the community, running clinics, going to schools, living here on barely a living wage when that could very easily be fixed, very rapidly."
