Bryanna Duncan has worked at the Collingwood Football Club for 9 years. The 27 year-old started at the club through a traineeship in 2013, and now works as our Events Manager.
As part of International Women’s Day, we sat down with Bryanna to discuss her experiences across the years as a Collingwood employee.
As events manager, what are some of the challenges you face on a regular basis?
One of the biggest challenges in recent years has been dealing with COVID, ensuring we are compliant with COVID regulations.
Working in the sports events industry can be challenging as often your work is impacted by extraneous variables such as on field results.
When the team isn’t performing well it can be harder to create engaging events. Additionally, when we win it often results in more fan friendly fixtures, and thus better event opportunities for our clients.
What does it mean to you as a female to work in a largely male dominated industry?
It’s important to me because it’s one of those things that football clubs have been known for.
We’re fortunate here that the dynamic between male and female staff has evened out a lot more, Collingwood is very open to a gender equal workplace.
Before women’s sport became so significant here, it was a very male dominated place to work. However it’s been pleasing to see that Collingwood has grown over time and it’s been awesome to be a part of that and observe the change.
Being a young female at a football club, I’ve always been given the ability to grow and develop. People around you always give you the trust to be your best regardless of your gender or background.
I feel lucky to work at this club.
As someone who has been at the club for such a long time - can you speak to some of the cultural changes and things that Collingwood does that makes you proud to be a female employee?
One of the best parts about working for Collingwood is that we’re very heavily involved in helping the community.
It’s very empowering to know how much work we do in the community. The opportunities we’re given as employees to help out with the Salvation Army and the Magpie Nest cafe makes working for Collingwood really rewarding.
What makes me proud to work here is that we’re able to do more than just play football or netball.
We help change people’s lives, feed the homeless, provide the less privileged with opportunities to thrive.
It’s very hard to want to leave Collingwood, you look at it and there’s no other job like it.
We’re not just known as a football club, we’re a large sporting organisation, and a large business, there’s a lot to Collingwood that goes on off the field, there’s a lot of variety to our work.
Sometimes as an employee, people forget that how Collingwood is perceived impacts more than just our athletes. As an employee we represent this club just as much as the athletes do.
