CURUFCW were victorious in the first match of the inaugural Twickenham double-header in 2015William Lyon-Tupman

It was 8th December 2016, and Cambridge had just suffered surprise defeat in the Women’s Varsity Rugby match. I was at Twickenham, watching on as the heroines who’d romped home 52–0 a year before were consigned to a 3–0 loss by a single penalty kick. Leaving my desk on the East Stand, I wandered inside to the press enclosure, as visibly disappointed as members of the media are allowed to be. As I step inside, I’m spotted by a well-meaning concierge, evidently part of the Twickenham furniture, who turns to me and asks. “So, who’s going to win the big one, then?”

If his meaning isn’t immediately clear, he was referring to the men’s Varsity Match due to take place later that day. After all, the men’s and women’s matches are now played on the same day in the same arena. Obviously, the remark was a touch contentious. But what really took me aback was the casualness of the way he dropped that in. He wasn’t after a profound discussion as he poured me my nth coffee of the afternoon: he was just making small talk. And that’s the time we’re prone to saying the things we think least controversial: yes, the weather is lovely today; yes, the bus is always late; why, yes, I would like another pint, thank you. To him, calling the men’s match ‘the big one’ was something completely innocent and uncontentious.

“Attendance levels at Twickenham in December and Barnet this March attested to the fact that many see the women’s matches as nought but an optional extra”

The truth is, the increasing number of women’s Varsity matches taking place on the same day as the men’s runs risk of lulling us into the misconception that equality’s now been achieved. Up until recently, Cambridge women’s sport was more or less invisible. Before 2015, the Women’s Boat Race had never been televised, and the Women’s Rugby Varsity had always been contested on University playing fields in Cambridge and Oxford rather than at Twickenham. And until this year, the Women’s Varsity Football match had been kept entirely apart from the Men’s, only taking place in a professional arena for the first time when Barnet hosted the event’s inaugural double-header.

But now that invisibility has been replaced by a new sort of prejudice. Now they’re in the centre of attention, but still on the periphery, visible but still often ignored. In short, they’re the warm-up act for the main event. And attendance levels at Twickenham in December and Barnet this March attested to the fact that many see the women’s matches as nought but an optional extra.

Even with double-headers – a good step in the right direction – we’re only part of the way there. So, what’s to be done? I propose a radical new alternative: start alternating the order of the matches.

It’s simple, really. When the women are always first, all they will ever be is the sideshow. So why not introduce a system where the men and women share the main billing between them in alternate years? That way no team – men’s or women’s – gets to cement their status as top of the bill, which is what we have now. I’m sure as well that the University’s men’s teams and their supporters, committed to equality in sport as they are, would have no problem sharing.

Why couldn’t that work for the Boat Races? Or, as the events are officially known, the Women’s Boat Race, and, ahem, the Boat Race. And not to forget the Women’s Varsity Match and, oh, the Varsity Match. The same prejudice – that the women’s events are a lesser alternative to the men’s ones – is couched in the very language we use to describe them, and that goes all the way to the organisational level. Start alternating matches and we’ll begin to make it clear that one isn’t the alternative to the other, but that both are alternatives to each other.

Now, listen. As a not particularly athletic bloke I’m not claiming to be the Messiah of women’s sport. Even this suggestion can only go so far – though it’d help. When one glass ceiling breaks, there’ll always be another one behind it. So I’m not selling you a panacea for all of sport’s ailments here, just suggesting the next step on what promises to be a very long road ahead.