When the Algorithm Gets It Wrong
What the Northern Super League’s imagery and AI’s biases reveal about who gets seen in women’s sport
Last night, I visited the website for the Northern Super League (NSL)—Canada’s new professional women’s soccer league.
I was excited to see how this historic league was presenting itself. But what I saw was disappointing:
📸 Every image on the homepage featured white women only. There was no visible representation of the diverse athletes we know make up the heart of this sport in Canada.
I recorded what I saw on my phone.
By this morning, the images were gone—quietly removed, with no explanation.
And that’s when it hit me—again. The erasure doesn’t just happen behind the scenes. It happens in public view, on the platforms meant to celebrate inclusion, belonging, and representation in women’s sport.
Then, when I turned to a generative AI tool to visualize the NSL, the pattern repeated.
🧠 Without specifying sex or gender, the AI rendered only men.
🎨 When I clarified “women’s soccer,” I got white women—again, overwhelmingly and exclusively.
AI Is Only As Inclusive As the Data It Learns From
Generative AI doesn’t choose to ignore women of colour, or athletes with visible disabilities, or body diversity.
But it reflects a sports media landscape where:
Men’s sport is the default,
White bodies are centred, and
Diverse representation is still too often missing.
If the data we feed AI is biased, the outputs will be too. And in sport—where visibility is tied to opportunity—this isn’t just a tech issue.
It’s an equity issue.
This Isn’t Just About Images
When AI doesn’t reflect the full spectrum of women in sport, and when a league website showcases only whiteness, the message is clear—whether intentional or not:
Some athletes are more visible, more valued, and more marketable than others.
And that matters.
It matters for the next generation watching.
It matters for the athletes trying to build their careers.
It matters for a league that’s just getting started.
We Believe in Better
We believe sport should be a space where every girl, every body, and every background is celebrated.
That means showing up with purpose—online, in person, and in every image.
We believe:
💛 Representation is not optional.
💛 Technology must serve inclusion, not reinforce exclusion.
💛 We all have a role to play in building the sport system we want to see.
If AI can’t recognize women’s sport without a prompt, and if real-world websites can’t reflect the diversity of their athletes, then we have to push for better—louder, faster, together.
💬 When you look at the images I posted on instagram, what do you see?
