The Caitlin Clark thing is exactly that. The people in positions of power and even the pre-existing fanbase liked that it was “their” little thing. The attention Clark brings threatens that. People who run WNBA teams and coaches are at risk of having to be accountable to large, demanding fanbases for the first time. It’s now a fight to get tickets for games and the old fans face to ordeal of having to interact with
ordinary
people
. Scary stuff!
And the extra money the players are going to make now doesn’t make the petty jealousy go away that Clark is the one drawing in the crowds, not them, so they lie to themselves and insist it’s because she is part of the white supremacy movement or something like that. But the reality is that you don’t even need to particularly like basketball to understand why Clark is genuinely special & unique in the women’s game.
But yeah in the NRLW you definitely get the feeling that there’s an old guard threatened by the new school + a weird cliquiness in these rep teams. Mahalia Murphy for example is a Jillaroo from before the NRLW existed and picking her over Kernick can only be a politics thing.