This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Jeanny Sánchez Gómez. Find them on Instagram at @jeanny_sanchez. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Along a bustling street off the side of the University of Texas at Austin’s campus sits the site of Texas’ soon-to-be-first-ever all women’s sports bar. Inspired by a visit to Rough and Tumble Pub in Seattle, co-founders Debra Hallum and Marlene du Plessis aimed to create a safe space to watch women’s sports in the city they call home.
Announcing the plan to open the bar in April 2024, with the original name ATX Woman’s Sports Pub, the owners have given everything to bring their dream to life. Documenting their location hunting on their Instagram page, it’s easy to see the thought and care that went into picking a location that works for their intended audience. “ We’re in the middle of town. So we think we’ll draw people from everywhere,” claims Hallum.
Throughout the year, the pub hosted pop-up events around town to garner support from local fans. Hosting watch parties for major sporting events at local bars helped spread the word and is how I became aware of this bar in the first place! As they continued documenting their journey, they rebranded in January to 1972: ATX Woman’s Sports Pub. Honoring the landmark federal civil rights law Title IX that helped smash barriers by prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding and opened doors for generations of athletes. The timing couldn’t be funnier as President Trump’s administration announced some reversals on the law that would cut female athletes off from a new funding source just shortly after their announcement. If you didn’t think supporting women’s sports was important before, think again.
The business has received an outpour of support since day one and has made headlines for being trailblazers in the Lone Star State, but Hallum claimed that they “Didn’t do it to be the first in Texas, we did it because Austin is our home.” Building this sense of community and gaining support from the start has also helped the business reach its crowdfunding goal. If you’re feeling extra supportive of women’s sports today, donate here to support them!
Hoping to build the same sense of community as the one they experienced at Rough and Tumble Pub, as they continued to prep for their grand opening, they invited the local women’s sports team to help them build the space from the ground up.” They each have their own community and fan base, so by being there for them and supporting them, I think we feel we help them build their community, which in general will make this community,” said Hallum.
If you’ve ever been to Texas, you know that sports memorabilia is everywhere. If you have ever visited Austin, there are two things you can’t escape from seeing: the Austin F.C. logo, the city’s newest and only major professional sports team, and UT Austin’s men’s and women’s sports teams.
After some research, Austin was a clear choice as the location to open the bar, as the city already has a huge sports fan base. Being near UT and riding the high of the women’s college basketball team claiming the top spot of the Power Ranking, the timing couldn’t be any better, as the bar intends to have its grand opening just in time for March Madness.
Need another reason to choose Austin? Lesbians are a key part of women’s sports fans, and ATX is the third biggest city for the LGBTQ+ community. With both local sports teams that have a large fan base and a queer-friendly environment, the bar is set to have a bright future.
Yet, this journey has not been smooth sailing for the duo. With most of their careers spent in corporate America and education, Hallum and du Plessis, respectively, had some obstacles to overcome before securing their venue.
Faced with many excuses as to why they couldn’t be given business grants and being told that they didn’t have enough knowledge and experience, they instead found people who did so that they could keep growing. They also found that Austin, despite being a progressive city in a sea of red, women faced many challenges when trying to start a business, whether it was due to underrepresentation or just a lack of available resources.
“You have to make things available to women,” claims Hallum. While she said this regarding the lack of grants and funds available, it’s clear to me that this is the same sentiment at the heart of the pub’s opening.
Another big issue they faced was finding a second-generation kitchen that only needed that only needed minor work before being ready to go. With little available retail space then, they had a hard time finding a place that wasn’t just a shell that would take much more time and money than anticipated.
Yet, throughout the obstacles they faced, they found motivation in each other and in their local community.” I have a very supportive partner in this business who, of course, is my partner in life. We kept encouraging each other, and she kept pushing me, ” said Hallum about du Plessis.
On top of that, any time they had pop-up events and met new community members, they received endless external affirmations and excitement about what they were doing.” That was one of the biggest things, you know. You may be doubting, or you may be thinking, can I do this as soon as you go out there to talk to people? They are so excited. Then you walk away from that going, we have to do this.”
With the grand opening happening soon, Debra and Marlene’s passion for increasing visibility and support for women’s and gender-expansive athletes will soon come to life. Committed to creating a vibrant community ready to support women’s sports, they are also committed to giving back, “donating 10% of our profits to local nonprofits focused on providing athletic opportunities to girls and gender-expansive youth in Austin.”
Places like 1972 and Rough and Tumble Pub are important spaces that we need more of, and Hallum summed that up perfectly when asked about what she’s looking forward to once they’re open. “By being that space where I can celebrate with women and have a great time with women’s sports fans. .. Getting to know people and sharing it with everybody. That’s that’s what we’re looking forward to the most for that.”
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