Patrick Hill: 'This is a movement, a journey towards equality', launch Hawthorn Women's Football Team - 2018

1 May 2018, Hawthorn Football Club, Melbourne, Australia

View video of speech on hawks website.

I’d like to welcome you all to the Inaugural Hawthorn Women’s Football team. Over the course of the next hour or so, you will get to meet the young women who will make represent our club and I’ve got no doubt you will recognize the same qualities in them that I see every day. Strength, courage, humility, honesty and passion to name a few.

When discussing women’s football, you cannot talk about the game alone. This is a movement, a journey towards equality, a small step in righting the wrongs of the past and an awakening of a powerful entity that will change the way we view our sport forever.

When I took the women’s senior coaching role at Box Hill last year, I was merely taking a job, the next role in a 15 year career. What I found was so much more. Of the 1000’s of coaching jobs all over Australia, I believe I have one of the best and most important. It has become my passion, my inspiration and my joy.

Never before have I been more excited and enthused to get to training on a cold July night. The love and passion these players have for the game is infectious. Their commitment to each other, their willingness to learn and develop and the way in which they tackle each road block standing between them and success, leaves me with nothing but admiration. Put simply, they inspire me each and every day to be a better man.

None of this would have been possible without the bravery and the generosity of the Box Hill Football Club who, along with Geelong, became the first VFL clubs to recognise the importance of inclusion and benefits of involving women at all levels of a football program.

Working closely with senior figures at Hawthorn, the Box Hill Hawks transformed the VFL for ever and made having a women’s program the envy of all other clubs.

This year we fall solely under the Hawthorn banner and have integrated our women’s program into every part of our business, on and off the field. We have developed a program that has surpassed many of the clubs that field an AFLW team and will continue to build on that, each and every year.

We are three teams, one club, and we will use every resource at our club to develop our players, coaches and support staff to be better on the field, in the coach’s box, on the sidelines or in life in general.

As a team we are hell bent in achieving success as a group. We have recruited strongly and strategically. The girls have worked extremely hard since November, and have completed more sessions than any other VFL club in preparation for 2018.

We put no limits on what we can achieve this year and have the finals firmly in our sights, a tough ask with only 4 teams out of 13 getting to compete in September. But we believe our best is good enough and will fight with everything we have to honour this great club.

We have beefed up our coaching department, our football admin, our strength and conditions and welfare departments. We have invested in technology to give the girls the very best our industry has to offer. No stone has been left unturned in ensuring we are successful in the years to come.

It is very important however, that while we chase on field success, we never lose sight of why women’s football matters. We must never lose sight of WHY we do this. While our ladies will be firmly focused on achieving success together, the impact they have in the community cannot be measured in wins and losses.

Our players are acutely aware of why they play this game and who they are playing it for. It is for every young girl in the Eastern suburbs with a dream. It is for every young Hawthorn supporter that has been told they can’t fulfil their passion in life because of their gender. It is for every young woman that needs help find a way forward, to find resilience from within and it is for every woman that has been neglected, mistreated or marginalised and needs the type of support only a good sporting club offers.

It is important that we continue to offer pathways for aspiring female talent in footy operations, in coaching, strength and conditioning. It is important that young men see these women being successful in these positions and influencing football in the years to come.

It is important for our community to see these strong, powerful, independent, career minded women as the role models they are. That they inspire other women to be the best they can be without fear of being labelled.

It is important that the Hawthorn Football Club continues to be a leader in this space. That we acknowledge WHY we are on this journey, that what we are doing matters, and that we continue to strive for equality, diversity and inclusion above all else.

Tonight ladies, you will receive your first Hawthorn jumper. It is a privilege and an honour to put this jumper on. And with that jumper comes a number, rich in history and worn by some of the games greats.

From Matthews to Mew, Brereton to Buckanara, Crimmins to Crawford, from Hudson to Hodge, each number comes with a story, most with a premiership and all with the blood, sweat and tears of the past. Tonight you will become custodians of that number, recipients of the jumper and the newest members of the family that is Hawthorn.

Remember always, that each and every day, we must earn the right to be part of this great club.

I thank you all for being here tonight to launch season 2018 and looking forward to getting to know you more as the year unfolds. A special thank you to our corporate partners who have displayed the courage to invest in women’s footy, you truly are making a difference to your community and should be applauded for it.

Lastly, I want to thank the parents, partners and friends. Without you in our lives, and the support you offer, this venture would be pointless. Regardless of how old be get, or how independent we think we are, we all in some way or another are just trying to make mum and dad proud. Hopefully we achieve that this year.

Thank you for your support and go Hawks!!

Emma Race: 'AFLW is giving us something to hold on to', The Outer Sanctum editorial - 2018

21 February 2018, ABC, Melbourne, Australia

The audio of her editorial below can be heard at 29.30 on 'Rainbows and Twitter Storms' ep of Outer Sanctum podcast

A word to those offended by the skills and scores in AFLW

Since the opening night of AFLW this year it's been impossible to ignore the chatter about the skills, and the goals. It just continues. That their skills are bad, that there's not enough goals. I’ve even read comments about how some people are confronted by the mere fact AFLW is on TV.

I don't know if you read it, but a former great and current octogenarian Neil Roberts was asked his thoughts on AFLW, and he added to the negative chat, unsurprisingly.

Because he was a proud former great who played when the patriarchy went completely unchecked, he was asked what he thinks of women playing football, and you can read his response. It doesn't really bare repeating. 

But I wish he'd been asked what he thinks of the recent charges against Shannon Grant.

Because we hear a lot on twitter and from journos about the low scores and the bad skills.

But for fans of men's AFL, for women like me, for us in this room who love the code ...

We have been confronted by the game.

And by worse things than low scoring matches and imperfect skills. 

We have been asked to accept and believe in the redemption of Wayne Carey, as he hosts White Ribbon Round.

We were confronted with the Steven Milne trial.

If you've read Anna Krien's book Night Games, you'd have been confronted with allegations of rape, abuse and power.

So today Shannon Grant is back in court facing up to 18 offences, including assault, and we have been horrified by the violence perpetrated by Justin Murphy against his former partner.

In July 2016 we heard the graphic details of Nick Stevens assault on his then girlfriend.

And that story continues.

I have heard a prominent AFLW player admit she fell out of love with the game and stopped playing because she didn’t know how to process the St Kilda School Girl story ... while she was a member and fan of that club.

Just last year my sister and I slept out at the G to make sure we had a seat to cheer for the Tigers as they won the Grand Final … only to be confronted by Nathan Broad’s text message the following day. 

For decades, we female fans of footy, have supported the men’s game.

We have paid our memberships and bought the merchandise.

But we have also been asked by our friends and strangers, to justify the behavior of the players, the stance of the clubs and the morality of the code that we love.

I believe in second chances and I believe in redemption, and I have afforded all those “former greats” the benefits of a fair hearing.

I continue to pay my membership and I continue to love my team and I love this game …

But I don’t know how to reconcile the racism and the sexism and the misogyny around the game.

And I can no longer defend it.

On twitter I was recently told it was a “cop out” to cite the positive social ripples the AFLW has created in defense of the scrappy opening night game.

And this has stayed with me.

Because what I can't do is split the joy AFLW gives me into on-field and off-field experiences.

Because the AFLW gives us something to hold on to, to keep us invested in the code. It's a safe place for us to celebrate our love of the game.  

So, I can easily defend what lack of skills there may be. And defending the numbers on the scoreboard? That is so easy.

Because it doesn’t hurt my sisters or their kids, the code or the community.

Please subscribe to the Outer Sanctum podcast here. You can hear Emma and team on ABC Local radio, 11am every Saturday during AFLW season.

Shona MacInnes: VAFA Womens Awards Night - 2017

14 August 2017, Melbourne, Australia

Wow! Look at all you beautiful people! I hardly recognise some of you without your footy jumpers & braids.

Thank you everyone for coming to another historic event for the Amateurs.

Speaking of history, we like celebrating historical milestones. This is the 125th year of men playing footy in the Victorian Amateur Football Association & it’s year number 1 for women.

I want you to cast your minds forward to 2067. It will be the 175th year of the VAFA and, more significantly, the 50th year of women playing footy in the Amateurs.

I’m sure they will have a gala event, even bigger & better than this, and someone will tell the story of when this all began. There won’t be a microphone like this but there will be an old screen like that because they will show snippets of the very first game of women’s footy played in the amateurs on Friday April 7th, 2017, between Hampton Rovers and Ormond.

It will seem like so long ago.

The audience will find the grainy old two Dimensional images slightly amusing. Someone will point out Kate MacQueen running around for Ormond. They will all know her because she had been a famous AFL player.

They will marvel at how we used to drive our own cars to the footy, and that there was this round thing called a steering wheel and we used to go like this and use pedals to make the car go where we wanted it to. They will find it hard to believe that it took an hour to get from Mentone to Marcellin.

And they will be intrigued by how we had things called phones & how we looked at them constantly. And these phones had screens and we used to use our fingers to do something called typing which was touching letters on the screen to writemessages. And we couldn’t be with-out them or else we’d get lost.

On this night in the future they may chuckle at our primitive technology, our phones and our segregated toilets but what they won’t giggle at –  is us.

They will look back on us with great respect and fondness, as we look back on the good people in history who were adventurous & progressive & who changed things for the better. They will be grateful to the men & women of the VAFA for starting this competition and for the sound foundations we put in place for them.

They will talk about a Board who made the most courageous decision in the 125 year history of the amateurs and, once made, unreservedly and without question supported this venture.

They will mention the small band of staff who, despite already running a competition with 10,000 players, took on the extra work load with enthusiasm and diligence. They will be grateful for the type of competition we ran and how we welcomed and included everyone.

They will listen in disbelief that 2017 was the first year a female umpire had officiated at an AFL match because by then umpiring will be a gender-neutral occupation.

They will thank the progressive & courageous Presidents & Committees of the foundation clubs who had the foresight & energy to see that women’s footy was the way forward.

They will talk about the coaches, who were mainly men in the beginning, who championed our women’s game and without hesitation shared their experience & knowledge.  

But above all they will applaud the brave young women who joined up to play, many of whom had never played before.  And how, at the start of the season, they turned up to training, awkward & unsure, but who listened and learned and worked hard to mould the competition into what it would become in the future.

They will note those women who went on to play AFL football, become famous coaches & administrators of the game and leaders in all fields in the community as a result of this competition. They may even point out the person who went on to become the first female to run the AFL. They will mention how this competition changed the lives of many of those girls and bettered the community as a whole.

Now, think of this:  Some of you players here tonight will be at this function in 2067, you will be in your 70’s and you will be guests of the VAFA and revered as pioneers and legends of the competition.

So: In 50 year’s time remember this night, and this year, and what all of us here have collectively achieved. Look back on it with great pride and truly appreciate what you were part of.

And as voices from the future we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Daisy Pearce: 'They might talk about the mother-son rule, or the father-daughter rule', Best Female Player, Melbourne Football Club - 2015

11 September, 2015, Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia

Let me take a moment just to soak that up, because I didn't think I'd ever get awarded Best and Fairest Award at a Melbourne Football Club Best and Fairest night, so I won't rush into this. This really is one of the most meaningful awards I've ever received. When I was told on Tuesday that I was going to receive this, I was amazed at how proud and honoured I felt. I mean, at the moment this team comes together for eight days a year. We train just four times together, and we only get to play in this club's wonderful red and blue jumper twice a year, but somehow tonight, winning this award, and when we run out onto the MCG or Etihad, we are fully-fledged Melbourne people.

I think my sense of pride is so enormous, not only because this is the pinnacle, the highest level at which us women can play AFL footy, but more because I am so honoured to be involved and connected to this club. When you think of the history of the Melbourne Football Club, it has forever been peppered with pioneers. I probably don't need to educate this audience, but the Melbourne Football Club wrote the rules of our game. It lobbied to recruit a young guy named Ron Barassi, trumping his own system through the innovation of the father-son rule. Barassi became a pioneer in his own right. As a player, the first of what was to become known as the ruck rover, and later as a revolutionary coach, demanding unprecedented discipline and dedication from his team.

it was Barassi and Melbourne that invented the Irish experiment, and through an ad in a local newspaper, recruited a lanky 18 year old from Dublin, who had previously only seen Australian football on TV. Six years later, in 1991, that lanky Irishman, the late Jim Stynes, won a Brownlow medal and the first of four 'Bluey' Truscott trophies.

It's now 2015. The father-son rule is commonplace. Ruck rovers are standard. Barassi's expectations from players in terms of how they prepared and committed to their careers has been the catalyst for the level of professionalism we see from AFL footballers today. There's an Irishman running around in nearly every game of AFL footy we see. None of them have won a Brownlow medal, but Jim Stynes was special, and his legacy goes far above and beyond what he achieved on the football field.

It is fitting, then, that the Melbourne women's team is here tonight. I was the first female ever drafted to an AFL club. It is no coincidence that that club was Melbourne. Again, the Melbourne Football Club has been the pioneers. It lobbied hard for the first ever AFL women's team, and was the driving force that convinced the AFL, through its passion and commitment to women in football, to sanction the first ever AFL women's game in 2013.

We've won all four AFL women's matches since, despite the AFL game development team's best efforts to even up the sides. Again, in my opinion, this is no fluke, because so far no number of flash new players rivals the amount of genuine support we have had from this club since the day we first walked into AAMI Park. Nothing rivals Paul Roos biting his nails from the boundary line late in the last quarter of our games, or Jack Grimes, Jordie McKenzie and Jack Viney, who have all helped to coach the women's team, doing fist pumps on the bench when we've kicked crucial goals.

Our coach, Michelle Cowan's leadership and ability to make us want to play good team footy for our red and blue jumper is unmatched. Nothing rivals the influence of the fact that this club genuinely cares. There are so many people to mention and thank for making this team not only possible but successful. Peter Jackson, CEO and Jennifer Watt, General Manager Marketing and Communications, your direction and leadership around women in football clearly influences this whole football club and organisation. Debbie Lee, community manager who not only seamlessly manages and coordinates our team, but has been a pioneer for women in football and was significant in getting the women's games off the ground. Russell Robertson, Club Development Manager, for enthusiastically helping to promote awareness and fundraising for the women's team and women's football in general since day one.

To Anna Harrington, Ryan Larkin and Matthew Goodrope, Matt Burgan, Sam Laidlaw and Ryan Earles, for your work through the media and your energy profiling us players in the women's game. To Paul and Tami Roos, Josh Mahoney, all the assistant coaches and the entire playing group for not only embracing us and not only making us feel welcome in your workplace and football club, but sharing your insights and expertise with us so that we have the best possible experience. To our team, Michelle Cowan, Shaun O'Loughlin, Adrian Pavese, Raoul Smith, Andy Hood, Martine Pearman, [Costi Denalo 00:05:45], Ashleigh Guest and Anthony DeJong, and to all the Melbourne members for your ongoing support, financially through donations on the team bus, a special mention here goes to Anthony Micallef who sponsored me this year, thank you.

And, to all Melbourne fans, for your presence and encouragement at our games. A special mention there to Sean Ducks, who I can hear yelling out. He hasn't missed a training, let alone a game. I thank all of you for not only improving me as a footballer and person, so that I stand up here tonight receiving the Melbourne Football Club Best Female Player for the first time, but also for the role you have played in giving all my teammates and generations of women and girls after us, the opportunity to play AFL footy at the highest level. The AFL has announced that they are committed to creating a national women's competition, which means that in 30 or 40 years time, football people will tell of how the Melbourne Football Club wrote the rules to the game. No doubt they'll still talk about Ron Barassi and Jim Stynes, but they will also talk about how the Melbourne Football Club were pioneers and started the first women's team. They might talk about the mother-son rule or the father-daughter rule, or better still, the mother-and-father-son rule, where you bypass the draft system altogether.

Thanks again, and I hope everyone has a great night, and congratulations to all the other award winners.