My First Day
- Sep 6, 2016
- 2 min read
I’ve wanted to be a professional football writer ever since giving up my dream of palaeontology at the age of eight.
However, I never even considered becoming a women’s football reporter until my sister began playing in 2014. A whole new world was opened to me and I had arrived at just the right time. The first ever Women’s AFL Exhibition match had been played the year before and the push for a national competition was on. To that end, they needed content. And I needed a job.
I published a triptych of articles on the growth of women’s football at grassroots, representative and national levels, meeting some of the game’s most important figures who commented that they were impressed at the enthusiasm I showed. I got the sense that I might be onto something very good.
Over the next year I became a Media Manager and VFL Women’s reporter. I worked hard but to be honest I loved the writing and the talking and the meeting people so much that it didn’t tire me at all. My break came when I interviewed VU Western Spurs’ coach Debbie Lee in May.
A 300-game player, Victorian Women’s Football League President, tireless campaigner and now the Women’s Football Operations Manager at Melbourne, Debbie is one of a handful of women – up there with Susan Alberti, Michelle Cowan, Barb Hampson, Lisa Hardeman and Chyloe Kurdas – to whom all female footballers present and future owe something. She invited me to join Melbourne’s women’s media team as an intern – when a vacancy unexpectedly opened up, I was there to sign on as a reporter.
Last Saturday night was the first night of my career. After being presented with my Demons’ Media hoodie – my own baggy green moment – I spent most of the night just compiling notes for my report but a few moments truly stand out.
Walking with the team past the Whitten Oval trophy cabinets and into the change rooms. I’ll never forget the excitement that rose in me as it all hit home.
The standing ovation given to Susan Alberti as she arrived.
Bulldog captain Stephanie Chiocci’s incredible speech upon acceptance of the Hampson-Hardeman Cup.
Also, finally solving the mystery of how statistics are kept. Kudos to the incredible monologue kept by Champion Data and the flawless ‘coding’ (recording) of his pen-in-hand friend: “5 Melbourne effective handball inside 19 Melbourne handball receive 17 Bulldogs tackle…”
It’s such an exciting time for footy and I’m just really happy to be a part of this journey. Here’s to life’s rich and uncertain potential: I want to make a career in Women’s AFL Media.
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