While Ellyse Perry was in the media spotlight last week, having added football World Cup squad selection to a similar honour in cricket, a young girl with the same surname was also making her mark in sport in Adelaide.
Gawler 17-year-old Brittany Perry last week debuted for South Australia in the national women’s Australian Rules football championships.
With talk of a growth in numbers and improved coverage of the women’s game, the Trinity College Year 12 student comes into Aussie Rules at an interesting time.
There are currently 73,000 female footballers, from AusKick to senior levels, and the AFL is keen to see its brand expanded in the women’s game even further.
Perry is a product of that growth which has seen South Australia’s senior competition expanded to six teams. With an eye to the future, Perry talks of the game’s growth potential but does not go overboard in her expectations.
She is realistic about the prospects of the much discussed profile development of the women’s championships and the possibility of a national club competition.
“There’s been some big growth in the past couple of years,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure that the administrators are pushing for it (improved coverage).
“It’s all over my head, really, and it won’t hit for a couple of years yet – it will be a great thing when it happens though.”
If Perry continues to play she will clearly be an ambassador for the game which she has only taken up in the past two years.
Already she can see the benefits of the women’s game’s expansion.
“There would be so many players out there, it would improve football 110 per cent among women,” she forecast. “It would improve the skill and even the knowledge of the game.
“This is SAWFL’s 20th year and I only heard about it last year, so that will definitely improve as the game grows.”
Her club, Central District, is in its second year of existence and while it has struggled this season, is currently in fifth spot, an improvement on 2010 when it took the wooden spoon.
“We’re doing better than I expected this season,” Perry said.
An increase in player numbers would only benefit the South Australian state side which finished last in division one at the titles.
In its three games, the Croweaters lost to Queensland by one goal; suffered a 56 point belting to powerhouse Victoria, in which Perry kicked half of her team’s 2.2 scoreline; and conceded a 51 point defeat by WA.
Victoria again won the national title, the first to feature Tasmania, defeating Western Australia by 82 points in a lopsided contest.
Perry played as a utility throughout the series, spending time up forward and in defence, and said she felt a special thrill when she kicked SA’s first goal in the final term of its match against Victoria.
Hearing the roar of the pro-SA crowd when the ball went through for the long awaited major had her pumped.
“The scoreboard doesn’t always reflect the game – we were much better than the losing margin suggested,” she said.
Perry was introduced to the game the same way in which many young girls are – through watching her brothers, Brad and Matt, who both play at community level.
However, she has SANFL female development officer Emma Gibson to thank for her transition from basketball.
Gibson introduced her to the women’s form of the game and she has rapidly become a rising star, captaining SA’s under 18s last season, her first in the sport.
Of last week’s matches in the senior side, Perry said the standard of the national matches was a firm step up from club football.
“It was amazing, it was a lot harder than you’d expect for women’s footy,” she said.
“The skills are so much better and the group of girls were fantastic, it’s so good to be involved.”
Looking to the future and it would appear that Perry has plenty of options.
In the 2010/11 cricket season she was rookie contracted by the SA Scorpions in domestic cricket, while she also hopes to complete school and head into a career related to physical activity where she wants to “help people to get the best of themselves”.
As for that other Perry girl, the South Aussie is not related to her but has a special affinity with the double capped Australian sporting star.
“She’s such amazing person, she’s a role model for us all,” she said. You can bet that one day, Brittany Perry will be someone looked up to by other young girls looking to make their way in sport.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Controversy has erupted following Essendon's thrilling three-point victory over Adelaide, with an umpire under fire for his decision to not award the Crows a…
It was a horror last quarter at the Adelaide Oval for Josh Rachele, who also missed a chance to win the game for the…
Now that was a quick change of mind!
Over the next few days, all discussion of Essendon's three-point win over Adelaide will likely centre on the decision, in the final seconds of…
