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Some days are small days, and some days are big days. Today is a very big day. Today we see history in the making. Today, AFL Women’s begins.
For me the most exciting aspect – and maybe it’s just my inner history buff – is the promise of so many firsts.
Modern-day AFL fans can only dream and imagine what it might have been like to be there when the sport was first developed and the VFL first founded in the 19th century.
A hundred years from now, future footy fans will look back on these days we live in right now with the same sense of fascination and wonder.
We are the lucky ones who get to see it. Sometime tonight, someone will kick the first goal in the history of AFL Women’s. One team will become the first ever to win a game.
A little later on in the season, one player will be the first ever AFL Women’s best and fairest, another the first ever AFL Women’s leading goalkicker.
One team will be the first to finish on top of the AFL Women’s ladder, and yes, one will be the first to win the wooden spoon.
One coach and one captain will be the first ever to lift an AFL Women’s premiership cup to sky, and know for the first time the ecstacy, joy and satisfaction that so few are ever lucky enough to experience.
What would it have been like to see the first Brownlow Medal awarded in 1924, or hear the siren blow when Fitzroy won the first VFL grand final in 1898?
What would it have been like to know you stood in a moment, the first of its kind, that would echo throughout history for decades, centuries to come?
We need wonder no longer, because that is exactly the experience we have in store for us over the next two months. I urge you not to miss out.
However, it would be a remiss of me to suggest that the novelty of AFL Women’s is the only reason to watch it.
The best reason is simply this: it’s Aussie Rules football. If you’re in this section of The Roar and not by accident, you shouldn’t need any more convincing than that.
Not only is it the game we all know and love, but in many ways it will represent that more pure version of the game that I so often see older heads than mine wishing for the days of.
Do you ever get a bit sick of the palaver, the pomp and circumstance of modern day men’s footy, as self-obsessed media personalities, two-years-behind-the-trend meme-happy club Twitter accounts, and misguided attempts at improving match day experiences get in the way of the game?
Do you watch players request trades chasing dollars or declaring homesickness and wonder where the passion, loyalty, blood, sweat and tears have gone?
AFL Women’s will be the realest footy there is.
We’re not talking pro athletes with hipster haircuts who are in it for the six-figure salaries, and we’re not talking about sitting in the rafters of the MCG, where I squint and remind myself for the thousandth time that I really need a pair of glasses because I can no longer tell Hayden Ballantyne from Aaron Sandilands.
We’re talking real people who have fought against the grain of society’s expectation for years, fit their training in around friends, family and career, and in many cases even moved state, all for one reason – their unquenchable, unstoppable love of the game.
We’re talking being right there on the edge of the action, playing top-grade footy at small, suburban grounds, living and breathing the local community. Isn’t that what sport is all about?
The last reason I’ll give you this. AFL Women’s, and women’s sport as a whole, is the future. Those who invest now – clubs, fans, sponsors, governing bodies – will be rewarded exponentially as the game flourishes in the years to come.
Listenting to Kane Cornes’ radio work as part of writing this piece yesterday, I heard him say that despite the disappointment of not having a women’s team, seeing Port Adelaide invest in taking the game to China was just as wise an avenue to pursue.
Now I’m not here to ridicule Port Adelaide’s poor decisions – stay tuned for that in a few weeks time, though – but a more laughable assertion I have not heard in recent memory.
What do you really think is the most promising target market – the admittedly populous nation of China, already courted with a thousand times more funding by every major sport in the world, or millions of Australian girls and women, just waiting to fall in love with the game?
If you know women, you will already know that they are capable of incredible things. There’s no doubt in my mind that in years to come, AFL Women’s will be an immense success – and if you open your eyes to watch the passion and dedication with which the players take to the field over the next two months, I believe you’ll be convinced too.
Those who know me personally will know that I’m not much a fan of religion (bar the greatest religion of all – Aussie rules football), but this metaphor from the Bahá’í faith has always seemed to me a good one: “The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly.”
It may take us some time before men’s and women’s AFL share the same strength and status, but today we take the first bold step in that direction. Before you know it, we’ll be ready for take-off.