Opinion
I will debase myself in women’s eyes by saying first that never in my youth did I meet a woman who wanted to play football. Most found it disgusting and beneath their young dignity to enjoy it.
The world has changed in a very real way. The rise of women regardless of ceilings and discrimination is a credit to them. I never realised as a young bloke how misogynistic my developing world was. The post-Second World War period was a paternalistic time – I am sure Robert Menzies liked it that way. Women – our mothers, aunties, and the stranger on a tram – could be branded with a lack of knowledge, an inability to understand the simplest of science. If you wrap all that up in verbal humiliation, I suggest you have seen and heard what I have.
Like perhaps a lot of men, I didn’t think women could cut it as footballers. Perhaps the thickness of my skull is not as has been suggested, because I watched the Collingwood-Melbourne game and I was very impressed.
No offence to the undefeated Collingwood team, but I must say I was more impressed with the Melbourne team’s efforts under the pressure of inaccuracy.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a Collingwood supporter in all that competes, and both teams set a good standard.
The players themselves must take the most credit for this. I know they have good coaches, facilities and encouragement, but they have a commitment that impresses. The pressure, aggression and courage surprised me.
I watched some games when they first started, and whether I draw abuse or not I will say I thought too many ran like girls. To be specific, their balance wasn’t there, and their skills and their movement of the ball as a team was suspect.
What a difference today makes. The balance when moving with the ball is there. The kicking is of a higher standard. The aggression and hardness at the ball are first class. There is a lot to be admired and to be proud of, even if not all has improved.
The marking overhead still seems tentative and foreign. I suggest this is because it’s not something that can be drawn on when developing it. I remember my time at school when it was a daily occurrence to kick end to end or throw a ball down against a wall for a pack to form and a mark taken. Years of fooling around in this way get the eye in, the timing right and a methodical approach to taking the ball at the highest you can. I think it will come.
Handballing a footy can be a difficult thing to learn. Physically the hand even in a fist still can be a bony experience. Include the eye-hand coordination required and doing it under pressure is something that any adult cross-code player has trouble with.
So where will this end? Like it or not, choose to be a misogynist if you must, the AFLW has begun and proven that women can play football. Women can play football.
There will be a time when a woman will play against the men. She will do so because she has committed to it with physicality and with courage, timing and natural ability to do so. It’s only a matter of time.
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