By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
MOUNT Evelyn Football Club will the first team in the AFL Yarra Ranges league to field a senior women’s football team in the 2017 season.
The decision to start a women’s senior team comes after the success of the junior girls’ football teams at Mount Evelyn.
In just two years the Mount Evelyn junior girls’ teams have grown from two teams to three, with over 80 girls playing across three age groups in the 2016 season with all three making finals appearances.
Due to the growth and success of the girls’ teams, the club is now at a point where they are ready to set up a senior women’s football team as well.
Junior club president Mal Darke said a women’s team in 2017 was a sure thing.
“We have had conversations with the senior men’s club and AFL Victoria as to hosting a senior women’s team next year and it is going to happen,” he said.
“We just have to do all the admin and get it up and running.”
Emma Darke and Jessie Gates both play for the Mount Evelyn Under 15s girls’ team and say they would love to see more women involved in playing football.
“It’s a really good atmosphere here and all the girls on the team are really lovely and we always have a really good time – even if we lose it’s still a great opportunity to play,” Ms Darke said.
“The girls’ football is a great opportunity for all of us to get in and be healthy and I reckon that the women’s football league is going to be great,” Ms Gates said.
“Girls don’t play football that much but since we started everyone has been really excited about it and wants to come and watch our games and the boys are really nice to us and they are fun and support us in a big way which is good,” Ms Gates said.
While the club has had huge success with the junior girls’ teams and are keen to get a women’s side out on the field, there are still some challenges the club faces.
“We have had huge growth in popularity for girls playing footy but along with that comes problems with change rooms and inadequate facilities at the club,” Mr Darke said.
“We need to desperately upgrade the facilities as we have no space to have the boys and girls playing together at the moment because our facilities don’t suit it.
“They are too old and they don’t have the ability to have the genders segregated.”
Mount Evelyn Football Club Vice President Graeme Northey said despite the clubrooms being outdated, they were determined to make a women’s team as comfortable as possible.
“We want to have the rooms redeveloped but until that happens we are looking at portable buildings and hopefully we get them as a temporary measure,” he said.
“The AFL is really keen to have more women’s teams so they are very supportive and we are looking to grants we can obtain from AFL to set up the women’s team.”
Up to this point, the drive towards establishing a women’s team has been a club funded and driven initiative but the club is seeking more support.
“We really hope AFL Victoria will get on board because we have been a ground-breaking club in this area in relation to girls footy and now branching into women’s footy as well,” Mr Darke said.
“We hope AFL Victoria will support us to the same degree we have supported women’s footy and girls involvement in footy.”
Mr Northey also said the local community have a part to play in getting this women’s side funded and playing.
“We have approached some potential sponsors for the women’s team,” he said.
“We have had some interest so hopefully we can get that over the line and that’ll help funding the women straight-up so their out of pocket expense isn’t great.”
“Professionals in Mount Evelyn, Bendigo Bank, and Hotondo have all been great sponsors of the footy club,” he said.
The club has invited any women who want to play in the senior side next year or businesses looking to support the women’s team to contact Graeme Northey on 0417 363 237 or football manager Daniel Thiele on 0411 598 036.
