League of her own

Andrew Mathieson
PERHAPS it’s still an indictment of footy’s grassroots culture but only one club from more than 30 in the Geelong region has a woman as leader.
Inverleigh’s Gail Platt has held down the presidency at the Geelong and District Football League club for the past couple of years.
Across at the city’s unfashionable two codes, rugby union and league clubs don’t have such a problem.
The Geelong Rams – with more than 75 years of history – has former Geelong mayor Barbara Abley in charge.
The newest boys on the block – Geelong Tiger Snakes – have Victoria’s Mrs Rugby League instead. For Kiri Hiriaki, the game is in her blood.
“It started through the early stages of my life with my dad,” she recalls.
“My brother was a former rugby league representative and my dad is a life member at his old club. My husband played when he could for the Royal New Zealand Navy.
“My eldest son was also one of the two youngest to have played senior rugby league when he was 14.”
Growing up with that sort of pedigree, Kiri is certainly no token female.
She won the approval of the Melbourne clubs to take on a Victorian Rugby League commissioner role eight years ago.
But already during her own club’s emergence, the Geelong president has also developed quite a partisan view.
“There are a couple of people who come up and say, ‘Hey Mrs Commissioner’ at games,” Kiri says.
“I turn around say ‘Not today – I’m here for Geelong’.”
Kiri’s arrival at the Tiger Snakes coincided with the second coming of rugby league to Geelong.
The Australian Rules bastion experienced the code briefly in the early 1990s under the Geelong Bulldogs name.
“I thought I’d come to Geelong and have a rest from the game,” Kiri smirks, “but because of my experience, I did offer some guidance if they wanted it, so I attended one of their first meetings and from there I realised they did need a bit of help.”
The 50-year-old is in her element most Sundays at Frier Reserve. One moment she is behind the bar serving drinks, the next she’s marking the lines.
“It’s something I’ve never experienced before but Geelong’s been a struggle,” Kiri confesses.
“But what I have got this year from the players has been great.
“It’s something I don’t like to ask because I believe they do enough on the field.
“My biggest problem at the moment is having just two shower heads in the clubrooms.”
Kiri, husband Jeff and her young three sons emigrated from New Zealand in 1988, initially relocating to the rugby league backwater of Traralgon.
She is credited with founding the region’s first club and encouraging others to spring up in nearby Gippsland towns.
But Kiri says that, without juniors, rugby league there was doomed to fail.
“My husband played one year with my eldest son and my middle son also played but not my youngest – he is Aussie Rules through and through,” she admits.
“He just loves the footy and we don’t mind – we think it’s fantastic, actually.”
Her 21-year-old son Whitney’s only experience on a rugby league field was for a Victorian junior state side.
“He was a better player than his brothers even,” Kiri laughs.
Kiri grew up in Huntley, a mad rugby league town in the Waikato province.
She never played the game but has a stint playing women’s rugby union at boarding school.
When she injured her cousin in an unforgiving tackle, teenage Kiri gave it away.
“I really hurt her bad and I think at that moment I realised I didn’t want to play the game.
“But it’s because I can’t play that I make sure the game is always played.”