By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
BOYS will always be boys, but out at North Geelong Football Club, a bunch of girls are also on the ball as well.
Geelong’s only senior female footy side is gearing up for 2013 after a successful first season last year.
Manager Kevin Longstaff said the team finished fourth out of 10 sides and won its first final but was knocked out in the second semi by only three points.
“It wasn’t a bad inaugural year,” Kevin mused with understatement before correcting himself.
“It was a wonderful debut year, actually. We had 30 girls all keen to play, even though we had no jumpers.
“The club came to the party and helped out with that but strangely this season we have the 30 jumpers and barely any girls as yet.
Kevin, who has been part of the North Geelong club administration for longer than he cares to remember, has taken the women’s side under his wing.
“We have some talented women playing footy,” he said.
“We have the sixth best female motocross rider in Australia, another who also plays basketball for the lady Supercats, a doctor and an Irish girl who played Gaelic football.
“Footy cuts across all walks of life and both genders these days.”
The female footy leagues’ spread across Melbourne and other regional centres meant a bit of travelling was involved, Kevin explained.
The Magpies play in the higher of the two divisions, competing against the likes of Bendigo, North Ballarat, Sunbury, Altona and La Trobe University.
Kevin hoped a few of the girls growing out of an under-18 side under the auspices of Football Geelong would graduate into the senior team.
“The AFL is really keen for women’s footy to kick on and they are trying to help out where ever they can,” he said.
The AFL is working with the Victorian Women’s Football League around the state to help clubs develop women’s footy, promote it and give it a sound structure for future growth.
“We’re relying on the junior girl’s teams to act as a feeder to the senior team,” Kevin explained.
“There’s a different vide to the girls team it becomes a bit of a second family and they depend on each other for support.”
Kevin said the team, which played on Sundays, aimed to have fun first and foremost.
Like all community sports clubs, the team also needed volunteers to help as runners, goal umpires and team management, he said.
The Lady Magpies train 6pm Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, with the 15-round season beginning 14 April at home to North Ballarat.
Kevin said prospective players could phone him on 0419 375 560.
