Thanks for your time Deb. Can you offer a snapshot of your background into football?

I got into football through my family. My brothers played it in the streets of Pascoe Vale, which is where it all started. My two older brothers played for Pascoe Vale, so my interest in the game came from watching them play. At that stage, there was definitely no primary school footy for me – I wasn’t allowed on the primary school oval, let alone playing footy and there was no junior footy – so I just played neighbourhood footy on the weekends. From that, I found a team in East Brunswick, as a 17-year-old, and at the time I was playing for the Coburg Cougars in the Women’s National Basketball League. My parents encouraged me to stick with basketball, but I was never going to set the world on fire in basketball – that’s not to say I have in football either. But I had more passion around footy. I made the decision in the end to start playing footy for the East Brunswick Scorpions as a 17-year-old and I haven’t looked back.

What do you consider your greatest achievements in the game?

Establishing the St Albans Spurs, which was formerly Sunshine YCW. In 1991, I played for East Brunswick for two years. Then I moved to Sunshine Football Club and then started the [St Albans Spurs] football club from there. St Albans is still in operation with the seniors, reserves, youth girls and junior footy, so I’m really proud of that. We’ve been really competitive and we’re probably seen as a strong club off the field. The 2004 Grand Final was the culmination of all the hard work from 1993-2004. For me, that’s what that premiership represented. In more recent times, it’s been working with Melbourne to get the women’s match up. And the last thing would be the rebuilding of the Spurs, which is what we’re going through now. We’re going to the USA to play a match and we’re really taking that to the next level.

How many matches have you played?

Belinda Bowey has recently played 300 matches, but I’ve played the most senior games at premier division – that’s the difference. I might, if I’m lucky, get to 300 around the end of the year. I’m around high 280s.

Do you ever stop to consider what you’ve achieved in women’s football?

I don’t. When I saw the girls at the draft and the opportunity they got – their raw emotion and how much it meant to them was great for me. When I see the girls preparing for games now and how grateful they are to play – since the experience of last year and this year – that’s enough satisfaction for me. There have been a number of people who have pulled together to get women’s footy to where it is. I’ve done the AFL women’s game, but now I’m like ‘what’s next, what else am I meant to do’. One of the things we’re doing at the moment is talking to the AFLPA about women and the athletes and what we can provide them. Is there an international game? What’s the next step? What does the competition look like moving forward?

How have you seen the attitude towards women’s football evolve?

I have seen a shift. We need the AFL behind it because it’s an investment. It’s in the AFL’s best interest [to support women’s football] because we’re the fastest growing participating segment in its business. It makes sense that it’s growing and it’s successful. We really need to support it and there is a growing shift. There still needs to be a lot of work done though – in terms of how the competition is structured around the states and what we’re doing with grass roots footy. The transition from youth girls to senior footy – it’s lacking there. But we’re starting to see an improvement in female umpires and it’s great that Peta Searle is now coaching at St Kilda. But there still needs to be more. It has been a journey along the way. The best way, in my experience, is when people see the girls play. Once they see the dedication, enthusiasm and how the girls prepare themselves – they realise it’s good footy and people just want to watch good footy.

On the back of last year’s women’s match, have you seen it grow this year?

I reckon there has been a real shift. State footy used to be the highest achievement. Now, it’s giving people opportunities at a higher level, so it’s developing our coaches in women’s footy. It’s getting development staff to have a look at talent around the country. To be drafted now is the No.1 thing. Everyone wants to play in the draft game, so we have created this environment for the elite to aspire to. And it makes sense. If you want to be the best in footy – play AFL. If you want to be the best in women’s footy – you should be playing women’s AFL.

What’s next for women’s football?

It does take an enormous amount of resources to put on the women’s team, so with the right resources and investment, we could put on two games in a legitimate way. To grow, we need more talent, so we’ve got to wait for that – we don’t want to dilute the product. What we’ve got to do as a community is develop these girls so we can have another 25 girls in the next few years who are ready to play. I think that’s really important. We’ve waited 35 years for this to happen – to wait another two years for a team, frankly, who cares? Let’s get it right. That’s the key.

Do you believe there can be an 18 team women’s AFL in the future?

It’s baby steps. Maybe it starts off as a summer competition, where we have a round robin. The other key point is that other clubs have to buy in – we want a genuine buy in from the whole AFL industry and that includes other AFL clubs. We don’t want to provide an experience where we have a one day program and roll out the girls for one Saturday game and that’s it. The Melbourne and Bulldogs program is a good experience – they get to experience what our boys would experience. The [talent] pool needs to grow enormously for 18 teams. I think 18 teams are too much. You’d probably want to add in a third and a fourth team – that’d be great. Then it might be like the old days with eight teams. That’s going to be a while off to be frank. But there should be a legitimate competition. And that’s another challenge – we need a women’s strategy. And if [a women’s AFL] is the end goal – we need to develop a women’s strategy to get to that.

What are you hoping to get from Sunday’s match?

I want more people to know that women can play footy – and can play it well. They’re talented and love their footy. I want people to say ‘I’m proud that the Melbourne Football Club has a women’s team’. I want our people to start knowing our players as household names: ‘Juddy’ (Kara Donnellan), Chelsea Randall and Daisy Pearce. I want to see the greater community know that women’s footy is out there and that they’re legitimate athletes in their chosen sport.

What do you expect will happen after the second AFL women’s match on Sunday?

I hope that the AFL invests more in this exhibition match, so it doesn’t cost the players anything to play. I also hope that it creates meaningful discussion within the AFL that has legitimate outcomes – with an AFL exhibition match that will turn into a competition. With that includes a strategy, resources and money. That’s what I want the AFL to do. The number of clubs doesn’t bother me, whether it’s 18 or 10, but the aim is to have a legitimate AFL competition. We also need to ensure that grass roots and community footy is thriving and supported as well. We want elite players, but we need it in a holistic approach.

How popular do you think women’s football is compared to our female participated sports in Australia?

I think it’s a legitimate sport. The Vixens have 10,000 people at their home and away matches. We had 7,500 last year – and it was the first time we’ve had a match. That tells me there is an interest first and foremost. We haven’t even touched the surface yet. The reality is that being attached to the AFL – that creates great credibility and people want to be a part of it. We’ve enhanced the profile of women’s football by having the Melbourne and Bulldogs game, which will continue to grow. Young women will now choose footy as a legitimate choice, rather than saying ‘I play netball and have a kick with my mates on Sunday’. That will change. If the AFL industry gets behind it, we’ll be a real driving force. There’s numbers of 168,000 who play it at the moment and it should be up to 400,000 participants. There is no reason why we can’t get that, in terms of across Australia, from Auskick to all the way through. We’ve nearly got 200,000 players and we’ve done bugger all. Imagine what we can do when we get serious – and we are getting serious.

And just finally, how will you feel when Sunday comes along?

I’ll be excited – and I’m excited for both teams. I’m excited about the fact that these females are the first female footballers to play on Etihad Stadium in a match. It will be great to see them run out on the ground and supporting them in the crowd, while they’re wearing our AFL colours. It’s great that I’m in a workplace that supports something that I’m passionate about in a meaningful way. I’ll just take it all in to be honest – and really enjoy it.