For more than 100 years, girls and women have moved off the sidelines and onto the field to kick, mark and handball, as well as tackle, bump and shepherd. Despite the thousands who have played in locations around Australia, the female game has largely remained in the shadows until recently. Play On! The Hidden History of Women's Australian Rules Football explores how the game spread from west to east and reveals little-known facts about women in sport and women in society. Featuring fascinating material drawn from interviews with women who participated in games as far back as the 1930s, plus dozens of unpublished evocative images of female players and teams, this is a book that anyone interested in football, history or creative non-fiction will not want to miss.
Before the …show more content…
Much of it happens informally, in the backyard, the street or at the park. The idea followed the formation of women’s cricket team and the suggestion that a female football team could maintain ‘The celebrity of the district’. One young women was brought before Bendigo’s city police court in 1892, along with two other young men. All three changed with ‘kicking a football on the street’ One reason the game was so attractive to female supporters could have been the male flesh on show. Although the sexual attraction of athletic men in shorts should be viewed cautiously as a primary reason for its female following, the idea is supported by some historical evidence. In 1873, the Australian published a poem extolling the athleticism of players. Three states may have had a head-start on Victoria in organising competitive female football matches. But football’s heartland soon initiated innovations that would set the future direction. Prime among these was the introduction of uniforms better suited than dresses or skirts to playing a vigorous sport that involved running, jumping, kicking, marking and
Before the …show more content…
Much of it happens informally, in the backyard, the street or at the park. The idea followed the formation of women’s cricket team and the suggestion that a female football team could maintain ‘The celebrity of the district’. One young women was brought before Bendigo’s city police court in 1892, along with two other young men. All three changed with ‘kicking a football on the street’ One reason the game was so attractive to female supporters could have been the male flesh on show. Although the sexual attraction of athletic men in shorts should be viewed cautiously as a primary reason for its female following, the idea is supported by some historical evidence. In 1873, the Australian published a poem extolling the athleticism of players. Three states may have had a head-start on Victoria in organising competitive female football matches. But football’s heartland soon initiated innovations that would set the future direction. Prime among these was the introduction of uniforms better suited than dresses or skirts to playing a vigorous sport that involved running, jumping, kicking, marking and