BUNBURY has a rich history in women’s Australian Rules Football and with 2015 marking the game’s centenary, researcher and former journalist Brunette Lenkic believes it is time for people to learn more about the game she loves.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Lenkic has spent the better part of a year investigating the history of women’s football in Australia and is preparing an exhibition for the State Library of Western Australia.
Bouncen Down! A Centenary of Women’s Australian Rules Football, 1915 – 2015 will be unveiled in May.
Lenkic said she first became involved with female football when her twin daughters made the state under 16s team in 2012.
“I knew quite a lot about football but it was only when I started researching the women’s game that I found out it had a long history,” Lenkic said.
“I always thought it was a fairly recent sport and was astonished to find it has started so long ago.”
The first women’s Australian Rules game was played in Perth in 1915 between two teams from major retailer Foy and Gibson.
Played during World War One, the game helped fill the public appetite for sport while many men were on the battlefield.
Lenkic said in the early days the game was a public novelty but the women involved took it seriously.
“The women’s games started off as a wartime fundraiser and, as a result of public interest, the competition expanded to include other workplace teams,” she said.
The first reported game in Bunbury was played in 1921 between two teams named the Kangaroos and the Wallabies.
“The Bunbury players raised quite a lot of money for charity through their matches and associated dances and other activities,” Lenkic said.
“Some of the beneficiaries from the Bunbury games were the ambulance service, nursing association and the institute for the blind.
“The Bunbury Girls’ Football Association was well supported in the newspaper of the day with regular match reports that highlighted the competitiveness of the players.”
In March, a weekend of events will be held at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School to celebrate 100 years of female football.
Included on the program are women’s football clinics taught by the WA Women’s Football League elite squad, an exhibition game, the revival of the Gary Johnston Memorial Cup and a satellite exhibition.
For this, the Bouncedown! organisers are currently on a memorabilia hunt.
“We have turned up some great old photos, trophies and newspaper clippings,” Lenkic said.
“But we are also on the lookout for local artefacts and are interested in seeing anything from Bunbury to do with female footy, especially in the early era.
“The players were quite young at the time and we would like to know more about them.
“Many of them will have changed surnames when they were married but any information would be gratefully received.”
To contact the local organisers regarding memorabilia and the exhibition email Bounce.Down15@gmail.com