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PERTH Western Australia makes waves with its new waterfront parks

philippineairlines.com Tasting rooms A guide to the Women footballers shake up Vancouver’s hippest neighborhood in best cocktails in Honolulu chase big goals

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GOALSAs the fourth season of the women's By Rachel Lees Australian Football League kicks off Photography Lauren Bamford this month, the spotlight on female and Annika Kafcaloudis players has never been brighter. Underneath all the buzz, however, athletes and activists in Melbourne are still fighting for gender equity

Mabuhay Mar 20 071-080_FEATURE Melbourne Women's Footbal League (CT).PK RESEND 1.indd 71 19/2/20 3:16 PM Sharon AUSTRALIA HAS LONG BEEN A SPORTS-MAD NATION BUT FEW PLACES wear that badge quite as proudly as its cultural capital. People fly to Melbourne from all over the world to catch the courtside action at the Australian Open tennis tournament in January; the thrills and spills of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in March; and the more laid-back Boxing Day Test cricket match in December. When it comes to on-ground attendance and television-viewing, IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGE: however, no sports competition is more FANS) (AFLW popular in Australia than the country’s own distinctive code of football. Also known as “Aussie Rules” or “footy”, it’s a faster-paced game compared to association football. The 2016 Grand Final alone – a hotly contested match between the and Swans – drew an audience of 6.5 million Australians. Originally a way of keeping cricketers fit during the off-season, Aussie Rules had its first game held in 1858 in Melbourne. The 80-minute game works this way: Two teams of 18 players – dressed in guernseys (sleeveless shirts) and shorts – compete for possession of an oval ball. They try and score as many points as possible by kicking it through the four goal posts at each end of the field. The high-octane and physically demanding nature of the sport, which often involves dramatic marking, could explain its enduring appeal. The Victorian Football League – now known as the AFL (Australian Football League) – was established in 1896. Yet throughout much of AFL’s illustrious

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THIS SPREAD, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM RIGHT Ikon Park, where the first game of the inaugural AFLW season was held; Box Hill City Oval, home of the Hawthorn Hawks; AFLW fans cheering at Ikon Park; sports journalist Kate O'Halloran, host of the Kick Like A Girl community radio show IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGE: (AFLW FANS) (AFLW

history, something was missing. While with a hug outside the gates, wearing a women have been playing the game and black T-shirt bearing the logo for the participating in local competitions since Kick Like A Girl community radio show its inception, a professional women’s she hosts. The RRR program dissects the league wasn’t established until late week in AFLW with stars and fans of the 2016, with a few changes made to the game, focusing not just on the action on existing game format. For instance, the the field but the politics off it. women’s competition is held during “That first game was much bigger Australia’s sweltering summer months, than anyone expected,” O’Halloran says so a smaller team of 16 women play about the AFLW inaugural, as we enter shorter 60-minute games. The the historic ground. The AFL had exhilarating first game of the inaugural anticipated between 5,000 and 10,000 season of AFL Women’s (AFLW) – people, but in the end more than 24,500 between the Collingwood Magpies and attended. Spectators spilled into the Carlton Blues – kicked off in February aisles and perched on fences in the 2017 at Ikon Park, a stadium in the grandstand, framed by the backdrop of inner-city suburb of Carlton North. Melbourne’s sprawling city skyline. “They had to turn people away at the AFTER A 15-MINUTE TRAM RIDE FROM gates because the ground was at Flinders Street Station, I meet 33-year- capacity,” says O’Halloran, whose old Kate O’Halloran at Ikon Park on a passion for the game seems to reflect blue-sky December morning. The that of its rapidly growing fan base. award-winning Australian Broadcasting “There was an overwhelming sense from Corporation sports journalist greets me people like me, who are passionate

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Mabuhay Feb 20 071-080_FEATURE Melbourne Women's Footbal League (CT).PK RESEND 1.indd 73 19/2/20 3:18 PM Sharon about gender equity in sport, that we the women’s league. After being needed to show the AFL that the public overlooked in the 2016 AFLW draft, she wanted women's football on the biggest was recruited by the Adelaide Crows stage. The first game sent a loud and that same year. Perkins went on to be clear message.” their leading goal-kicker, and played an Three years on, the message instrumental role in helping her team continues to reverberate. Bolstered by win the inaugural AFLW premiership. free entry to matches and an inclusive Despite her considerable family-friendly atmosphere, crowd achievements on the field during the attendance remains strong. The 2019 league’s first three seasons, and as a AFLW Grand Final drew 53,000 pioneer of the AFLW, Perkins is quiet and spectators, more than double the self-effacing when we meet for a coffee number of people who attended the at Red Cup Cafe in Box Hill. first match in 2017. The hip eatery is a five-minute stroll That inaugural season did more than from Box Hill City Oval, where – after just open up football to a wider being delisted (removed from the team) audience – it also inspired a new by the Crows at the end of the 2019 generation of players. Before AFLW, season – Perkins now plays for the there were 960 registered women’s Hawthorn Hawks, a state-level team. football teams in Australia. By 2018, that She’s also a coach for Hawthorn’s Next figure had risen to 2,281, with more than 1,000 professional and amateur teams in alone. There are now some 530,000 women and girls playing Aussie Rules in the country.

THE AFLW IS ALSO GROWING, WITH four new teams joining the 2020 season. During the first two years there were eight teams, which expanded to 10 in 2019. The newcomers this season are Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast. “It’s exciting how quickly AFLW has grown in four years, and how much more it has to grow,” says 26-year- old , the first cult hero of

“ It's exciting how quickly AFLW has grown in four years, and how much more it has to grow

” IMAGE: FB/ICCWOMENST20WORLDCUP (SIDEBAR) FB/ICCWOMENST20WORLDCUP IMAGE:

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THIS SPREAD, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Federation Square on the edge of Melbourne's CBD; a store inside Box Hill City Oval; Sarah Perkins, who played an instrumental role in helping the Adelaide Crows win the first AFLW premiership

SPECTATOR SPORT See some of Australia’s finest sportswomen live in action in Melbourne

Generation Academy. When talking about footy, particularly the first AFLW Grand Final at ’s Metricon Stadium, Perkins’ entire demeanor lifts. “I’d been lucky enough to attend AFL Grand Finals in the past, and hear that roar from the crowd when the national anthem ends,” she says. “That happened Cricket for us [at the AFLW Grand Final], and it The world’s best battle it out for the ICC Women’s T20 was just spine-tingling! The rest of the World Cup, at venues around match was a blur.” Australia. The highlight of the series is the final on Appallingly, Perkins has been the International Women’s Day target of verbal abuse and online (March 8) at the Melbourne trolling. “I’m not the only one though,” Cricket Ground, where event organizers hope to set a new she says. “Carlton player world record for attendance also spoke out about it. As someone at a women’s sporting event. who has copped a fair bit of flack on cricket.com.au social media, it was good to see someone else stand up to it.” Harris was Soccer Amid the boom in women’s the target of sexual harassment after a football globally, Australia photo of her kicking a goal during a has one of the best soccer match against the Western Bulldogs was leagues in the world. With the 2019–20 W-League posted on social media by a news outlet. season already in full swing, The image was, controversially, taken watch some of the country’s down before being reinstated due to top players take the field as Melbourne City and public outcry, and sparked a nationwide Roar battle it out at AAMI conversation about the issue. Park on March 1, ahead of the Grand Final set for the Harris’ handling of the episode saw a weekend of March 21–22. 3.3m-tall bronze statue erected in her w-league.com.au honor in Federation Square, and has

IMAGE: FB/ICCWOMENST20WORLDCUP (SIDEBAR) FB/ICCWOMENST20WORLDCUP IMAGE: ultimately triumphed as an inspiring

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THIS PAGE Tayla Harris of the Carlton Blues runs with the ball during the round one AFLW match with the Richmond Tigeres at Ikon Park last month

moment in the sport. “At the end of the day, the trolls sit behind a screen using hateful words,” Perkins says. “We're the ones busting our backsides to be professional athletes in a tough environment, proving our worth so that young girls growing up have a better chance than we did.”

BUT TROLLING IS JUST ONE OF MANY issues the AFLW still faces. There’s a laundry list of areas for improvement, including the provision of grounds to play on and upgrades of current infrastructure and facilities, as many of the suburban grounds where the women play only have men’s changing rooms. The Victorian government has stepped in to support this cause, investing AU$20 million to redevelop Ikon Park as the home of women’s football, along with a further AU$25 million to improve infrastructure and facilities at four other grounds. However, more funding is required – and not just for changing rooms.

ARE YOU GAME? Where women and girls can learn to play Aussie Rules in Melbourne

AFL Women's Masters RMIT Women's Football AFL Workshops The Masters give women over Academy With leagues to suit all skill the age of 35 the opportunity At RMIT University’s levels, the AFL encourages girls to compete with similarly Bundoora campus, students, of all ages to give footy a go. The aged players in a safe and fun staff members and locals workshops cover everything environment. At the end of aged 16 and over are invited from introductory programs each season, the organization to work on their general for girls as young as five, to runs footy skills clinics to give fitness and football skills. non-, limited- and full-contact newcomers the confidence they Training sessions are held football for women of different need to get started. on Tuesday and Thursday age groups. womensaflmasters.com.au nights. rmitwfa.com play.afl/womens-afl IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGE:

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make a bold call and invest that into the women's game.” Coach and amateur player Emily Fox echoes the same sentiment. “It’s not about gender equality, it needs to be gender equity that’s key,” she says. Fox plays for the St Kilda Sharks, which was established in 1992 and has proven to be a successful incubator for future AFLW stars. “People are fearful of gender equity because they assume we’re going to take things from them in order to give other people a chance, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.” At 38, Fox is as confident in her own THIS PAGE In 2018, the AFL acknowledged the skin as she is with her opinions on Whitten Oval in the western suburb of need for an increase in women’s salaries, football. As we make our way to the Footscray; athletes and offered an average increase of 38%. Seddon Deadly Sins café near Whitten from non-AFLW team St Kilda Sharks during This meant the salaries for female Oval, the home of AFLW’s Western a training session players rose to between AU$13,400 and Bulldogs, her platinum blonde pixie AU$19,000 a season, with a handful of haircut and half-sleeve tattoos turn heads. elite players receiving AU$24,600. But A proud trans woman, Fox has spent a these numbers still pale in comparison lifetime fighting for what she believes in to the average salary of a male player, – and brings unique insight to the subject which is almost AU$400,000. As a result, of Aussie Rules, having played on men’s most professional AFLW athletes also teams growing up, and with the women work full-time jobs in order to survive. as an adult. “I’ve found women’s football “Like any other sport or business, the to be an awful lot more physically AFL needs to invest in AFLW to see it demanding to play than men’s. It tends to reach its full potential,” O’Halloran says. be more contested; the ball doesn’t move “Players like Amanda Farrugia, who was away from congested areas as quickly.” captain of Greater Western Sydney's team until this year, are retiring early because they can't find a suitable work-life balance. The AFL reported a AU$50 million profit in 2018. It's time to

“ Women are encouraged to be selfless, which can mean they’re less aggressive with the ball

”

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THIS PAGE Emily Fox, who plays for the St Kilda Sharks, says women’s football can be a lot more physically demanding to play than men’s

“Another thing I’ve noticed is that men are more empowered – growing up they’re taught to be confident and demanding. But women are encouraged to be selfless, which can mean they’re less aggressive with the ball,” says Fox, who hopes her role as a coach will help inspire female players to believe in themselves and their abilities. An avid attendee of AFLW games, Fox is thrilled at the speed with which the league has grown, and the potential of its future players. “I watch the junior girls playing in the local leagues and they’re absolute guns already, because they have players like , and Maddy Prespakis to look up to.” Sports journalist O’Halloran agrees. She’s excited about what the league could look like in 10 years, when we’ll see what the first real generation of sportswomen – who have grown up playing football with the same levels of Experience a heartwarming, coaching, encouragement and world-class journey with the opportunity afforded to the Philippines' only 4-Star Airline. PAL flies 5x weekly between boys – can accomplish. Manila and Melbourne. ALFW icon Perkins, who hopes to Website: make her return to the league next philippineairlines.com season, is also optimistic. “I guess it’s Facebook: what motivates me, that little girl who’s fb.com/flyPAL outside kicking a footy on a day like MELBOURNE Reservations (Manila): today, pretending to be an AFLW +63 2 8855 8888 player,” she says. “And not only her, but Swingaround to show young boys they can have tour package: swingaround. female role models. So that rather than philippineairlines.com women footballers, they just see us as footballers. You can speak to any of the women who play, and they’ll say that’s one of the reasons we all do it.”

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