March 2020 MARCH 2020 Going Global:Going PERTH 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 Melbourne best cocktails in Honolulu chase big goals Mabuhay Mar-2020 COVER MABUHAY Mar 2020.indd 1 18/2/20 4:46 PM SQUAD 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 Western Bulldogs and Sydney 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 72 MABUHAY | MARCH 2020 PHILIPPINEAIRLINES.COM Mabuhay Feb20 071-080_FEATURE Melbourne Women's Footbal League (CT).PK RESEND 1.indd 72 19/2/20 3:17 PM Sharon FEATURES | MELBOURNE 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 PHILIPPINEAIRLINES.COM MARCH 2020 | MABUHAY 73 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 Victoria 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 Sarah Perkins, 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: 74 MABUHAY | MARCH 2020 PHILIPPINEAIRLINES.COM Mabuhay Feb20 071-080_FEATURE Melbourne Women's Footbal League (CT).PK RESEND 1.indd 74 19/2/20 3:18 PM Sharon FEATURES | MELBOURNE 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 Queensland’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 Tayla Harris 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 Brisbane 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 PHILIPPINEAIRLINES.COM MARCH 2020 | MABUHAY 75 Mabuhay Feb 20 071-080_FEATURE Melbourne Women's Footbal League (CT).PK RESEND 1.indd 75 19/2/20 3:19 PM Sharon FEATURES | MELBOURNE 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.