WOMEN PLAYED NATIONAL SPORTSBALL AND IT WAS AMAZING. Behind the fold: many allcaps, some heartwarming links.
Steph Says:
- I AM INCOHERENT. Let’s start with some links.
- Here to stay: AFLW ‘s inaugural season fulfils deep and abiding hunger
- THIS FACEBOOK THING OF HYPOCRISY
- ALSO THIS TWEET
- SUSAN
- Wen you laugh togetha
- “As fans know, the AFLW has not even been about ‘our’ team. The joy and agony of the opening season seems to have been more important than whether the players are ‘yours’ or not.”
- *weeping with delight*
- WOMEN PLAYING SPORTSBALL
- Did Indigenous warriors influence the development of Australian rules football?
- NEXT YEAR, FREO.
Liz says:
- Even though the Lions are my other team, I adore a lot of Crows players (Heather Anderson! Sarah Perkins! Erin Phillips!) and love watching them play. So this was a GREAT game to watch, and I had many heart attacks as I watched.
- Speaking of Heather Anderson, when she injured her shoulder during the GF, there was speculation that this would end both her football and military career — she’s an army medic — but she seems optimistic. I love her pink helmet (which, you may remember from round 2, she wears so that her visually impaired mother can recognise her from the stands) and hope she’s back next year.
- I’m also a big fan of Crows coach Bec Goddard, one of the lamentably few female coaches in AFL (M or W), and a top person in her own right.
- Things I would like to see next year: podcast The Outer Sanctum did some research and found out that there are only a dozen Indigenous players in the AFLW. This is not good enough, and I hope it improves.
- I know it’s time for the AFLM season to start and all, but I’m so into this whole lady sportsball thing that I’m almost … ready to start seeking out … pro netball? Is that streaming anywhere? Am I ready to put my twenty-five years of hating netball behind me?
no-award.net 
Channel 9 is showing a lot of the new pro netball league (Super Netball apparently) on free to air – there are two games on telly every Saturday night I think. It’s a ridiculously brilliant sport – a lot of people don’t realise how physically tough it is as well as all the more obvious skills that are on display.
Right? The whole reason I hate netball is because I was put on a team in year 5, even though I didn’t know the rules or have any of the necessary skills. I was a girl, so I was to play netball. And it’s a really hard sport!
My sister went to her first pro netball game recently – the first game she’d seen since Year 5 – and was enthralled. Definitely worth having a look at
But, Melina, I’ve defined myself as A Netball Hater since I was ten. WHAT IF I HAVE TO STOP??