H for History

‘Can we tackle you?’ I’m politely asked, after perhaps unwisely volunteering to attend and possibly take part in the afternoon’s footy training. Let me explain how I got into this mess …

On Saturday, 5 May 2018, the college’s first-ever girls’ rugby union side ran onto the P&F Oval with conviction, confidence, camaraderie and, in their own words, feeling ‘pumped’ for the historic occasion. Even the most optimistic of spectators would have been a little surprised by what transpired – a resounding 72–15 win against similarly inexperienced opposition.

Only a week earlier, the girls were, once more in their own words, absolutely ‘thrashed’ as first-timers in a trial game against a far stronger team that had been playing together for some time. This would be the opposition they were to play in Round 2 of the competition. Yet, in the space of two short weeks, something had seriously changed in the girls’ self-belief.

In what can only be described as a sporting fairy tale, the girls completely turned the tables and defeated, through a successful conversion by captain Ashley Fernandez (Year 10), the very team that handed them a lesson in rugby union only a fortnight earlier: 29–27.

‘We were a bit nervous, I guess, because we were coming up against Wests again’, recounts Ashley, ‘but we took everything from that first (trial) game … and we just improved.’

Assistant Coach and Manager Rosie Williams believes that the turnaround was due to ‘… the culture and passion within the girls. They get to training and they’re so excited. It’s great’.

While it is evident the girls can train and tackle hard – I foolishly set myself up to be a target for a tackling drill – the girls put their amazing start to the season down to teamwork as well as their ability to not take themselves too seriously.

‘If we were too serious as a team, we wouldn’t win, because we just enjoy playing with each other’, explains Holly.
‘We’re never disappointed in each other’, elaborates Ashley, ‘and if someone makes a mistake it doesn’t matter’.
Adds another Holly, ‘Mistakes are what we grow from’.

I asked the girls why it has taken 34 years for a girls’ side to emerge in the sport. 

‘After the Olympics, girls’ rugby has just gone way up’, Ashley pinpoints.

‘We’re trying to build up the girls’ rugby thing,’ chimes in Lauren, ‘so we’re kind of grateful that we even have a team’.

With the enthusiastic encouragement of both Director of Sport Brent Larkham and rugby die-hard and 1st XV Boys’ Coach Father Richard Browning, the timing suddenly seemed perfect.

I next ask the girls if crowd numbers actually swelled after the first win? (At this point in the interview all five girls answered my questions at the same time, a trend that continued throughout the remainder of the interview.)

‘We get a good crowd actually.’
‘A lot of parents.’
‘The amount of teachers that come to our games …’
‘Ms Notley – she was like screaming on the side of the field.’
‘You come up on a Monday and a lot of teachers say, “Hey, good on you.”’
‘They all said they’ll keep coming.’

Coach Ema Masi is justifiably happy with how the team is progressing, particularly with that performance in Round 2 – ‘I was gobsmacked!” she exclaims.

Ema, who comes from a keen rugby family and is a representative player herself, is keen to keep the girls grounded with respect to the season’s objectives. ‘Our main goal is to make it into the grand final. We’ve got a lot of things to work on … but I know the girls have got it in them.

But perhaps not everyone is enamoured of the idea of girls’ rugby.

‘My grandmother never stops talking about how girls shouldn’t play rugby’, reveals one team member, and another seconds this. Yet it would be hard for observers of any generation to not be inspired by this band of sisters’ infectious enthusiasm and loyalty to each other.

I try to provoke them by asking who their star player is. And their responses, again all delivered at the same time, display why they are so likeable and possibly why they have started so cohesively:

‘We’re a team of stars.’
‘Literally everyone on our team is good.’
‘There’s just a good team environment.’
‘Everyone brings a different thing to our team.’
‘We’ve got people from another school, different year groups and it’s just like we’ve known each other forever. We’re all just very close.’
‘We feed off each other.’

Father Richard concludes he is impressed by the team’s ‘focus and energy’. And I, with the footy in my hands and tackling practice about to commence, decide to focus my own energy on running very quickly towards the safety of my office.

The girls’ rugby side’s next game is against Jindabyne at 10.30 am on Saturday, 2 June on the Radford P&F Oval. Collegians who never got to see a girls’ rugby side during their time at Radford are especially encouraged to attend.