First Italian Club Match

On February 26, 2011, the first Italian women’s intercity Australian Football challenge took place.

The visiting team, the Latinas, from the north of Milan was hosted by the Domes at the Carraro sports center.

The newborn hosting team was coached by the captain of the Italian National team Gianluca Veneziano.  They were missing the services of  TV personality and founder Daniela Scalia who was nursing a sore knee, an uneasy memory of a past career in volleyball.

The Latinas are entirely composed of Milan-based South American expats and are captained by Bolivian born and Italian international Sonia Fernandez Flores.  They are coached by former Lugano and Swiss international Angelo Raimondi.

The contest was played with the new 6-a side format.

These new Milanese  clubs are joining the Italian Womens League, bringing the active club numbers to 4.  Verona and Polcenigo (Venice area) are  already training on weekly basis and supplying the core for the national team

The Domes started off well with a goal and one behind but at the end of the first half they were just one point ahead,  The Latinas eventually scored a major taking advantage of a lapse of concentration of the opponent’s defense.

After the break the hosting team kicked several behinds, but another goal of the Domes in the last time was crucial to close the hard fought and injury free match with a total score of 2.6.18 to 1.1.7.
 
Despite the lack of experience, both the teams proved to be skillful and enterprising and determined to increase numbers, especially  with the Melbourne International Cup 2011 in mind.