Yankeroos Win Goomalling Carnival

by Jason Burton, South Fremantle Football Club
originally published in the Fremantle Gazette

Women's football is certainly getting more and more popular, and not just with Aussie girls that have grown up watching it. The “Yankeroos” are a group of students from the USA studying at Notre Dame University that have also taken a keen interest in Australia’s national game.

A group of about 30 American girls train very hard at Fremantle Oval every Wednesday and Friday, being taught how to play footy by South Fremantle’s Development Officer Jason Burton.

On Sunday (Sept 23, 2007) they travelled as a team to Goomalling to take part in a Women’s football carnival, playing against women’s teams from the wheatbelt region. This was the first time the girls have played actual games against opposition, and considering the first time they even saw a footy was in August this year when they arrived in Fremantle, they more than held their own.

Earlier this year 3 american girls that studied at Notre Dame played for South Fremantle’s women’s team and displayed a lot of skill, something that will again be on show in the coming weeks when the “Yankeroos” join the South Fremantle girls in a one off game at Fremantle Oval.

We at the South Fremantle Football Club are very proud to have them as members of our club and the girls seem to love the club. They have designed a “Yankeroos” guernsey that resembles that of the bulldogs jumper, and will include the bulldogs logo on their shorts.

The strong relationship between South Fremantle and US Footy has been built through the support of Tony Fairhead, and there are early plans to send the South Fremantle women’s team over to tour the US in the future, and catch up with the “Yankeroos” after they head home in December.