It’s footy, Jim, but not as we know it

The Footy Almanac
by Stephanie Holt

(AFL Quebec Preseason Cup: Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Montreal, Saturday April 28)

A few things I’d never encountered in over 40 years of footy-going: snow en route to a game; a bagpipe medley of Advance Australia Fair and Waltzing Matilda; a rule forbidding goals kicked from beyond the 30-yard line; a field of artificial turf; barracking in French. But that was before last weekend, and the playoffs for the AFL Quebec preseason cup: six men’s teams (all local), three women’s teams.

We were there (via the Ben&Jerry’s factory in Vermont and a drive through four hours of snow flurries) to cheer on the Boston Lady Demons, because our Lydia was pulling on the boots as their full forward. She’d played two games of competitive footy in her life before we moved to the States; she’s already got three more under her belt, courtesy of the USAFL National Championships last October. The new Boston team had taken eight players to Nationals for a combine team (the Boston Lady Demons/Columbus Jillaroos/Baltimore Washington Eagles – a bit of a mouthful for us barrackers), and had been working their butts off since to recruit and train players for the forthcoming season. In fact, recruiting’s gone so well that the Preseason Cup Footy Record (an impressive 28 pages with colour cover) still lists the Montreal Angels’ opponent as a Boston/New York combine, but Boston’s fielding a full nine-a-side team, and New York’s brought eight girls. A handful of ring-ins from Ontario turn it into a three-way comp, and give the teams some subs.

At nineteen, Lydia’s the baby of the Boston team, and their only Australian. If you long for the days of old-fashioned hard-fought footy, played by people with an unrivalled love of the game, you can’t go past women’s footy in North America. These aren’t players who’ve grown up obsessed with footy, being dressed in club colours from the cot onwards, trotting off to Auskick. These are players who’ve stumbled on the game – or on someone who plays the game – and become hooked. And some bring star quality and a history of sporting excellence to their new love. International Cup veterans like Montreal’s Aimee Legualt, New York’s Drea Casillas, and Boston’s own Emily Riehl could match it with the men of many local footy teams at home in Australia.

This tournament’s being played at Concordia University’s (Loyola campus) aptly named Stingerdome – a gridiron field with a stand of bleachers open to a stinging wind. Goal and behind posts have been added to the gridiron goal, but that’s as far as modifications have gone. The artificial turf will leave savage burns on unprotected Aussie Rules knees, and fill mouthguards with ripped up green flakes.

The day’s temperatures? A minimum of minus 2 and a maximum of 8. It makes the worst days of Arctic Park feel like a loll on the Gold Coast. I spend most of my time huddled in five layers of clothing, wrapped in a hat and scarf, taking photos that keep screwing up because I can’t feel the fingers that are trying to adjust the camera and keep ending up in front of the lens.

The first women’s game is Boston against New York. New York’s Lady Magpies have been going a few years, and made the Grand Final at Nationals, but they’re in a rebuilding phase, and Boston’s expecting an easier contest. In the end, it’s a resounding win for the Lady Dees, 6.5.41 to 0.1.1. Lydia’s settled in well at full forward and manages four goals. Boston’s rookies – Sarah, Leah and Eileen – put in a great effort in their first game. Under captain Jen Vogel and playing coach Emily Riehl, they’ve been working on basic skills, and drills that emulate match play. The Lady Dees are focussed on the team-oriented things that will give them an advantage: shepherding, tackling, second efforts. And it shows – the team are talking, supporting each other, making quick decisions. Not always the best decisions, but they keep the ball moving, and usually in the right direction.

Watching this tournament, you sometimes get a reminder that players haven’t grown up with the game – a player who tucks the ball under her arm under pressure and goes to ground, or who waits too long to get a kick off, or who eagerly kicks back towards goal a football being returned for a centre bounce. And sometimes you get a reminder one of them has grown up with footy. Lydia’s best goal comes after marking a Magpies kick wide toward the wrong end. The umpire pulls her round to a tough angle (this is a rectangular field, so tough is really tough), and she stands juggling the ball nonchalantly while the umpire sets the mark and her line. I hear someone on the sidelines comment that she needs to go further back for her run up, and PJ (the Boston Demon who’s subbing for Montreal, and managing the girls’ interchange) responds that she’s an Aussie and should know that. But Lydia’s an Aussie who’s grown up watching Stephen Milne, so she picks her moment, takes those critical three steps off the line, opens the angle just enough, and slots it through. Centimetre perfect.

Boston’s second game was always going to be tougher. Montreal are a class outfit, their best player an absolute star. Boston stay in touch for a while, and Lydia gets credit for their only goal when Emily sends a lovely kick from beyond the thirty-yard line and Lyd swoops on it and pokes it through. But Boston’s chances fall moments after, when their captain Jen, twisting the wrong way while chasing an Angel up the wing, goes to ground. Wincing with the pain, she has to drag herself into the sidelanes while play continues. This is the most fun the four St John’s Ambulance volunteers have had all day – they get busy with a splint and bandages and ice and instructions, lots of instructions, and send her off to the emergency room for x-rays. They’re worried about a hairline fracture; Jen’s teammates are worrying about an ACL.

The rest of the game is played mainly in the Angel’s half. The Lady Dees fight it out, with their experienced crew competing hard – Aimee relentless round halfback, Andi stalwart in defence, Kristina fierce around the midfield. But with no subs, Boston are outplayed by a fitter, more experienced team, and outfoxed by an opponent that seems to know what do with those absurdly deep pockets.

A few hours later, the girls are unrecognisable, spruced up, showered, aglow. There’s a gathering at a local Irish bar, and the Lady Dees have comandeered a booth down the back. Apart from worrying about Jen, who’s still tied up at the emergency room, they’re agreed it’s been a good day’s footy. Lydia, who’s ecstatic to be in a country where she can legally drink, gets started on the business at hand. Her new teammate Eileen, who fell for footy while doing a semester’s study in Melbourne, is helping by working through some Aussie drinking chants.

It’s about two hours later that Jen appears, to a volley of cheers that starts with the Quebecoise teams and ends with the overjoyed Boston girls. At which point we parents bow out, and leave the team to it. What happens in Montreal, stays in Montreal.

Source: The Footy Almanac