Nine-year-old Freya loves representing the West Footscray Roosters, which is why she needs more girls to join her on the team.
Since the departure of her only two girl teammates, mum Ceci Tankey said Freya has been asking for more girls non-stop.
“She has been begging me to ask all her friends’ mums which I have. She says she wants another girl to play with,” Ceci said.
“I’ve said to her I’m trying my hardest but a lot of girls tend to go to an all girls club which is hard for our local community club because we can’t retain the girls.”
Being the only girl on a team can be hard enough, let alone for such a young girl.
“She has been feeling very shy, being surrounded by only boys she feels quite on show and that’s not easy,” Ceci said.
“Interestingly enough they were planning to start an under 12’s girls team this year. I don’t think they would have trouble building a team to be honest.”
Secretary Kathy Lazanas said the club’s focus for the past three years has been on building capacity for girls.
“We are trying to build critical mass and keeping girls to establish our own girls team for our league,“ she said.
“Last year we had four girls in under 10 but that’s not enough for a team.“
To encourage girls to play football, Ms Lazanas said the club hosts a number of clinics at schools throughout the year as well as mentoring from the senior women.
“They are passionate about trying to the foster the girls we do have in the competition, get them to understand why footy is so good.”
