Moana Hope - My Way

My Way

MOANA

HOPE

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS

An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited

Level 1, 715 Swanston Street, Carlton,Victoria 3053, Australia

www.mup.com.au

First published 2017

Text Moana Hope, 2017

Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2017

Images Moana Hope and individual contributors

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Excerpts from Eliza Sewells Herald Sun articles on pages 11617 and 1578 are reprinted courtesy of the author.

The article on pages 8081 appears courtesy of Samantha Lane, sports journalist with The Age and Channel 7.

Transcripts on pages 95, 97, 98 and 100 courtesy of Australian Story on ABC.

The AFL press release on pages 1534 is reprinted courtesy of AFL Media.

Text design and typesetting by Typeskill

Cover design by Philip Campbell Design

Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Hope, Moana, author.

My way/Moana Hope.

9780522871524 (paperback)

9780522871531 (ebook)

Hope, MoanaBiography.

Women football playersAustraliaBiography.

Y OU KNOW THAT feeling you get, when it seems like youre living a dream? Thats how I felt in the week leading up to the first game of the AFL Womens competition in early 2017. It seemed completely surreal that it was happening. For so many years women who wanted to play footy had been pushed to the edge of the sporting community. We had been forced to play on any spare cow paddock we could find. We had been seen as freaks. But here we were, on the verge of an official AFL womens competition, with teams being fielded by AFL clubs and the players getting paid to play, rather than us forking out our own money to play, as had always been the case in the past.

On many occasions during that week I found myself pondering if I was really, really going to play for the mighty Collingwood Football Club against its arch-rival, Carlton, at a famous AFL venue, on a Friday night, in a game being televised around the nation by Channel Seven and Fox Footy. To be honest, on a number of occasions I was momentarily gripped by a fear that it was all unreal. That I was going to wake up and find myself back at some suburban ground digging for change to play. But then I would be snapped back into reality by a Collingwood media manager asking me to attend a press conference or a photographer asking me to pose for a photo. And I would smile at the thought that it was really, really happening. I was about to play for the biggest club in Australia, in an AFL competition before a crowd that was being tipped to reach 20,000. It was, to put it mildly, bloody amazing.

The whole week leading up to it was a blur of activity. For a start, I still had to run the traffic management company that is my key source of income. Doing that involves a 3 am start most days to get my crews out on the road in time for the commuter rush. So each day, except on the day of the game, I spent the hours between 3 and 7am working hard before I had time to even think about anything else. As I am also the full-time carer for my disabled sister Vinny, once my traffic management work was done I would spend an hour or so getting her ready to be dropped off to the centre where she is cared for during the day. Then, after all that was out of the way, I had some time for my footy commitments, of which there were many.

On the Monday I did a shoot for Channel Nines new womens footy show, then I headed off to a shoot for Special K breakfast cereal, as I am now one of their ambassadors. By the time I arrived for training at Collingwoods amazing Holden Centre, I was ready for a nap. But nothing makes me happier than running around with a footy in my hands, so training recharged my batteries. The energy at training that night was like nothing I had experienced before. None of us were taking for granted that we were preparing to be part of history. I think that week all of us in Collingwoods squad had to pinch ourselves at times.

Across the Tuesday and Wednesday I did a photo shoot for a magazine, took part in a segment being filmed for a morning television program, then did a presentation to the staff at CGU Insurance, which is one of Collingwoods major sponsors. Given I was very shy as a kid and really struggled to cope with the way people judged me because of the way I looked during my late teens and early twenties, I found it extraordinary that so many people now wanted to see and hear from me. It made me feel proud of myself and the journey I have taken, and it added to my sense that everything was completely surreal.

I also called in to see our cheer squad making the banner on the Wednesday. The passionate folk who make up the Collingwood cheer squad are my kind of people. A number of them are battlers from the northern suburbs, where I grew up and still live. Like me, they love their families and their footy in equal measure.

On the Thursday morning I did my weekly segment on Gold FM, then fronted a press conference to promote the game with one of Carltons marquee players, Darcy Vescio. As I was driving back to the club, I was waiting at a red light when the driver in the car next to me started tooting his horn. I thought I must have cut him off or something, so I opened my window to have a chat. He just smiled and said, Good luck for your game tomorrow!

Stuff like that had been happening to me all week. People kept stopping me in the street to wish me luck. It was so beautiful. Three or four years before, I would never have believed that a female footy player would be so recognised and admired that she would be stopped in the street.

At our final training session on the Thursday night, the atmosphere out on the track was electric. The ball hardly touched the ground. Then our team list was released to the public. I immediately logged on to the AFL website to see my name at full-forward. It was a standout moment in an incredible week.

On game day, a Friday, I managed to conjure a rare sleep-in because someone else took over my job so I could rise at 7 instead of 3 am. Once I was up, I just wanted the game to start as soon as possible. Getting Vinny ready for her day helped me relax. She loves to laugh, so we are always mucking around, and it was no different this time. I dropped her off, and then went to my regular cafe to have my favourite breakfast: smashed avocado. I grabbed a copy of the Herald Sun. It was mind blowing to see womens footy on the front and back pages. I had even written a column, with some help from one of the reporters, and it was prominently displayed only a couple of pages in from the back. Womens footy had made it to the big time, and I was on board for the ride.

On my way to the Collingwood homeground, I called in to the cemetery where my dad is buried. As I stood by his grave, I imagined how proud he would have been had he been around to see me play for Collingwood. Dad was the one who taught me how to kick and mark and handpass, and who encouraged me to play. I had a little chat with him in my head. I felt like he was going to be right by my side during the game, cheering my every move.