Lumen Autumn 2017 - Flipbook - Page 21
story by Ian Williams
Some serious cracks have started to appear in
the gender wall that for generations has made it
di昀케cult for female athletes to play professionally
the sports they love to watch.
U
niversity of Adelaide Sport is doing
its part to ensure the barriers
stay down.
Football and cricket teams launched by
the University of Adelaide Blacks in recent
years are giving young female students,
graduates and other interested women
the opportunity to learn new skills and
compete at the highest levels.
The focus is opening up avenues to
elite competitions in both sports, with
the Women’s Big Bash League and the
new Australian Football League Women’s
(AFLW) proving hugely popular.
And in another significant step forward,
the University has been selected to field
a team in a new national rugby sevens
competition which starts in August.
They are opportunities that University
of Adelaide law graduate Talia Radan
– a diehard Adelaide Crows supporter
since she was a young girl – never
thought possible.
The fact that Talia helped make history
in February when stepping out in a Crows
guernsey for the club’s inaugural match
against Greater Western Sydney, shows
how times are changing.
“I used to play netball in the state
league and always thought that was
the only option I really had,” she says.
“Football always had my heart but I
never factored it into my consideration
to ever play the sport.
“It’s so nice that young girls and
teenagers can now pursue it at a higher
level, because everyone deserves
the opportunity.”
It wasn’t until she was graduating
from Adelaide in 2010 that women’s
football started to emerge as a serious
option for Talia.
She ended up playing for the Belconnen
Magpies in Canberra before being drafted
to the Crows earlier this year.
Talia, 28, has now relocated to Adelaide
and somehow manages to squeeze in
daily training for the club while working
full-time as an Australian Government
ministerial advisor and travelling regularly
to Canberra.
“They are heavy days but I’m lucky
and my boss and the Adelaide Football
Club have been fantastic,” she says.
“It means I get home about 9pm most
nights of the week and end up eating
dinner at 9.20pm.
“But I wouldn’t change it – it’s become
the norm for me and I’m just privileged to
be in this position.”
Talia’s passion for the sport is being
taken up by many young women in a
trend identified by Wayne Abrey, Adelaide
University Football Club secretary,
four years ago.
He helped establish the University’s first
women’s team in 2013 and enthusiasm
for the sport has grown so quickly that
the club will field three teams this season
in the SA Women’s Football League. They
won the division two grand final in 2015.
“A lot of girls comment that they never
thought they’d see women’s football
in their lifetime,” says Wayne. “We’re
happy to take on anyone at any skill
level and give them the opportunity to
be able to play.”
Courtney Thomas, 23, was among
the early recruits who loved football
but never dreamed she would end up
playing the sport.
Another keen Crows supporter,
she discovered the University had a
women’s team while studying honours
in psychology.
In no time she was hooked and
her strong defensive skills have seen
her drafted into the West Adelaide
team competing in the new SANFL
women’s competition.
“I’m just really grateful that the
University was so supportive and kept
pushing me,” says Courtney. “It was the
club that nominated me to try out for
Above: Courtney Thomas
Left: Talia Radan at training
Photo courtesy of The Adelaide Football Club
the SANFL competition because I never
realised it was an option.”
And it’s not just local women who have
grown up watching football and are now
enrolling at the university club.
Wayne says many overseas students
are showing interest in “playing this funny
Australian game”. They include two
English and Irish students who went on to
represent their countries in the sport.
It’s a similar story for the Adelaide
University Cricket Club which reestablished a women’s team six years ago
after a break of more than 20 years.
David Penn, who is president of
Adelaide University Sport and coach of
Adelaide University Women’s Cricket,
says international students from all kinds
of backgrounds are lining up to play for
the club after watching the Women’s
Big Bash League.
They include students and staff from
non-cricketing nations such as Austria,
Germany, Brazil and Venezuela, as well as
the more traditional cricketing countries.
“We’re keen to expand our women’s
cricket program and have plans to
introduce a second senior side plus a
junior side in coming seasons,” says David
The club can be contacted at
cricket@theblacks.com.au
The University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 19
