Modbury’s trailblazing a pathway in female football

Modbury Football Club is setting the standard in developing the next generation of female footballers, becoming the first club in South Australia to offer the complete junior pathway to senior football.

The Hawks, based in the heart of Adelaide’s north-east just off Golden Grove Road, boast a thriving senior women’s program which is now reaping the benefits of having a vibrant junior environment.

At Modbury, girls have the opportunity to begin their football journey at Auskick and U8 level, right through to the U18s, giving former President and current U18 coach Paul Lemmer a great sense of pride.

Lemmer, who has been instrumental in constructing the Hawks’ enviable female football pathway, said the club’s aim was to represent its entire community.

”It is about the recognition that as a club we should be striving to support and represent our community which is clearly not just a male environment – a football club should be much more than just a team aiming to win a flag,” Lemmer said.

”We took a strong position that was about participation and growing the game and hence in our first year we carried a really large squad with a number of players that had been knocked back by other clubs with a different mindset.

”Some of these families became our strongest players, premiership coaches etc and a cohort of parents. From this first group, the “Modbury Mums”, still get together and come and support the next generation.

”We also tried to build it from the ground up – having a strong focus on U12s in that first year and then kept adding sides until we had the U12 – U18 structure which has now extended from U8s to U18s.”

All involved at Modbury are taking great delight in the likes of Ella Strudwick now playing in the club’s senior team.

Starting her career at Modbury playing with the boys, Ella was part of the club’s first junior girls teams before progressing to the seniors whilst even tasting an opportunity to experience the SANFLW Development League with Norwood.

Now at the other end, a player such as Imogen Underwood, will have the chance to complete the entire pathway from U8s through to the U18s and ultimately, senior football at Modbury.

‘’We have had a women’s team for a long time but didn’t have a pathway for young girls to get there, with a lot of the players being those who started as adults or being connected with the club through other means,’’ Lemmer reflected.

“What we are now seeing are girls reaching our women’s side with six or seven years of female football behind them.

”The real success for us though will be seeing the girls like Imogen Underwood who started in U8s last season, and whose brother and sisters have been or are currently aligned with the SANFL development pathways, come through the entire system in a female pathway.

‘’It is actually scary to think how good the female program will become once these next generation of girls, who can now develop in the game the same way the boys have, reach senior football.’’

The Hawks already boast a steady line of talented juniors who have progressed to higher standards, led by former Crow and current Geelong AFLW player Chloe Scheer.

The Ebert girls, Laela and Neveah, together with Bailey Murray and Keira Copeland, are developing nicely with North Adelaide in the SANFLW while Coby Morgan is at Norwood.

‘’We are also trying to really help build female role models for our younger players which is helped by things like two of our U18 girls coaching the U8s program, one of our senior women coaching the U16s and our past players now at SANFLW being guest coaches for our U18s,’’ Lemmer said.

‘’Both Coby and Laela were fortunate enough to play state and be invited out to the AFLW Draft Combine last season and still maintain their involvement with club with both of them coming out to run a session for our U18 girls next month.’’

While Modbury is the first SANFL Juniors club to complete the entire female pathway, Lemmer recognises there are many not far behind, which can only be positive for Women’s football in South Australia.

‘’We are super excited to see a pathway in place from Auskick to Seniors for female players and are always glad to see new teams enter the competition,’’ Lemmer said.

‘’I think there are a few strong female clubs like Glenunga, Henley, Blackwood, Golden Grove and Tea Tree Gully that have been there with us from the beginning.

‘’The support we have received from the SANFL juniors team over the journey shouldn’t be underestimated and their willingness to work with us to develop our program has been instrumental.

‘’I would encourage any club just starting out on this journey to really look to them for support.’