AFL has always been in Michaela Behre’s blood.

The footy enthusiast grew up playing in muddy backyards with her brother, booting the ball through makeshift goals until her bones ached.

She excelled in junior football and trained every week for the Under 10s and Under 12s Yarra Valley teams.

However when Michaela turned 14, she encountered a tiny obstacle.

"There suddenly wasn’t a team for me to play with," she laughed.

"Once you turn 14ish you can’t play in the mixed teams, but the only girls’ team nearby was a decent 45 minute drive.

"It wasn’t feasible for my parents to drive me to training three times a week so I almost considered giving up.”

Fortunately, Michaela’s father helped her establish a youth girl’s footy team in the Yarra Valley so she and her colleagues could keep playing.

But when Michaela turned 18, she was faced with the same problem.

"There was no senior team, so I basically had to stop playing,” she said.

"It was frustrating, but I was so sick of the never-ending barriers.”

Nowhere to go 

Boasting an almost biblical fan base, AFL is deeply embedded in Australia’s sporting and cultural fabric.

It dominates our sporting coverage for nearly nine months and churns out millions in revenue.

Arguably known as the birthplace of footy, Regional Victoria is home to hundreds of junior and senior footy clubs.

And yet stories like Michaela’s are not unique.

Once a player turns 14; they have to move over to a single sex team.

If that player happens to be female, there’s often nowhere nearby for them to go.

An unexpected response 

Michaela moved to Mansfield this year to work as a stablehand at Sophia Hill Equestrian.

However the urge to play footy has followed the 26-year-old.

On September 6, she decided to post on Mansfield’s Community Noticeboard Facebook page, asking women in the shire if they were interested in playing footy.

"I was really missing footy and wanted to get fit, so I thought I’d take a crack and just post it,” she said."“I kind of only expected to get about dozen responses.”

Within 12 hours, Michaela’s post received 115 comments from the Mansfield community.

"It absolutely blew my mind," she said.

" I thought let’s get this thing up and running."

Mansfield physiotherapist Susan McCormick is incredibly passionate about footy.

Her 13-year-old daughter Phoebe adores playing junior footy for Mansfield, but only has one year left in the mixed teams.

"Phoebe is almost at that age where she will no longer be able to play with the boys," Sue explained.

"So the only option is to travel to Wangaratta or try and get a women’s team in Mansfield."

Sue came across Michaela’s post while she was scrolling on Facebook.

"We’ve wanted to form a women’s side for ages, so seeing the response to Michela’s post was utterly brilliant,” she said.

Sue contacted Michaela and Mansfield Junior Football Club President Michael Bretherton to organise an AFL women’s event.

Coincidentally, the Mansfield Shire Council was also running ‘This Girl Can’, a VicHealth sponsored campaign encouraging girls to get active.

"Council was happy to pitch in to help celebrate women’s footy through This Girl Can," Sue said.

"It was almost as if the universe accidentally brought all these community voices together to champion a female footy event.”

A local appetite 

On October 10, nearly 30 Mansfield women and girls attended a tryout session at the Recreation Reserve.

AFL Victoria Participation Coordinator Bailey Bell ran the event and took the girls through several drills, skill workshops and 15-minute matches.

Junior Football President Michael Bretherton said he wasn’t surprised by the initial interest in women’s footy, but was blown away by the number of older girls and women who attended the Tuesday event.

"It was amazing to see so many young girls, teenagers and older women running around with gigantic grins on their faces,” he said.

"When the session finished, I heard a girl ask if they could all come back next week and play.

"I think that’s a pretty spot-on indication of the demand for footy in Mansfield.”

Mansfield Community Health and Wellbeing Executive Manager Nola Bales said Council was thrilled to witness the fantastic turnout.

"The excitement could be felt amongst the attendees and the interest from the women and girls in Mansfield for AFL shows there is potential for a team moving forward," she said.

"Council would be happy to work with our local clubs on this.”

Michael had wanted to establish a pathway for senior female footy players for a long time.

"We see so many girls who just fly through our Auskick program and then do really well in our U10s and U12s groups, but then the opportunities and pathways just stop,” he explained.

"Currently, any female over 14 years has no access to footy in Mansfield.

"They have to travel 40 minutes or sometimes an hour to play for another town with a women’s side.

Michael stressed that conversations around an AFL women’s club in Mansfield were still in "an exploratory phase”.

"We are planning on running some more tryout sessions and some AFL 9s games for the rest of the year,” he said.

"After that, we will evaluate numbers and explore it further with AFL Goulburn Murray.

"There’s a real appetite for women’s footy here, we just need to support it.”

Starting from the grassroots 

AFL Goulburn Murray Regional Manager Shaun Connell has big dreams for women’s footy in Mansfield.

Shaun and his team will host several Footy 4 Fun sessions at Mansfield Recreation Reserve during the AFLW season.

Aimed at players aged 7-12 years old, Footy 4 Fun adopts an AFL 9s-like structure and gives girls the opportunity to experience football in a fun environment while developing their skills.

Shaun is also hoping to run an open age group for females 15 years and above.

"It’s been amazing to see the strong interest from women and girls in Mansfield and we really want to capitalise on that and build it from the ground up,” he said.

Over the past five years the AFLW has surged in popularity, with increased broadcast time and funding.

In August this year, the AFL announced equal prize money for men’s and women’s competitions.

However, grassroots women’s footy was still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

"We saw an approximate 45 per cent decline in women’s participation in our region post COVID which was really difficult,” Shaun explained

"We’ve seen a steady increase and have witnessed tremendous interest from female audiences in Mansfield, Shepparton and Echuca.

"It’s great to see that female participation but now we want to nurture it and give these girls all the opportunities they deserve.”

If Shaun could snap his fingers, what would the future of women’s AFL in regional Victoria look like?

"Ideally, I want any girl to be able to access footy within half an hour,” he said.

"We really want to strengthen opportunities in areas like Mansfield and provide pathways for girls to play footy against other girls.

"Because we know for a fact that girls are more engaged in sport and in footy when they get to play against other girls.”

Plenty of girls want to play 

Seventeen-year-old Mansfield resident Hannah Berriman has a story much like Michaela's, having played footy for nearly five years.

Every fortnight, she travels an hour and 26 minutes to play for the Shepparton Swans women’s side.

When she can’t make it to Shepparton, Hannah trains with the Bonnie Doon Bombers men’s team.

"I used to play in the U10s and U12s at Mansfield with the boys, but then I got older and there was nowhere for me to play anymore,” she explained.

"I think there are plenty of girls in Mansfield who want to play footy.

"They probably all have different skill levels, but I’d love to see a women’s team in Mansfield for older girls.”

When asked if she would consider playing for Mansfield again, she answers instantly.

"Of course, that would be awesome."