Town rallies behind footy club fined for playing a woman against the blokes

All Casey McElroy wanted to do was play football. Today she finds herself at the centre of a heated debate about women playing against men.

Casey McElroy, 27, who played played in a men's reserves game team for Padthaway in the Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara Football League. The club has already been fined and Casey will find out on Thursday if she faces further penalty. Picture: Tait Schmaal

• Will SANFL punish Casey for playing with the men?

A tiny farming community in the state’s South-East is rallying around its football club to help pay a whopping $1000 fine for playing a woman in its men’s reserves team because it was short on numbers.

In a story that has attracted global media interest, the Padthaway Lions were hit with a $1000 fine and another $1000 suspended for playing unregistered Casey McElroy against Kingston on May 25.

Although the club knew it was breaking league rules and would forfeit the points, it simply wanted the match to go ahead.

Club president Mick Grady told The Advertiser that the club would not contest the fine handed down by the Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara Football League on Tuesday.

“You can’t contest something when you knew it was wrong,” Grady said of what is thought to be a league-first.

“It’s not a fine for gender, it’s for playing an unregistered player.

“So we will pay the fine, but we’ve had a lot of people who are willing to help.

“We don’t want to use sponsors money because that’s not fair on them so we will come up with it somehow.”

Under SANFL guidelines, which are endorsed nationally by the AFL, unregistered footballers are not permitted to play.

Women are unable to be registered to play in men’s competitions after the age of 14.

Casey, 27, knew she was putting herself at risk by playing without injury insurance.

But the chance to wear the same guernsey as her father Bradley and grandfather Jeffrey was too good to pass up.

Casey McElroy on the family farm at Marcollat with her dad Bradley, 52 and grandfather Jeffrey, 81. Picture: Tait Schmaal

The middle sister of three girls, Casey works on the family’s 860ha farm with her dad and “poppa” and says donning the blue and gold was one of the proudest moments of her life.

She got showered and changed in the umpires’ rooms then had a beer in the sheds with the boys after the game.

“I was so stoked to be part of it, I love footy and the fact I could be out there wearing a guernsey that both my dad and my poppa have worn – it was great,” she said.

Casey grew up kicking the footy with her dad in the backyard. She also did Auskick but didn’t start playing competitively until last year.

But she had to play for neighbouring side Kybybolite because Padthaway doesn’t have a women’s footy team in their summer competition.

Casey is Padthaway’s A Grade netball player/coach but two weeks ago the team had the bye because its opponent Kingston did not have an A Grade netball team.

“So on the Tuesday night I went and did footy training with the boys instead, and there was talk then that the reserves were going to be short,” she said.

“By Wednesday I heard they only had 12-14 (players). It’s seeding and spraying this time of year and we have a few injuries so I said to the coach ‘I’m keen to play if you’ll have me?’

“It went from me to the coach then president and there were a lot of phone calls being made.”

The only pushback Casey got was from her mum.

“She (mum) was worried about the injury side of things, but I can handle myself, I can run and I’m fit,” she said.

“Everyone was really inclusive and excited and Kingston were fantastic, their A Grade coach used to coach here at Padthaway so I got in contact with him and suggested what may be happening and he checked in with the club and they were more than happy for me to run out there.”

On game day after “triple checking” with all Padthaway and Kingston players as well as officials, Casey ran out with the Lions and started on the wing.

The Padthaway Lions football club has attracted global interest for the case.

There was no agreement with Kingston to go easy on her and she didn’t cop any sledging from the players or the crowd.

“The ball spilt out to the side pretty early on and I was on the side of the oval with the wind so it was there most of the quarter and I got an early touch,” she said.

“There was no agreement, I didn’t want any special treatment, I wanted to be treated as an equal player.

“I ended up on the bottom of the pack a couple of times, I got a few hip-and-shoulders and a don’t argue given to me … but I got someone holding the ball and laid a few bumps.

“There was plenty of contact. It’s a contact sport so I was happy to be among it.”

Casey said she was disappointed the club had been fined but acknowledges its had broken the rules. She was however surprised by the attention it had received.

“I was just out there to have a kick and a catch and have some fun,” she said.

“I wasn’t insured and that didn’t worry me because dad had insurance claims through footy injuries and was never paid out, so I wasn’t worried about me personally.

Grady said Casey playing was a one-off. “My wife is the netball president and Casey is their playing coach and she’d be one of the best three players in the league – if I stole her for the footy team I’d be on the street,” he said.