AFL news: Richmond vice-captain Gabby Seymour on footy, Facebook and staunch advocacy for female athletes

Gabby Seymour was a volleyballer who answered a Facebook ad with an unlikely football dream. Now, the Richmond vice-captain has become a key voice in AFLW.

Every time Gabby Seymour sees the black shorts awaiting in the changerooms before each game, she can’t help but take a moment to smile.

It’s a long way from having a kick at halftime of men’s games at The Basin, answering a Facebook ad calling out for VFL Women’s players to now being Richmond vice-captain and a prominent advocate for players as part of the union in ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations.

It’s a lot.

It was announced in December that AFLW players would no longer wear white “away” shorts after league uniform rules were changed in a bid to ease anxiety around menstruation for players, with last weekend the first time the change was enacted in a season proper.

For Seymour — a driving force in the shift — it was a “really cool” moment.

“It’s something I’ll probably find increasingly cool to look back on and reflect on and say, ‘hey, I really had a hand in that and was a part of moving that forward’,” she said this week.

“It’s one of those things — if you went and asked our AFLW team right now, do you want to wear white shorts or do you mind if we wear white shorts … there’d probably be about half of the list who say ‘couldn’t care less’. There might be a strong other part of it that says ‘actually, no, it makes me feel really uncomfortable’.

White shorts no more: Seymour in the black “away” shorts last weekend. Picture: Getty Images

“I think if you can remove a barrier like that to make more people feel comfortable, why wouldn’t you do that?.”

Seymour noted Victoria University women in sport researcher and adviser Clare Hanlon as another key to change.

“We some really good conversations with her about that being a massive barrier to particularly young girls – under the age of 15 – not wanting to participate in sports because of things like uniform,” the Richmond tall and top-level volleyball convert said.

“It just seems like such an easy thing to change.

“I saw them in the locker room (last week) and then I was like ‘oh, cool, we’re in black shorts’, but then once you’re out there, you don’t really think about it.

“Especially at a time where we’re trying to maximise the number of girls that are playing sport and keeping girls in sport for long periods of time, we’ve got to look at things like this that are easy changes for us to make that make people feel more comfortable. Why wouldn’t you?.”

A former national volleyballer, Seymour — who would have had to move overseas to continue her pursuit of that sport, had her eye caught by footy about five years ago.

She’d never played. A bit on that later.

These days she works a few days in a clinic in her qualified trade as a physiotherapist but football has seen her change tack to pursuing a role in sports administration, currently working at Richmond Institute — the club’s education arm developing the next generation of sports leaders.

So when the opportunity came up to join the players’ association as a club representative, Seymour jumped at it and is passionate that the time is now for women’s sport to be the beneficiary of investment and truly boom — “if not now, then when?”, she asks.

Seymour has become a key voice for players in AFLW. Picture: Mark Stewart

“I just saw it as a really good opportunity to learn more about how that side of the game works,” she said.

“I love being a part of it. I find it absolutely fascinating and learning about all the different stakeholders … as players, you’ve got your priorities, but what about the community? What about the AFL who are paying the bills? You learn a whole lot, whether it ends up in football or in another field – being able to take in that whole picture, it’s an incredibly useful skill.”

Seymour chooses to work, and while player salaries have increased – with negotiations on the next deal at fever pitch – she is adamant that employment outside of football should be a choice for female athletes, not a necessity as players straddle two “worlds”.

“We have this really awkward cohort (of players) at the moment who are in between those worlds — girls who came into football and had to have another job, or had already been working another job when AFLW became a thing,” Seymour said.

“What I think is that it should be a choice. If you want to be able to work, no worries at all. I love that in that clubs are really good in the W space … but the fact that that’s a choice is very different to it being ‘you have to work to be able to support yourself’.

“That’s where I’d love to see the game get to.”

Footy began as a kick-to-kick at halftime of her now-fiance Nick’s games in the Eastern Football Netball League, before Seymour tried her hand at the Tigers at the end of 2018.

“I realised pretty quickly that I was no good,” she laughed.

Seymour back in her days at The Basin.

“I was learning to kick and would practice at any opportunity that we got. A few months later, I came across a trial on Facebook for Richmond’s VFLW team. I hadn’t played a game of footy yet, but thought it would be a lot of girls like me who had been athletes in other sports just giving it a go. I got that part wrong, because all the girls were in their full football kits — I didn’t even have a pair of football boots, because I thought that might be a bit of overkill as a starting point.”

Coaches rang a few days later noting her competitiveness and attitude, and she got to work.

“Maybe people around me had a bit more confidence than I did,” Seymour.

“I never expected this would be what I’m doing (these years later). It’s so incredible, as well, being part of the football world in terms of how many other opportunities it opens up.

“There’s just so many wonderful people in the football world who are willing to help you and if you’re someone who is willing to put yourself out there and say hey, I really want to give this a good crack or try this, people will be happy to help you. That’s sort of been my story of the last four years.”