Footy will never be the same after historic AFLW opening match, writes Glenn McFarlane

PRINCES Park was rocking like it was the 1990s again but last night’s AFLW match was the start of a very exciting future, writes GLENN McFARLANE.

Brianna Davey of the Blues thanks fans.

LONG-TIME Carlton administrator Ian Collins used to famously fudge the crowd figures to inflate attendances at Princes Park.

Collo wouldn’t have bothered last night.

On a balmy evening that has changed football forever, the AFL Women’s competition kicked off in prime-time with a capacity crowd that forced Victoria Police to insist the gates be closed just before quarter-time of the Carlton v Collingwood clash.

No one in their wildest dreams could have envisaged just how big AFLW would be in game one.

Even those who missed out stayed outside the ground, kicking footballs in the parklands as their new heroes brought about the roars inside. Some even followed the game on a TV monitor.

The crowd at Ikon Park was 24,500, and the old ground — dusted off as best as she could be for the occasion — was rocking and roaring as if time had taken us back to the 1990s.

Darcy Vescio celebrates a Carlton goal. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

It was almost as if the past and the present welded together in a magic night that had men, women and thousands of children dreaming of a very exciting future.

Carlton defeated Collingwood by 35 points, highlighted by an outstanding four-goal performance from 23-year-old Darcy Vescio, from Darebin Falcons.

The Magpies kicked the first goal of the game within the first eight minutes, but frustratingly could not manage another for the rest of game.

AFL chairman and former Carlton premiership captain Mike Fitzpatrick, who arrived back from London yesterday, beamed last night as he knows this is a turning point in the sport’s history.

“AFL is (now) truly a game for all ... it doesn’t feel like an overnight success, (this) has been more than 100 years in the making,” Fitzpatrick said.

He said it was fitting the first AFLW match was between two of the game’s biggest protagonists on the one of the most famous grounds in VFL-AFL history.

Katie Loynes tackles Emma Grant.

Another former Blues great Andrew McKay, now the club’s head of football, rang Carlton’s famous old bell to herald the home team on to the ground last night, with his two daughters, 16-year-old Abbie, and 10-year-old Sophie, as his son, 14-year-old Charlie, watched on.

All three of his kids can now aspire to play with the Blues.

“Abbie plays for Prahran under-18s and Soph plays with a under-10 boys team and an under-12 girls team, which is fantastic,” McKay said. “We are just chuffed tonight.”

“Everyone has to remember that this is day one. There is going to be enormous growth and development in women’s football, not just in the next few years, but the next 100 years.

“There were girls out there tonight who started with Auskick and had to leave footy around the age of 12, only to come back when they were 17 or 18. All girls, not just my girls, will have a pathway through Auskick now.”

Alisa Camplin, a Collingwood board member, grew up on a street with 15 boys and played footy with them every night.

“I have always loved football, but I never dreamt of being an AFL player,” Camplin said. “It wasn’t a reality, but now it is.”

Carlton fan Billi Jo Wegener stood behind the goals where the old Heatley Stand used to be — and wondered what might if AFLW had been around when she was a kid desperate to emulate her Blues heroes.

“We never thought this could ever happen,” she beamed. “I didn’t play when I was young ... I didn’t start until I was about 16 (with Sunshine YCW). I think to myself, ouch, I wish this had happened 20 years ago.”

Well, it is happening now, and the sky is very much the limit.