St Albans Spurs midfielder Debbie Lee this weekend has become only the second Victorian women’s footballer to play 300 games. It’s a magic milestone for any footballer but more so for a woman footballer because of the shortened seasons. When Lee started in 1991 Victorian Women’s Football League seasons consisted of 10 games. Even now there are only 15 games in a season. Lee, now 40, has taken 23 years to reach her goal. Give her a medal!
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Make that another one. Lee has won the Helen Lambert Medal for the best player in the VWFL’s premier division five times. She’s twice won the Lisa Hardeman Medal for best on ground in the grand final. She even has two medals named after her: the award for the best first-year player in the competition and the award for the best player at the national carnival. She’s been captain of the state and she’s got a spot in the National Sports Museum.
And that’s not all. Off the field, she’s been on the VWFL executive since her early days as a player and she even served as the competition’s president for eight years, from 2004 to 2012. During that time she said she received no lip from opposition players about favouring the Spurs. “The reality is that I was harder on my club,” she said. “I think people knew that my main intention was to enhance women’s footy.”
Lee developed her love for the game when she was playing with her older brothers, Phillip and Anthony, in their street matches in Parkstone Avenue, Pascoe Vale. “It was neighbourhood footy,” she said. “That’s where I learnt my resilience and toughness. If you were on the bitumen you had to get back up.”
She played basketball at the highest level from the age of 15, but footy was her first love. After reading in the local paper about a women’s club in East Brunswick, she took herself off to training. She was 17. Her lasting memory from her first game is being crunched the first time she was tackled. “It made me realise I was playing with the big girls now,” she said.
At the end of that season she won the first of her grand final medals and was a member of a premiership team. When East Brunswick folded in 1993 she started a new club, Sunshine YCW, at the age of 19. When the men’s club lost interest in the women’s club she helped to form the St Albans Spurs, who share the ground at Kings Park with the St Albans men’s club. Her favourite moment as a footballer has been leading the Spurs to the premiership in 2004. “I didn’t really appreciate the first one,” she said. “But the Spurs flag was the result of a lot of hard work.”
Lee’s football hero as a child was Essendon rover Tony Buhagiar, who played like a jack in the box. When asked where she plays Lee said “ruck-rover”, betraying her distant beginnings. She’s not renowned for her skill – “definitely not”. “I’m more of a physical, in-and-under player,” she said. Her toughest opponents have been two taggers, Darebin Falcons’ Sarah Hammond and Anna Brown from Albion.
Lee said the women’s game was considered irrelevant until 10 years ago. “But we became relevant through sheer numbers and growth.” The AFL recognised this growth when it appointed a VWFL operations manager, Dean Warren. The women’s competition now has five senior divisions and a youth competition. Women’s footy is the fastest growth area in the code, and Lee has played a huge part in that growth.
After working as the Western Bulldogs’ community manager for four years, she has had the same role with Melbourne for five years. She has been the driving force behind the annual women’s match that is played as a curtain-raiser to the Bulldogs and Melbourne AFL match. On the day of this interview she was going to Doveton Secondary College with the Darebin Falcons’ champion midfielder Daisy Pearce to read to preps as part of Melbourne’s literacy program.
THE WATCHMAN
10 minutes to midnight for... former head athletics coach Eric Hollingsworth A reminder to all that counting to 10 is always a good idea before issuing a press release.
LOCAL HERO
Four years ago Melbourne's Blake Caparello gave up his job as a carpenter and devoted himself to the dream of winning a light heavyweight boxing world title. Today he gets to hammer home the dream when he fights World Boxing Organisation champion Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev in Atlantic City. The undefeated Russian has knocked out 22 of his 24 victims, but Caparello has other ideas saying: "A win here will leave me holding all of the cards."
WHAT THEY SHOULD DO...
... is immediately outlaw any kicking backwards and such deliberate acts should not be rewarded with another meaningless statistic. With statistics now dominating all aspects of the game, such tactics are an insult to the paying public, who crave the brave contest and not the cowardly and predictable strategy of avoiding a contest. The fans are paying a premium, they should not be assailed with this unsporting activity. - CHRISTOPHER K HOLDSTOCK, Glenroy
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