World Footy News

Mike McFarlane tells the story of his dad and his cousin playing kick to kick for hours down in Port Melbourne. Nothing out of the ordinary there, until he hits you with the news that the cousin was none other than Bob Skilton: three time Brownlow Medallist, South Melbourne superstar and legend of the game. It is now easier to sense that those Skilton genes have something to do with this remarkable story out of British Columbia, Canada.

“Bob Skilton is my second cousin and grew up with my father in Port Melbourne. My dad often told us stories of going to the park with Bob to kick footies for hours at a time. We have met him a few times and I think he is proud that relatives of his have had some success in footy even though it is in a different country. My daughter, wife and I are huge Swans fans and this is not only because they wear the Canadian colors, red and white but also because of our proud family connection to the Swans!”

That lineage has just produced another great feat with the selection of Hanna McFarlane, the daughter of Mike (and that would be niece of Bob) to represent Canada in the Northern Lights women’s national team in the upcoming Parallel Cup against the USA Freedom.



This achievement follows on directly from Mike’s own performances in his younger days. “I learned my footy while living in Melbourne from 1981-84. I played for the Port Melbourne Colts for two and a half seasons winning one premiership. When the Vancouver Cougars began in 2001 I started playing again at the age of 40 and was selected to play for the Northwind at the Atlantic Alliance Cup in London, England, in 2001 and the first International Cup in 2002 when I was 41.”

“I retired from the national team after the International Cup and started to focus on coaching. I created the NDJAFL in 2003 and it has grown to be one of the largest junior competitions outside of Australia. In 2007 I formed the Junior National Team known as the Wolfpack and took 2 teams in 2008 and 2011 on tours of Australia.”

“As for Hanna, she began playing footy in 2004 at the age of 9. It was the first sport she had ever played. She did not get real serious about it until three years ago when she gave up dance. Hanna has worked extremely hard and has shown steady improvement in all of her skills and fitness.”

“Last year she was first selected to the Northern Lights in Columbus but we had already planned a trip to Sweden to visit her family. She was extremely disappointed and made me promise not to plan any vacation for the summer in case she was selected again. Starting in October she took extra skills and fitness sessions to improve her chances.”

“Hanna had a great season in our U18 age group of the NDJAFL, winning the McFarlane Medal as the B & F winner and also winning the Laura Szendrei Memorial Scholarship for graduating NDJAFL players. She is very excited about this opportunity and is hoping to help set herself up as a player to be selected for the International Cup in 2014.”

The achievements of Hanna, and of Mike before that, certainly set up an interesting question. It is very likely that they have achieved the first ever father/daughter combination to represent their country in Australian Rules. Is this the case? Maybe a reader or two may unearth another combination somewhere, but at this stage it appears that the McFarlane’s have produced a footballing double act not seen before in Aussie Rules circles.

Congratulations must go to Hanna on her selection. Dad is also proud of his daughter’s efforts, and can be justifiably proud of the whole family. Mike is also entitled to look back on his own career with pride, especially now that it dovetails so beautifully with that of Hanna.

Who would have thought that Mike’s dad and Bob Skilton kicking a ball around in Port Melbourne would have one day led to this.

Then again, we are talking about one of the greats of our game, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at all.