World Footy News

Article courtesy of Anthony Nolan of the Tyne Tees Tigers

The old saying that “Aussie Rules is a man’s game with no rules” was well and truly kicked over the boundary line by Newcastle based Aussie Rules team Tyne Tees Tigers ARFC when they held a taster session for women in the area at their Shieldfield training base.
 
A total of eighteen women fronted for the taster session, run by the club on Saturday. Ageing from 13 through to a few 30+ year olds (a women never reveals her age I’ve found!) and displaying skills that led one male player at the club to ask “Do the girls qualify to play in our team?”
 

The skill level was excellent right across the board and the girls really took to both the training drills and the scratch match that was played at the end of training. None of these girls had previously played Aussie Rules however a large portion of the girls came across from the Northumbria University Women’s Gaelic Football team. The taster session came about from an enquiry from Lucy Kavanagh towards the end of 2013 and as a consequence of the success the Tigers will now be holding regular training for the girls every Saturday at 1pm at City, Stadium, Shieldfield.

Ian Baxter, Tyne Tees Tigers ARFC Club President told us, “We hope to establish the first women’s Aussie Rules Club in England. There’s a women’s team based in Glasgow and women feature at various tournaments around the UK & Europe, but establishing the first women’s team in England would go a long way to showing how keen we are to develop the game.”
 
Aussie Rules in England is governed by AFL England. If you’re not in the North-East but want to get involved visit www.aflengland.org. and seek out your local team.
 
Tyne Tees Tigers ARFC hold training every Saturday at City Stadium for men (12 noon) and women (1pm). The training session is open to anyone wanting to have a go at Australian Rules Football. For more information, visit their website http://www.tyneteestigers.co.uk or email tyneteestigers@hotmail.co.uk