WHAT'S the best thing about a Sunday arvo spent in God’s country/the homeland (AKA the Wheatbelt, WA)? Country footy! 

And what makes it so good? Well, besides the hotdogs, it’s gotta be the sense of community - certainly not the quality of the football.

That familiar feeling of home sets in for me when I drive up and over the hill east of Perth, when I’m driving on what city people would call the nice open road even though you get stuck behind semi-trailers most of the way.

For some reason I get half an hour out of the city and the air and sausage rolls become so much fresher - if you know you know (country bakeries are elite).

The local footy is almost always scheduled on a Sunday which is usually considered a day of rest for most people outside of the sporting world. When you live rurally especially, you live and breathe sport because there’s nothing else to do.

Everyone knows Sundays are for watching or playing footy, volunteering and indulging in $5 afternoon tea plates made by the ever faithful ladies committee.

For me I would play netball on a Saturday then Sundays would be a full day of watching local footy. We would drive as far as two hours away to watch our town play, always car-pooling kitted out in team colours ready to absolutely charge. Driving up to the gate of the oppo’s ground would consist of mum telling us kids to duck down in the backseat to avoid paying any more money than we needed to for the carload, kinda like the drive-in movies.

Now that I reflect this was not moral at all because we were meant to be giving back to the local community, but surely two adults and a footy budget was enough giving back. Following the entry debacle, we would park the car as close as possible to the edge of the oval, so you get that front row experience. There were no nosebleed sections at these grounds, we were lucky if there was even a clear boundary line!

I grew up watching the girls play netball at 12pm before league footy started at 2.30pm. My mum would always volunteer to umpire, coach or be involved somehow and there’s no show without punch, so I’d tag along with her, or I’d help too. Water running was my specialty when I was younger, I’d always get the hi-vis on and run water for the footy boys for sometimes two whole games, all for a free lunch and maybe 10 bucks if I was lucky. This was just how it worked, everyone helped.

There were kids as young as 8 on the scoreboard and let me tell you, a lot of the time they needed to revise their six times tables. As for the footy itself, I’d witness first-hand the bone-crunching tackles and fierce white line fever the boys displayed on field when I’d watch them shed blood, sweat and tears to beat their rivals. Thank goodness there was no MRO because no one would be able to field a side the following week.

The saying playing for sheep stations become quite legitimate in the country when I’d see how hard the boys went on the field. Off field though, their camaraderie was second to none and the way everyone would bond post-game over a few choice beverages, singing ‘Beds are Burning’, was certainly a sight to see and a display of true mateship. Everyone at the club got around one another and everyone formed an integral part of making the club feel like a family. This was probably where my love of the game truly began. Little did I know that I would be able to play football at the highest level one day.

Women are now playing country footy all over Australia. I get goosebumps knowing that all the little girls that used to run water can choose to play the game they’ve always loved. It shows growth, in the game, and in the culture of the game and society itself.

So what does country footy mean to me? It’s equal opportunities, it’s familiarity, it’s giving back, it’s helping others, and it’s connection to a whole community. It’s about coming together for the love of one thing regardless of your background, gender, or experience. 

Sport brings people together, that’s the moral of the story. Doesn’t matter if you’re playing or not, what I’ve learnt is that it gives you fulfillment in more ways than one whether that’s volunteering, umpiring, running water or cheering from the sidelines.

It has instilled many values in me, from my mum teaching me what it is to be a woman paving a way in a male-dominated industry, to seeing my friends work the canteen shift or sell raffle tickets at the game, to being able to go to anyone in your town and find a connection and ask for help and receive help because they probably know your uncle’s best friend’s cousin. It’s more than just a game.