IT'S SAFE to say football runs in Bronwyn Gulden's family.
Bronwyn is an assistant coach of the senior side in Sydney's girls youth academy and also coaches at the premier division UNSW-ES Bulldogs in the AFL Sydney women's league.
Eldest child Adam is skipper of the Swans' VFL team, daughter Senna plays under her mother at the Bulldogs, while youngest son Errol has taken the AFL world by storm with a star debut season with Sydney.
The love of footy stems from Victorian-born Bronwyn, who would watch her father play for Bridgewater in the Loddon Valley league but had no option but to "be shoved onto the netball court".
Upon moving to Sydney with her husband, the kids were given a footy to play with fairly early, and when Senna and Errol joined the Maroubra Saints, Gulden put her hand up to help out.
"I fell into the coaching role at junior footy, and just kept going and going. I coached as the kids were playing, both boys and girls, and then had the opportunity to help establish one of the first youth girls teams here in Sydney, and help get that competition started," she told womens.afl.
"Back in [the Swans academy's] inception, our son Adam was just a little bit too old to be part of the inaugural intake, but he was coaching at the academy, so I began to get to know Chris Smith (general manager of the academy) there.
"When Errol joined at under 11s, I got to know a lot of the people from the academy through that. My husband and I have always had a few affiliates with the Swans through friendship and business too, so it just kind of evolved.
"It's eight years of hanging around there and building relationships and always talking to Chris about youth girls and getting them involved in the program. I was really fortunate that when they were included, he rang and said, 'ok, you can stop nagging now,', and he let me come down."
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After years on the sidelines watching her father and children play and coaching herself, Gulden got the opportunity to play for the very first time, filling in for the Bulldogs' reserves team.
"It was a freezing cold Saturday night, like 5pm, the fog was drifting in. They were short of players, so I put my hand up to put on the bench so we didn't have to forfeit," Gulden said.
"I found myself running out onto the field and it was incredible, it was the most fantastic feeling and very emotional. We all have those bucket list items that we dream about. Very emotional, but so much fun, I can't tell you how much fun it was.
"I pestered the coach and she let me play the following week as well, I convinced her there was a lack of numbers on the bench. We went into lockdown after that, so that's the career probably over."
Sydney was one of four clubs recently awarded an AFLW licence for the 2022/23 NAB AFLW season.
"I guess it was just satisfaction (when the announcement was made). I think it's timed really well, I'm glad there was an on-going succession plan, because if they'd gone with all 18 teams, it wouldn't have developed in NSW and Sydney as it should have," Gulden said.
"Just to see the success and to now have a pathway for the girls, through our academy and also through club football, there's two AFLW clubs they can play for if that's the way they want to go."
While Sydney's lockdown has prevented Gulden from watching son Errol live in the second half of the season, she's thrilled with how quickly he's found his feet, having played 16 games (missing five with a foot injury) and set to poll a few votes in the NAB AFL Rising Star.
"If you had have told me when he was drafted that he would have played a game this year, we would have been absolutely rapt. The week he told us that he was playing round one, it was incredible, and it's snowballed from there," she said.
"It's been a bit tricky watching him on tv, but he's living his best life down there (Melbourne) and he assures us he misses us, but I'm not entirely sure. It's fantastic, and he couldn't be in better hands."
