AFLQ community footy writer, Beth Newman, is pulling on the boots this season.
We got a win on the weekend.
I’ve been looking forward to writing that all season.
But even more so, I’d been looking forward to actually having a win all season.
I’d thought about it a bit in the lead-up to our game against Caboolture on the weekend, about what it would be like to get our first competition points and sing the song.
And generally, things tend to be a bit of a letdown.
This was not one of those times.
There were some tense moments through the match especially in the first three quarters.
One particularly noteable incident led to one of the most awkward strapping tape placements I’ve ever had to complete.
Without wanting to go into too much detail, when you’re a girl, you hear a rip and you think your jumper is torn, odds are it may very well not be your jumper.
Once the siren went, it was just complete jubilation.
Girls were taking out the coaches, hugging each other, celebrating and dousing people in Powerade.
As for the song, there was plenty of enthusiasm, though not much articulation, not being able to have SUNS-esque posters with the words on them.
Growing up as a mad footy fan, I’ve sung my team’s song plenty of times, but it’s got nothing on being a part of that winning team huddle.
Click here to see the UQ Red Lionesses’ first ever victory song.
Basically, it was the culmination of months of really hard work and steady improvement from every single girl in the side, and a bit of help from the coaches too.
As well as joy, I personally felt an undercurrent of relief.
It was the first game where we actually had an expectation of being able to win, so to live up to our own hype was a major weight off the shoulders.
But, personally, I was particularly relieved that I hadn’t cost the side the match from one bad decision.
In the third quarter of the match, I had one touch – can’t do much damage with one touch, right?
Well, I managed to get caught one-on-one with one of the best opposition players and directly concede a goal that put them in front at the last break.
It’s pretty hard to pinpoint a worse feeling than thinking you might have cost your side their first ever win.
And that’s the other level to it – this wasn’t just our first win for the season – it was UQ’s first win by its first ever women’s team in history.
There was plenty of chat about us making history all season and much of it in a kind of self-deprecating manner, but it was pretty cool to sit back on Sunday and think that we were a part of the first of something.
Three months ago, most of us couldn’t even kick a footy, and now we have something in common that can never be taken away, and that’s something pretty special.
It might not seem that significant in time, but it’s by far the most significant achievement I’ve had in my own average sporting history, so I’m chalking it up as a win.
