Finding strength, community and revolution in footy

There is a revolution on Djaara Country. In Castlemaine, Central Victoria there is a revolution that is leading the way in achieving the dream of creating a world worthy of handing down to the future generation. This revolution is something so deeply special that all should be paying attention to and learning from it.

This revolution is occurring within the vehicle of a Women and Gender-Diverse football club, the Mount Alexander Falcons, a club whose existence wasn’t handed to them, rather it was a space and place demanded for and fought for. Its birth story is documented by inaugural player and film maker, Mitch Nivalis, in ‘Equal the Contest’, winning the Best First Feature Documentary at Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2023.

Creating a safe environment where individuals are accepted, celebrated, seen and valued must be done with vision and purpose. We live in a fast-paced world and one where many are consumed by having a meeting about a meeting. This may be well intentioned, but pause, pause and look at what is happening on Djaara Country, because the learnings from this revolution can be applied to spaces, places, communities across the nation.

The foundation of the Falcons is one of fight, love, justice, inclusivity and fun. And this foundation is fiercely protected and maintained by the club’s board, coaching staff, volunteers and players.

Every player at the Falcons has their own unique journey and story, collectively making us a beautifully unique football team that deeply values the safety and celebration of our connection and unity. 

I had moved to Djaara Country with an aching heart and a weary soul. My arrival to Djaara Country came off the back of experiencing a running attack on Wadawurrung Country, the move necessary for a fresh start and to heal. I thank every one of my lucky stars that the ancestors lifted me up and placed me safely into the revolution and safety of the Falcon’s nest, the community, the family, the football. The healing powers of safe, inclusive communities cannot be measured.

My first season with the Falcons began with a hot summer pre-season which quickly turned into cold winter nights of training. The Falcons nest is lit up by a circle of lights, on one end of the oval is the beauty of Leanganook, and the other end of the oval is in line with the train tracks, with the Vline train flying past the revolution, our revolution.

At my first training session everyone started with gathering in a circle, and players acknowledged that we are training on Aboriginal Land, followed by saying our names and pronouns. My initial thought was they’re doing this to mark the start of the season, but week after week I quickly learnt that this is what we do every time we gather. 

There is this beautiful normality and standard within this club that has you questioning if what you’re experiencing is too good to be true, particularly as a queer, First Nations woman. To feel safe and accepted as both a Gunditjmara woman and a queer woman is something I value deeply, particularly in a regional community.

My public profile is one that is known for being a runner, being an activist, and being outspoken. The piece of me that has gone unnoticed is that I am a Mount Alexander Falcon. I am wrapped in the possum skin of this club, and I am in debt to the healing this club has provided me with. Prior to my first game, I reached out to Cheez, our coach. I told her I have trauma associated with anyone running at me and tackling me and that I was scared but willing to face this fear. Cheez was comforting and supportive, she told me to go at my own pace. There was a moment three or four games into the season where I realised this fear had left my body, mind and spirit and I attest this to every single Falcons player and coach, who loved and held me in this journey.

New players are welcome to join every week, and the welcome can only be described as the feeling of being wrapped in a possum skin cloak, each piece representing one of the players, coaches, board members, volunteers, together welcoming you and guiding you safely on your Falcons journey.

As a queer Blak woman who’s been raised and grown up in regional towns my whole life, I’ve often retreated to the city, where there is strong, loving, fun Blak queer communities, where I can be Blak, queer, safe and happy. It can’t be underestimated what the Falcons are doing, in having this space exist in a regional town, where the intersection of queerness, community and Blakness is palpable. I can be the proud Gunditjmara woman that I am, whilst also being the proud lesbian woman I am, whilst living out bush, where I am the happiest, most grounded version of Sissy.

A lot of the world’s most gut-wrenching problems stem from individuals feeling lost, alone, broken and in search of a sense of belonging. The Mount Alexander Falcons Football Club is doing more than fielding a team of players each week, it is doing more than the drills to advance our footy skills. The club creates an environment for community care and collective healing, it is proving that safe sporting clubs and communities can and do exist, which has the ripple effect of happier, healthier communities and a bloody good time on the football field!

This is life altering. I recall going through the Victims of Crime (VOCAT) process following the assault and my psychiatrist and lawyers asking me what would heal me, I didn’t know how to answer that question. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the Falcons football club would heal me more than anything awarded through the exhausting, long process of victims of crime compensation, proving the vitality of women and gender diverse sporting clubs that are both culturally safe and gender inclusive.

Community care and collective healing for mob in particular is life altering and life saving. Being accepted somewhere where you can be the whole version of you, unapologetically is almost immediately lightening the enormously heavy load we carry. And doing this through a sport such as football, gives us that freedom to be happy, to smile, to receive and give love, care and trust, all of which are required to play a safe, fun game of football.

Women and Gender diverse football clubs and communities are under-valued and under-funded. The impact they have on strengthening communities and healing societies is not understood, this was evident through the Victorian Government’s recent decision to axe The Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR) and the Preventing Violence Through Sport Grants Program.

The Falcons’ vision and revolution struggles to squeeze into the confines of a league less ambitious and less revolutionary, but nevertheless, much like any revolution it continues to carve a way forward, if not for the Falcons to be creating safe sporting communities for women and gender diverse community members, then who? If not for the Falcons to be modelling a world worthy of handing to the next generation in the vehicle of a footy club, then who?

The Falcons stand for safe, fun football on the field. The Falcons fight unapologetically for sporting clubs to be inclusive. The Falcons are actively re-imaging and re-creating what all sporting clubs can be and should be and lead by example on and off the field. To be a player, volunteer, trainer, coach, member of this club isn’t just a footy journey, it is a Falcons journey. It is a revolution.

To the founders of the Mount Alexander Falcons I say thank you, thank you for bringing a revolutionary vision to life. To the coaches, thank you for a historic season, coaching the club so beautifully to make our first finals in Falcons history and guiding the playing group through a particularly hard season. To the volunteers behind the scenes, who ensure the revolution is flowing and the community that backs us, braving freezing conditions to cheer us from the sidelines, thank you. Lastly, but of course not least, to the players, thank you for welcoming me, loving me, laughing with me, being patient with me, inspiring me, for the on field guidance and for always pointing out when my totem flies above us on game day or at training, you’re all the revolution that makes the Falcons, the Falcons.

And to the future Falcons we are yet to meet, I cannot wait for you to arrive at the Falcons nest, where the warmth of the possum skin is waiting for you.