Tara Murray
Women’s football icon Debbie Lee hopes her induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame will pave the way for other women to follow in her footsteps.
Lee became the first female inducted in the hall of fame, joining greats of all aspects of the game.
It’s recognition of someone who has done just about everything in women’s football.
Lee played 302 Victorian Women’s Football League games, claiming the league best and fairest award five times.
She was a three-time premiership player and represented Victoria in 16 games.
Off field, she’s been coach, committee member, club and league president, member of the AFL Women’s Advisory Group and is currently Western Bulldogs women’s football general manager.
Lee said being inducted into the hall of fame was nice recognition.
“I was surprised actually, I didn’t expect it,” she said.
“It was never on the radar with lots of things to think about and put our energy into. It never crossed my mind to be honest,
“The nice thing is I think that women’s football has been inducted into the hall of fame, which is really nice.
“What it will do moving forward, it will allow other women to progress and be involved in the hall of fame which is really important.”
Despite all the hard times and challenges along the way, Lee said the journey to getting the AFLW had been a fun one.
She said she always knew there was a bright future for the women’s game.
She said being able to work in the sport and be involved off field was so rewarding and an opportunity to invest in people.
“I always had confidence and I understood who these women were,” she said. “There was never a time I waived on that.
“I knew they could play the game. I knew their passion for the game and it was a matter of time for it to actually evolve and we could really present it to the decision makers.
“We were able to do that in the exhibition series. I knew once a greater community was exposed to it, I was really confident that we would be fine.”
Lee’s impact on female football in Melbourne’s west can’t be underestimated.
In 1993 she formed the Sunshine YCW Spurs, the first female team in Melbourne’s west. It would later become the St Albans Spurs and now known as the VU Spurs, who are based behind the university in Footscray.
“It was certainly challenging,” she said of forming a club.
“It was difficult to recruit… People weren’t really forthcoming around playing football and you weren’t patted in the back if your focus was to play football.”
Lee said the Spurs first premiership in 2004 was special.
She said driving past football fields and seeing young girls and women kicking the footy was amazing.
“Driving around the western suburbs and go past Kinder Smith Reserve and seeing people kicking the footy and its young girls, their mums and sisters and that’s the great beauty of it.
“That’s the measure of success. Young girls and women now feel comfortable kicking the footy publicly which i never experienced in my early days.”
Lee may be the first female in the hall of fame, but knows she doesn’t want to be the only one.
“There are so many women out there not only players and coaches, administrators and media, women are represented across a number of different facets.”
