Almost 3,500 St Kilda supporters and bayside residents have signed a petition and thrown their support behind the #TeamAngelica campaign to have a St Kilda team in the new National Women’s League (NWL).
The decision on which clubs will receive a license will be made on Wednesday.
CEO, Matt Finnis, said that Saints mascot Angelica was representative of thousands of young female footballers in the bayside who would embrace a St Kilda team and have something more to strive towards.
“We would love an NWL license and know we are in with a chance but, regardless of what happens next week, we are proud of our submission and even more proud that our fans and the bayside community got behind our bid,” he said.
“It was great to see our players, staff and even some of our high profile supporters including Eric Bana, Jane Bunn and Cath Riewoldt lend their support too because a NWL is something that is wanted and long overdue.
Weather presenter Jane Bunn with Angelica in the Channel 7 news studio.
“It was also touching to hear our Captain discuss how his sister would have loved a Saints women’s team when announcing a Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision partnership with Marist Football Club’s first ever girls team in Perth last month – thank you everyone for supporting us.”
Amongst the thousands of signatures left on the #TeamAngelica petition were page after page of comments from people backing a St Kilda team and Finnis said reading them was both uplifting and surprisingly emotional.
“People genuinely want us to have a team – they want their daughters to play for it and their family to support it. Reading this has made me and the club more committed than ever to giving bayside and St Kilda supporting females this opportunity to live out their dream and send the message that they can do anything,” he said.
“The bayside is the engine room of women’s footy and it is growing fast – they deserve a local team in the NWL and St Kilda is the club of the bayside.”
Girls footy players from Our Lady of Sacred Heart march with Angelica.
“One in six females playing ‘footy’ and one in four females playing ‘club’ footy in Greater Melbourne do so in the bayside. Bayside is also home to two of the seven Premier Division teams in the Victorian Women’s Football League and will be crucial to future the success of the NWL.”
Finnis said the St Kilda submission featured a four-stage player pathway plan including placing far greater focus on getting girls aged as young as five into the game to create a critical mass and remove the gaps in playing age groups. It proposed a bayside football hub made up of Moorabbin, Seaford, the Peanut Farm in St Kilda and Trevor Barker Oval which will provide appropriate playing, training and development facilities to grow women’s football. The model also involves true integration with the men’s team including some shared coaching positions, personal development programs and everyone in the department will, ultimately, be reporting into the GM of Football, Jamie Cox.
Peta Searle and Angelica with girls from Mentone Grammer.
State MP Nick Staikos with students from East Bentleigh PS.
St Kilda Sharks star Moana Hope, young Saint Jemma, Game Day MC Emma Davenport and cricket legend Shane Warne.
Members of St Kilda Sharks show off their skills during our Round 9 Legends game.
Saints fan Eric Bana throws his support behind #TeamAngelica
Australian soccer star Steph Catley (right) with Orlando Pride teammate Lianne Sanderson.
"Growing up my first love was AFL and my idol was Lenny Hayes. I wanted to be just like him in every single way. I wanted to play for the St Kilda Football Club. I played AusKick and in the front yard with my brother but that was as far as my AFL pathway allowed me to go because I was a girl. There were no girls leagues so the obvious option was to play soccer. I now play for the national team and love every second of it, but it always makes me think… What if? I don't want to see young girls miss out on following their passion and their dreams just because they're girls. The female footballers of Australia deserve this league and they most definitely deserve to have the option of playing for the mighty Sainters."
– Steph Catley (Australian Matildas, Orlando Pride and Melbourne City)
"Another example of St Kilda FC supporting community diversity and everyone right to belong."
- K.Lee
"As a lifelong Saints fan I would love to see the Saints fielding one of the first-ever teams in the NWL. I played footy with the St Kilda Sharks Reserves as a teenager and absolutely loved it, and would be so happy to see women being able to progress to top-level footy from competitions like the VWFL. Let's make this happen Sainters!"
– C. van Hooft
"As a St Kilda member and the father of a daughter who plays I am thrilled by the clubs proposal. The women in the Bayside down to the Peninsula are passionate participants in our great game and deserve a team to represent in their region. Go team Angelica!"
– J. Cridland
"Because in sport there should be no boundaries - girl power"
– K. Barr
"Every girl should get the chance to represent the club they love. Go Saints!"
– S. Carey
"Fantastic to see my team embarking on this journey, race, nationality, or gender never has and never will be a barrier to love support and friendship, and it's under those banners of unconditional love, that we all come together from many and varied background to express our love for the St Kilda Football Club. The work that saints have done over the recent years especially to show our appreciation of females both within our great club and within the supporter networks has been fantastic to see, I am a proud St Kilda member and I wish us all the best firstly with the #TeamAngelica initiative and with our quest to receive the honour of being one of the first NWL team's in what I am sure will be an engaging, and exciting competition."
– C. Nixon
"Football has always been a genderless sport in my family. If anything the support of football has been carried by women. I inherited my team (St Kilda) from my mother, and her mother, and going to the game has always been a treasured mother-daughter tradition of ours. Seeing women like Peta Searle excel in the sport has been incredible and has made us feel like we really are a part of the club. I'm so proud to be a part of a supporter base that welcomes everyone with open arms and I can't wait to see how well everyone embraces the St Kilda team in the NWL."
- R. Hall
"I am knocked out by the professionalism of the Saints' bid!"
– I. Allen
"I want my three girls to aspire to run on the field not just watch from the sidelines! Carn the saints!"
– S. Reiffel
"The sense of belonging, inclusion and acceptance the St Kilda Football Club has generated in recent years is very special. Having a women's team is a wonderful fit with that."
– J. Jameson
"Who run the world? :)"
– L. Ramadan
