Summary

Placard in the shape of a star, white on one side and orange on the other side. This placard has been inscribed in texta by a young Geelong fan with the words: 'My Star is Mikayla Bowen, My Bro' and pink love hearts. The fan is referencing Geelong player Mikayla Bowen. The reverse side promotes competition sponsor the National Bank. These placards, were distributed to Geelong and Melbourne fans at the AFL Women's competition Melbourne versus Geelong semi-final match played at Princes Park Football Ground, Carlton, 19 Nov, 2023. The placard had been discarded and was collected by the curator at Princes Park Football Ground.

This is part of a group of AFLW paper-based ephemera collected at four matches during the 2023 AFLW Home and Away and Finals series and the Grand Final 2023. The items were either being distributed to fans by club officials, the result of purchase (the tickets and footy records) or found items discarded by fans.

Physical Description

Star shaped card placard with handwritten text onthe white side and printed text on the reverse orange side.

Significance

This item is part of a collection documenting the Australian Football League Women's competition, which was launched on 3 February 2017. This was an event of enormous historical significance - while women have been recorded as playing professional competition Australian Rules football since the early 20th century, and the AFL finally supported the introduction of two demonstration matches (Melbourne and Western Bulldogs) in 2015-16, the 2017 competition marked the first offically recognised and supported competition by the AFL. In 2023, the season commences in September, with 14 rounds including ten home and away matches and four finals.

The Museum's AFLW collection is a work in progress, and includes: footy records (which ceased printed production for home and away seasons in 2022), flyers, buttons, posters, cards, a Western Bulldogs guernsey signed by the Western Bulldogs team in 2017, Pride and Indigenous Round guernseys worn by Richmond and Geelong Football Club (AFLW) players; and a fan banner, images and story of a regionally-based supporter and aspiring AFLW player.

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