ROAR

On February 4, 2017 a stadium overflowed as fans were turned away after the gates had to be locked at a sporting event that changed Australia forever.    In this sixth and final episode of ROAR Sam Lane takes listeners inside AFLW’s opening night, re-living the audible, visual and tangible power of that monumental competition launch game.  You’ll hear the passion and emo...

An AFL women’s league had arrived at last, but did this spell equality for women? Not by a long stretch.    In this fifth episode of ROAR Sam Lane digs into the growing pains, and shockwaves, catalysed by  the AFLW’s debut season: the unpaid hours for players, coaches and support staff, the missing sanitary bins, and the instantly iconic ‘Erin Phillips kiss’...

From ball size, to player pay and the strategy behind the AFLW logo’s colour scheme, everything was on the whiteboard.   In this fourth episode of ROAR Sam Lane uncovers compelling detail about the AFL’s radical reinvention as it built a new-wave competition for women and girls from scratch — rewriting established norms and convention. Who re-wrote the rules? Who brough...

When a new AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan, asked aloud, ‘ Why couldn’t an AFL women’s league kick off before 2020?' , he set a chain reaction in motion.  This episode of ROAR pinpoints the moment the AFLW leapt from reverie to reality, and spotlights the people who made it happen.   You’ll hear from Josh Vanderloo, Dorothy Hisgrove, Linda Dessau and others who rec...

The fight for women’s footy began long before the monumental launch match of the AFL Women’s league.  In this opening episode, Sam Lane introduces the trailblazers who challenged Australia’s most powerful sporting institution to make it happen. From pioneers Debbie Lee, Sam Mostyn, Jan Cooper, and Chyloe Kurdas to the courageous whistleblower Jane Hollman, who exposed sexism...

Why did Australia’s most popular and powerful sporting code take so long to see value in women and girls playing footy?  In this second episode of ROAR Sam Lane revisits the revolution that reshaped the AFL from the inside out. Hear trailblazers Debbie Lee, Michelle Cowan, Jan Cooper and Chyloe Kurdas recount confronting episodes of sexism, homophobia and exclusion that they experienced...

The remarkable Australian story of a group of football pioneers, and visionaries, who changed the game for women and girls in sport - on and off field.  February 3, 2017 marked a red-letter day in Australia with women playing the first ever Australian Rules football match for Australian Football League premiership points.   The milestone was more than a century in the making. ...