As the AFLW prepares to kick off its 10th season with Carlton hosting Collingwood on Thursday night, the footy world has been reflecting on the wild night in 2017 that started it all.
Collingwood took on Carlton in the AFLW for the first time ever, with a stunning lockout crowd of 24,500 fans packing into Ikon Park to witness the historic moment.
‘The whole thing came around really quickly,’ Collingwood player Brit Bonnici told ABC.
‘We got told it [the competition] was happening in 2020, then we got told it’s happening in 2017 (in 2016). And so everything just happened all at once, and then all of a sudden, it’s game day.
‘Our preseason didn’t go for a long period of time. There was no real system or structure or any of that. It was very much bringing a group of girls together and then trying to get them to learn how to play together.
‘And then all of a sudden, in a click of a finger, it was game day.’
Brittany Bonnici of the Magpies and Darcy Vescio of the Blues have reflected on the wild scenes during and after the very first AFLW match
Darcy Vescio (pictured) says she was shocked by the noise of the crowd at Ikon Park
Bonnici, who was 18 at the time, was stunned by how many people turned up to watch the match.
‘That was really crazy because before that moment, you’d play in front of your mum, your dad, your siblings, maybe they would come or a friend would maybe come, but that was all.
‘Then all of a sudden we ran out and we’re like, “hang on, people are actually here”.
‘We stood around in a circle before we put our guernseys on and I remember in that moment, having that real bubbling feeling that I get on game day.
‘Then we ran out and it was like, “Where did all these extra people just come from?” Everyone had just filled the stadium.’
The crowd was indeed bigger than anybody could have guessed, with hundreds turned away at the gates on the night.
Carlton player Darcy Vescio says she remembers the tremendous noise of the crowd and all the excited faces.
‘Everywhere you looked, I just remember seeing skin,’ she told The Age.
So many fans showed up for the match that security ended up having to turn some away
The match cemented the birth of women’s footy in Australia
Carlton ended up beating Collingwood in the inaugural match 7.4 (46) to 1.5 (11)
‘People were so tightly packed in, it was incredible.
‘It was a game of footy, but it meant so much to so many people, and you could feel that emotion throughout the stadium.
‘It wasn’t just Carlton and Collingwood people there. It was more than that. It was people who wanted to see AFLW and who have wanted it for so long, and who maybe never thought they would get to see the day.’
The Blues ended up running away winners at full-time, 7.4 (46) to 1.5 (11).
The match shattered expectations and the two teams did a lap of honour as fans asked for photos with the players.
The event was capped by a wild afterparty that raged into the early hours.
‘I remember we went back to Gab Pound’s. She was having a house party and we just danced … I think I went to bed at like 5.30am or something like that,’ Vescio said.
‘Because I could not sleep. I could not believe that that just happened. I had a press conference at like 10am the next morning. I remember just being like, ‘Well, this is my life now … this is how I live’.’
Collingwood finished last in 2024 with a 1-10 record, while Carlton (4-7) also struggled on the way to a 14th-placed finish.
The Blues did at least get bragging rights over Collingwood last year, and will be aiming to dish out another dose of pain on Thursday night.
‘We want to beat the Pies,’ Carlton coach Mathew Buck said.
‘You always like to beat Collingwood, there’s no doubt about that – across the whole football club, men’s and women’s programs, whether it’s VFL or AFL.
‘It was a nice close game last year, with a kick from Dayna Finn that put us back in front to ultimately win the game, so they’ve been close in the past and I think it might be close again.’
