Thank you, football. Thanks for making some people better. For making some people understand. For making a difference. And please don't be too concerned about those that you can't reach. For their dye must have been cast long ago.
It was the likes of Michael Long, Nicky Winmar and Mick "Magic" McLean that made the kids from the all-white, alright neighbourhoods see that slurs about hair colour, weight or a big nose were very different to a generation that had been persecuted and oppressed not because of a big nose or hair colour – that would be just silly – but because they were Aboriginal.
![Lily Mithen: a rising star of women's football.](/web/20170212041156im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/9/5/g/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu95jl.png/1486733015268.jpg)
It drove to the core of their existence and their daily fight to be recognised as equal, as worthy when in fact they were superior in so many cases. It was a message that the AFL taught its fans and helped make life in Australia better.
Now it's the turn of Daisy Pearce, Katie Brennan, Darcy Vescio and co. And the message is just as important. Thankfully this washed-up media type was a bit quicker on the uptake. Mainly because of the privilege of watching a small girl grow up to be a strong lady in the environment of the male bastion. And surviving. In fact, thriving. Not without hardships though. Lily Mithen, my 18-year-old Melbourne Demon daughter and her teammates and opponents in this competition are to be admired for all they've suffered.
It must be everyone's hope that was inspired by last weekend's incredibly successful AFLW launch that the stars of the new show in town can make football fans better, by changing attitudes. And in an amazing recent revelation, it's not just men who live in the domain of the male bastion.
Over the most stunning of weekends a week ago, it was disturbing to learn of the attitude from both males and females that AFLW represented equality gone mad. This wasn't "equal" because the "sheilas" don't play against the men. This was "rubbish football" and what was the point. And the baffling attitude of a woman who works in the field of corporate community engagement that "it should just be left to the men".
The battle of the modern woman to demand the equal opportunities is summed up in the AFLW and should make everyone wiser to women's rights. Surely it's not about females beating or even being as good as the men at some things. It's about being given the same platform. It's about being acknowledged on the same level. It's about pushing to be the best they can be. More than 50,000 turned up on the weekend at four different venues. Television ratings were equivalent to AFL matches because league administrators gave women the platform they deserve.
Plenty of people get it. Plenty didn't but they do now. Equal opportunity. It's not hard. Equal attitudes. Yeah, that sounds good … as long as there's not an old stagers boxing match on interstate where the boys can be boys. But enough has been said on that.
To read Facebook last weekend was to see the delusions of many. "I'm all for this women's footy thing but it's hardly as good as the men's so why have it?" Here's an idea. For all those that don't see the worthiness, start your own MySpace page. You belong in another era.
For all those who believe equal opportunity is a great thing, for all those who learned on the weekend that equal opportunity is a great thing and for all those who are starting to think equal opportunity might be a great thing … see you at the footy on the weekend. For the rest of you, get busy on MySpace. You might find a dinosaur to listen.
Anthony Mithen is a former sports reporter and father of Melbourne Demons player Lily Mithen.
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