It may only be for a little while, but Kate Handley has walked into her own piece of sporting history.
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Less than three weeks after the inaugural women’s AFL grand final and less than three seasons since taking up the sport herself, Handley has been appointed president of long-standing Australian rules club Newcastle City.
For the next couple of months the Adamstown 28-year-old takes charge at the Blues with regular president Daniel Gardner overseas and in doing so she becomes the first female in the club’s top job.
“To be the first female president at Newcastle City is an amazing achievement,” she said.
“There’s 135 years of history at this club so I’m pretty honoured to take on that role.”
Handley’s not the first for Black Diamond AFL competition, with Nadene McBride currently looking after the Singleton Roosters, but she’s just one of two women in that position at the moment.
And it’s something Handley believes represents the shift in female participation across the board at all levels of the sport in the Hunter.
“I think it’s really good for women’s football as a whole,” she said.
“Since the women’s competition started here [2015], clubs all around the region have been so accommodating in getting women involved in the game.
“Roles in coaching, umpiring and on committees, which is a real positive for the sport. For me, taking on the presidency is really important and represents all of the women in the area.”
Handley, who grew up between Mudgee and Bathurst in a small town called Kandos about 200 kilometres due west of Newcastle, arrived in the region the same year the Knights won their first premiership in 1997.
But after many winters following rugby league, playing netball, touch football and then union, the PE teacher at Irrawang High School arrived at No.1 Sportsground for training one night early in 2015 and “hasn’t looked back since”.
Handley, who also coaches a junior team, helped the Blues claim the flag in her debut season and last year was City’s leading goal scorer with 29 majors.
The Blues have entered two of the record 12 teams in the 2017 women’s competition.
Meanwhile, six players from Newcastle have been selected in the NSW-ACT youth girl’s squad to contest a northern academy series at Coffs Harbour next weekend.
Arizona Cross, Orana Young, Rosie Ronan-Yates, Eleanore Ford, Sabrina Kilousis and Mattise Coram-Parker will vie for a spot in the state team to play nationals later in the year.
