Exhibition of 100 years of WA women’s football held at State Library of WA

Mrs Lenkic began researching the topic after both her daughters made the State team in 2012 and realised she knew nothing about the sport.

‘I kept pushing the girls to play netball but their heart just wasn’t in it, but I didn’t know much about football so I started looking into it,’ Mrs Lenkic said.

‘When I saw games were played in 1915 it really sparked my interest, it looked like a centenary was going to go past with no recognition.’

Mrs Lenkic, along with the help of the WA Football League, State Library and members of the public has slowly started gathering images and memorabilia and is hoping more people will come forward to help tell the story.

She believed a game played at Bassendean Oval in August 1944 involving women from Midland Junction, playing under the banner of East Fremantle and Swan Districts, could hold the key to providing much-needed information about the sport’s early history.

‘We are looking for the women who played, the umpire who was also a state player, Fred Wimbridge, or any of his family members, trophies, umpires, uniforms, team songs, programs, photographs, videos, recordings, medal, trophies anything with a logo on it, but most importantly anything that tells the story of female football,’ she said.

Founder of the WA Women’s Football League and former player Joanne Huggins said it was important to hold such an exhibition to show how the game had grown.

‘This exhibition is important to show how much effort went into making it the competition it is today and showing that women have been interested in the footy for a very long time before women’s lib,’ she said.

The exhibition will be held from May 22 to July 31, next year at the State Library of WA.

For details, email bounce.down2015@gmail.com.