ZOE ROBINSON was the first full-time employee of the Port Adelaide Football Club back in 1965 - a trailblazer who believed women could do whatever they wanted in life.
56 years on, her granddaughter Chloe Robinson thinks nobody would be happier to see the club enter the AFLW.
Port Adelaide has made its pitch to the AFL Commission to enter the competition in 2022, and will find out if it is successful next month.
Chloe Robinson says while women have always played a big part in the success at Alberton, the club has come a long way since her grandmother first started working there.
“Zoe was the secretary to the General Manager for over 23 years and she did really anything that needed to be done in the club. No job was too big or too small. She really helped with the day-to-day running of the club,” Ms Robinson said.
“When she interviewed for the job… the club wasn’t the professional organisation it is today so they weren’t really set up for employees and I remember her telling me after she interviewed for the job she asked, ‘well where will I sit?’ And they said, ‘Oh, I don’t know’ and ran down to the changerooms to get a chair and set that up for her.
“She was an employee of the club for 23 years but she was always involved in the club for her whole life. By the time I was born she had retired but the club was still a huge part of her life. She would be at the club every day and she still helped prepare the annual reports for the club and the minutes and volunteering with the club.
“The club became like her family. She built lots of long-lasting relationships with the players and the other people involved at the club.”
Zoe Robinson worked under Bob McLean, Ron Taylor and Ian McKenzie and was made a life member of the club before retiring in 1988 after its 28th premiership.
Yet, her loyalty never wavered. She continued to volunteer in numerous roles and remained a passionate Port Adelaide person until her death aged 94 in 2014.
And, before her passing, she made sure her family shared her passion.
The club’s AFLW bid has made Chloe Robinson reflect on her grandmother’s legacy and how proud she would be to one day see women running out in a Port Adelaide guernsey.
“Port Adelaide is not just a club; it is like a family. And (Zoe) really felt that and lived and breathed that. So having the AFLW part of the family gives all the women of Port Adelaide the opportunity to play for Port and put on the Port guernsey. It would just be a really special thing,” Ms Robinson said.
“I remember coming to a come and try day out on Alberton when I was four years old and it was all the Port players out there doing handball competitions and Zoe had encouraged me to come along.
“I was the only girl out there on the field and I think I ended up winning the handball competition, but to think now there’d be so many girls out there and knowing that they can go forward and make the AFLW, that’s just awesome and really just something that Zoe would be incredibly proud of.
“She always thought women could do whatever they want and she’d be really proud to see an AFLW team.”
Port Adelaide’s desire for an AFLW licence could become a reality on Monday 9 August, when the AFL Commission decides on which clubs to include in the expanded competition for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
It has Jenny Williams excited, but also slightly jealous of the current generation.
From a family synonymous with the Port Adelaide Football Club, Williams watched on as her father Fos and three brothers, Mark, Anthony and Stephen played and coached a combined 1349 games and played a part in 21 premierships. Her one chance to represent Port Adelaide came in a one-off women’s Showdown against Adelaide in 2004, which was televised live on Fox Footy.
An incredible athlete in her own right, the push for an AFLW licence has given Williams a reason to reflect on the massive contribution made by women to the Port Adelaide Football Club, starting with her mother Von – a life member of the club.
“When dad came to Port Adelaide, he brought mum with him,” she explained. “And mum was probably one of the most energetic and uplifting people you could want to have.
“Mum was a country woman and she had such great joy about her and so players would actually feel like dad cared about them but so did mum, and when we talk about it being a family club, that was probably the reason why it felt so much like a family.
“I’m lucky enough to have been able to come to this oval, sat in the stands with a whole lot of women who got to know each other, supported each other so when the men were having success on the field, half the reason was because the women were getting on really well and aiding the success off the field.”
Port Adelaide is confident of bringing that history of success to the AFLW.
Williams will be waiting eagerly for the AFL Commission’s expansion announcement, and admits she might have mixed feelings if the result is positive.
“Let’s be honest, I’m going to be jealous because… I can now see there’s a pathway and that women have a right not only to be playing and training at Alberton Oval, but being as great as they possibly can be,” she explained.
“It’s the opportunity. That for the first time there’s going to be a Port Adelaide women’s team playing in the highest level of the land.
“It’s not only coming onto the field; It’s then joining in the tradition of having your name when you’ve played 100 games for Port Adelaide on a locker and imagine 50 or 40 years ago for me to have done that and to have been under one of my brothers’ or my dad’s name. It would have been the most amazing thing.
“That is going to happen for someone, they are going to get to run out and they are going to get to say I am great, I am here and I am going to be one of those people that’s going to be legendary at Port Adelaide.”
