Nominate That Woman

It's time our Hall of Fame reflected the whole story of Tasmanian football.

Like many around me, when I saw the inaugural Football Tasmania Hall of Fame announced last year, I had two immediate thoughts.

The first was congratulations.

The recipients were all worthy. Among them was my husband, Ken Morton. I couldn't have been prouder.

Ken's contribution to Tasmanian football spans more than five decades as a player, coach and developer of thousands of young footballers. His induction was richly deserved, and as a family we were incredibly proud to see him recognised.

I also want to acknowledge Matthew Rhodes, whose advocacy and determination were instrumental in making the Hall of Fame a reality. Preserving the stories of those who built our game is something football should have done years ago, and Matthew deserves enormous credit for seeing it through.

My second thought was this.

Where were the women?

I simply couldn't believe that, after more than a century of organised football in Tasmania, there weren't more women whose contribution was worthy of Hall of Fame recognition.

I've since heard that one woman may have been nominated but declined the honour. If that's the case, I respect that decision completely.

But it also made me ask another question.

Surely there were other women.

Or were there remarkable women whose stories were never put forward?

I almost didn't write this article.

Not because I don't believe what I'm about to say, but because I knew some people would immediately assume it was really about me. That somehow this was my way of saying, "Nominate me."

I wrestled with whether to leave it unwritten.

Then I realised something.

If I stayed silent because of what people might think, I'd also be staying silent about the many women whose contribution to football deserves to be recognised.

So this isn't about me.

It's about them.

Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, let me be equally clear.

I have no idea who was nominated. I don't know what discussions took place around the selection table. It may well be that very few women were nominated.

But perhaps that's exactly the issue.

Why Aren't More Women Being Nominated?

Across Australia, women receive fewer honours than men. Those responsible for the Order of Australia have publicly acknowledged one of the reasons. Women are nominated less often.

In recent years, around 62 per cent of nominations for the Order of Australia have been for men. More interestingly, both men and women have tended to nominate men more often than women.

I don't know whether Football Tasmania faces the same challenge.

But I do know this.

Over the past two decades I've had the privilege of visiting clubs all over Tasmania. I've sat in cold committee rooms, stood on muddy sidelines, worked with associations and watched football in every corner of our state.

Along the way I've met some extraordinary women.

Not women looking for recognition. Quite the opposite.

Women who simply got on with the job because the game needed them.

I've met women who have devoted twenty, thirty and even forty years to our game.

Women who have played.

Women who have coached.

Women who have refereed.

Women who have run clubs.

Women who have led associations.

Women who have organised competitions.

Women who have built junior football.

Women who have balanced budgets, written grant applications, found sponsors, answered thousands of emails, organised rosters, welcomed new families and quietly held clubs together when no one else would.

Many of them have quietly shaped our game in ways that deserve to be remembered.

Too often, that work is described as "helping out."

It isn't.

It's leadership.

It's governance.

It's football.

Too often, football honours naturally gravitate towards the people we watched every Saturday afternoon.

The goalscorers.

The captains.

The coaches.

And they absolutely deserve to be celebrated.

But football greatness should never be judged solely by what happened on the pitch.

Football is greater than that.

It is built by players.

Coaches.

Referees.

Administrators.

Committee members.

Parents.

Volunteers.

Groundskeepers.

Registrars.

Treasurers.

Canteen managers.

The people who establish clubs.

The people who develop players.

The people who fight for better facilities.

The people who organise competitions.

The people who quietly create opportunities for others.

Without them, there is no game to celebrate.

Every great player stood on the shoulders of someone whose name rarely appeared in the headlines.

Sometimes those shoulders belonged to a woman.

If we genuinely want our Hall of Fame to tell the story of football in Tasmania, then it must tell the whole story.

Not just the story of the men who built the game.

The story of the women who built it too.

That isn't about lowering standards.

It's about recognising excellence wherever we find it.

There are women whose contribution unquestionably meets the Hall of Fame standard.

The question isn't whether they exist.

The question is whether we are nominating them.

Because honours cannot recognise the people whose names never appear on a nomination form.

The Hall of Fame Belongs to All of Us

Football Tasmania Chief Executive Officer Tony Pignata recently said there are "plenty more trailblazers and loyal servants of the football community that deserve to be recognised."

I couldn't agree more.

My hope is that among those trailblazers and loyal servants are the many remarkable women whose contribution has too often gone unnoticed.

Football Tasmania has now opened nominations for the 2026 Hall of Fame.

Community members are invited to nominate deserving individuals by outlining their contribution and impact, with nominations assessed by a panel drawn from the Tasmanian football community. Nominations close at 5.00pm on Thursday, 23 July.

A Challenge

When you finish reading this article, I want you to do one thing.

Think of one woman.

Just one.

One woman whose contribution has genuinely shaped your club, your association or football in Tasmania.

Not someone who simply volunteered.

Someone who led.

Someone who built.

Someone whose influence is still being felt today.

Tell her story.

Write the nomination.

Don't assume someone else will do it.

History remembers the names we choose to record.

Let's make sure we're recording the whole history of Tasmanian football.

Football Tasmania has opened the door.

Now it's our turn.

Let's not let another year go by asking where the women were.

Let's make sure they're nominated.

Nominate that woman.