Women play an integral part throughout the AFL, both inside the industry and within the organisations that support it.
In 2011, for the first time, Richmond threw its support behind the Mother’s Day Classic, a fun run which has grown at an exponential rate since it was launched in 1998.
Tiger players Shane Tuck, David Gourdis and Tom Derickx, along with CEO Brendon Gale, attended this year’s Classic, which raised about $2 million for breast cancer research, bringing the overall total to almost $10 million.
The Mother’s Day Classic was spawned from the ‘Women in Super’ group, an arm of one of Richmond’s newest partners, ME Bank.
ME Bank has been the major sponsor of the event since 2005.
Louise Davidson is one of the event’s founders. She lost her mother to breast cancer at the age of 52.
Davidson, the National Chair of the Classic, nursed her mother through the illness and was determined to find a way to raise more money to combat the disease.
“One in nine women are affected by the disease, and a lot of people like to participate because it’s a way for them to deal with it,” Davidson said.
“It’s the breast cancer cause, combined with Mother’s Day, which makes the event so powerful.”
“I think it’s become a tradition for a lot of families to spend Mother’s Day walking or running for a good cause, in a non-competitive environment.”
Davidson helped put together the first Mother’s Day Classic, where 1300 people participated in Melbourne and Sydney.
In 2011, she helped co-ordinate events in 7 Capital cities and 27 regional locations across Australia, which hosted a combined total of 120,000 participants - a record number.
Her three daughters, all keen Richmond supporters, were especially keen to be involved in the event this year.
The Melbourne version of the Mother’s Day Classic attracted a record 40,000 participants.
“The Richmond Football Club was thrilled to be involved in this year’s Mother’s Day Classic, after being invited by our friends at ME Bank,” Gale said.
“I was amazed at the huge support of the event, and the event organisers did a wonderful job of putting it together.”
As the event continues to grow, Davidson and her team will continue to support the involvement of regional and interstate areas.
And, of course, the Tigers will be along for the journey.
