Elated to have played in her first game of the year after foot surgery in September, she says she is “devastated” to have lost the all-important clash against reigning premiers the Bulldogs.
Then, as the conversation turns to an impressive turnout at the Whitten Oval — 8,612 in total — her face changes again to a broad smile.
“This ground is phenomenal,” she says.
“It’s such an amazing atmosphere. I was saying after the game right now that it feels very AFLW-specific, you know?”
I do know. My best attempt — as a fan, as someone on the outer — is to describe it to Hoare as having a “community feel” that attracts a very different kind of crowd to AFL men’s football.
Fans of women’s sport, the broader LGBTIQ community and those interested in gender equity more broadly — these are the people I see drawn to AFLW matches, many of whom would have made the trip to Footscray for their first ever match of Australian rules football on Friday.
“Being different is something we can, we should and we have the right to embrace … there’s calls for it just to be seen as ‘sport’ [as opposed to women’s sport], but there’s a part of me that thinks that women’s sport is so special, and has such advantages over other sports, that it’s a strength that we’re women’s sport.
“What that means is over and above what just ‘sport’ could represent.”
Indeed, it was once again about more than just sport when Collingwood ran onto Victoria Park several hours earlier for the first time in their women’s team’s history.
AFL games ceased at the famous ground in 1999 — to the delight of many an opposition supporter for whom a trip to Lulie Street was loathed and often avoided.
It was in the face of that history that some of those same, and on this occasion, neutral, supporters returned and even joined in the raucous applause that accompanied the Pies’ women’s team on Saturday.
To commemorate the occasion, those in attendance were issued a vintage, souvenir ticket that was reminiscent more of the century in which the ground first opened (the 19th) than the 21st.
And, while it may have taken until late in the fourth quarter for their team to score, it was impossible to ignore the fixated, glowing faces of young girls in the crowd, reminiscent of Michael Willson’s formative picture of the cultural revolution taking place in this country around women’s sport.
