At Melton Secondary College, there is such a thing as girl power.
The junior girls rugby team won last month’s state championship, much to the surprise of the players.
School sports co-ordinator Gerard Darcy said the under-14 girls formed a team only a few weeks before the competition started.
None of them expected to get to the finals.
“I was on the phone to them when they played the finals matches and I asked them how the match went,” Mr Darcy said.
“All I got was an earful of screaming girls. And when they came back to school, they were just screaming their little heads off.”
Even though the girls were in “disbelief” they had made it so far, Mr Darcy said they shouldn’t have been surprised.
“We’ve had four state titles this year, and they’ve all been girls – it’s not as though
it’s an accident,” he said. “I’m a strong believer that girls don’t get anywhere near the opportunities boys do, so I’ve been encouraging our girls teams as much as possible.”
The school has now started thinking more seriously about girls’ rugby after the senior team won state championships earlier this year.
“We thought the junior girls would be pushed aside if they’d get tired, but it was the other teams who got tired.”
