The Werribee Bears are busy doing away with out-dated notions about rugby league.
The Bears are proud of their all-inclusive nature, offering both contact and non-contact choices for men, women, children and masters players.
Bears first-year president Jarrod Buchanan says defiance of rugby league cliches is fundamental to the club.
“When people think of rugby league, it’s all big and bash and that you have to be a big person to play it, but that’s not the case at all,” he said. “The beauty with our sport is we do have modified versions of the game.”
Werribee is serious about its commitment to female sport.
The Bears have both non-contact tag and contact versions for women to play, while their junior tag teams are popular among girls.
The club’s membership is currently 27 per cent female; one of Buchanan’s aims as president is to further increase those numbers.
A female president might not be far off, with Tiahnee Paterson promoted to the vice-president position this year. The Bears have also broken the mould by featuring their female team as the main game attraction on a Saturday.
Buchanan’s first meeting with NRL Victoria executives saw him put in a request to flip-flop the male and female game times, so that prime time for the men was followed by the women getting the limelight.
“Against the Altona Roosters, the local derby, the females had the main game at 4pm and the atmosphere was unbelievable,” Buchanan said. “The amount of members and people that hung around to watch was great.
“Our senior men’s team did a tunnel for our senior women to run out.
“It was such an amazing atmosphere and a really proud moment in the club.”
Werribee is the defending NRL Victoria men’s first-grade champion.
While the club is proud to have climbed to the top of the mountain, it is the players’ willingness to help the juniors coming through the ranks that will stand the club in good stead for many years to come.
“Yes, our senior men’s and women’s are the pinnacle of the club and our club will always look after those players, but it’s just as important, or more important, that they are seen to help develop the club,” Buchanan said.
“How they do that is to run our academies at cubs age group. Some of them have stepped up to coach the juniors, which is fantastic –that side of things is exciting.”
The Bears will hold a free community barbecue tonight (Wednesday) from 5.30pm at their Haines Drive Reserve home.
Two Melbourne Storm players will be in attendance.
The Bears want to attract newcomers to the club or people who just want to know more about the club or the sport.
“We put pamphlets out to the wider community and said come on down for a free barbecue, meet the teams and find out what we’re all about,” Buchanan said.
“Instead of seeing us taking over the roads on a Saturday with all of our cars, come and have a look at a game that you might not know a lot about.
“Come down and have a chat about the club and a bit of fun.”
