"There was no room to park another vehicle, there were people everywhere."
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"It was the biggest crowd I've ever seen down there."
It was a Sunday afternoon in 1955 when Judith Poumako played her first football match for Nullawarre ladies.
They faced Nirranda South ladies at Nirranda Recreation Reserve.
Listen to Judith Poumako and Merle Dalton share stories on this week's Main Break podcast:
It had been quite the build up for Poumako who was 11 years old.
"I was worried about the first one I played," she said.
Poumako had just started at Warrnambool High School.
"We had morning assembly every Monday and the principal started talking about how he'd heard there was going to be a ladies football match next Sunday," she said.
"And I thought 'uh-oh this looks like trouble'.
"He said '(that's) most unlady-like, (women) should not be participating' etc."
When she got home that day she explained to her father, Jack Wallace, that the principal wasn't keen on girls playing football.
Poumako asked her Dad if she should play and he gave the go-ahead.
"I thought if Dad says it's going to be all right, it will be all right," she said.
"I never worried about it, I went and played on the next Sunday."
There was another school assembly on Monday morning.
"I went and I was so worried and he (the principal) never mentioned it," she said with a laugh.
"He never said a word so I spent the whole week worrying about nothing."
Some would be surprised to hear women's football existed in the south-west as far back as at least the 1950s.
Poumako doesn't know if female football was played in the region before she started but she is keen to find out.
"I had never heard of it and Mum and Dad never mentioned it," she said.
Poumako and friends like Merle Dalton are calling on anyone with information about the history of women's footy in the south-west to come forward.
They have photographs of the Nullawarre and Nirranda South ladies teams from 1955.
Dalton is in the Nirranda South ladies team photo but she explained she didn't play in the match.
Her neighbour, one of the participants, roped her in as they needed some back-up players.
"I didn't play but I was there on the day as a back-up," she said.
"All day, I was watching and thinking 'I really hope I don't have to play, I don't know the rules or anything."
Dalton highlighted the fundraising at matches, a crucial feature.
"I remember thinking it was a great day and you sort of knew everyone that was there," she said.
"I think people went not only to watch the footy but to support the hospital because that's what we were raising funds for."
One of the photographs highlights 150 pounds went towards the Warrnambool Base Hospital.
As Poumako explained there wasn't an organised women's competition but rather one-off charity matches. She said they were held about once a year.
The Nullawarre and Nirranda South clash was also held as a standalone match and wasn't a curtain-raiser for another contest.
Games weren't always played at the same venue as Poumako recalled playing four games all up, including at Friendly Societies' Park and Port Campbell.
She was a handy footballer too and has a trophy to prove it. It provided a funny moment when the family had a visitor one day.
"He and Dad were in the kitchen talking and he spotted this little football trophy on the mantelpiece," she said.
"He said 'oh, I didn't know Mervyn (Poumako's brother) played football. And Dad said 'oh no, he never did'."
Jack explained it was his daughter's footy trophy.
She was awarded best on ground for one of her performances.
Poumako is keen to see what information will come now.
"I think a lot of people will come out of the woodwork so to speak and have information I don't remember," she said.
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