SUNDAY afternoon. Grey and blowing. I head off to the A.H. Capp Reserve by Merri Creek, Preston, to watch some footy.

The game has just started. The shrill voices of women footballers, and the dozens of supporters who sit rugged up and huddled together, reverberate around the ground, off the houses and the electricity towers on the creekside: "You've got to want it, Uni".

I ask who's playing. Darebin, which hasn't been beaten since the first week of the 2006 finals, is playing its traditional rival Melbourne University, which beat it to win the flag in 2005.

Uni has just slotted a major to hit the front and, on the small ground, it is desperate to clear the footy from the centre. My eye is drawn to the tall blonde ruckwoman. "Up there, Irish," the crowd yells. And she sprints at the ball-up, bringing her feet together like a volleyballer, before launching herself up and into her opponent. "Good job, Irish," the supporters yell, and the game is in motion.

The women are hard at the footy, throwing themselves in like their honour is on the line. Mainly because it is. Footy is footy, when it means something to you, and the Uni girls look determined to cause an upset.

It's old-fashioned footy with old-fashioned footy types. Clarkie is the racehorse. She has the tip-toe stride of an elite sprinter. The wing is hers. She's also a top tennis player. Shieldsy runs in straight lines. Emma Phillips is the Mew-like centre half-back. Her look-away handball to the skipper, Denchy (who wears No. 23) is all class.

On the other half-back, flank the C-Bomb, Cecilia McIntosh, makes space. She's nippy and strong. She has come to footy late, three shoulder reconstructions ending her career as a javelin thrower. She won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Jess Cameron provides a target at centre half-forward. She's an all-rounder in the Australian under-21 cricket side. But her leggies are not required today. She takes a couple of beaut marks, one where she has the sit and comes over the top. And then she hoofs a well-timed drop punt that sails through from 40 metres. (She kicks six for the afternoon).

These are members of a quiet, unheralded club: the women's sports fraternity.

Irish seems to be at the heart of things; like she's the one who'd take the mike and belt out Mustang Sally. She stands in packs wrestling for the footy, and when it's hers, turns and charges like a second-rower at Lansdowne Road. She gets the handball away.

Irish, whose real name is Laura Corrigan, has only played this season. A teacher from Milltown in County Cavan in Ireland, she has been backpacking in Australia. She was recruited from the women's Gaelic football competition in Melbourne (yes, there are half a dozen clubs). She's learning the game. But she can take a mark. She's coming back to play next season ("for sure").

The crowd is drinking beer and Bourbon. One woman is analysing a failed romantic dinner. "Would you cook lamb shanks again?" her mate asks. "Not for a hot date," she says, (now) knowingly.

The interchange players have blue dressing gowns, but don't always wear them. One yells: "Give her a touch of St Pat, Irish." Irish battles with Darebin's first ruck Anna Schwager, who has a decade of experience behind her. They lean into each other at boundary throw in and ball-ups, and charge at each other in the middle.

Anna is the Shaun Rehn. She got into footy when she decided her school, Princes Hill Secondary College, needed a girls' footy team. So she organised one herself.

Irish is the character. She was one of 30 women chosen from hundreds of applicants for the Irish Gaelic football reality television show The Underdogs, which ended with a match against the undefeated All-Ireland champions in Cork.

It's tight. Irish helps clear the scrimmages in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Some strong leads are honoured and Uni kicks truly. A couple of goals up. But Darebin again fight back. Mo Hope, a 21-year-old of Maori heritage, is unstoppable when the ball comes in quickly. She has the goal sense of Paul Medhurst, and a similar do (she kicks six as well).

At three-quarter-time, the women are focused and good-humoured. It is one of the few things that seems a little different from a blokes' game. The huddle doesn't have that earnest grimness, but it is equally committed to winning.

Again, Uni's enthusiasm allows it to get a goal up. Irish gets onto a massive drop punt that beats the pack. Clarkie flashes on to it and is clear. She has a Gabelich bounce, patting the Sherrin, willing it back. She has it again but her kick to full-forward is cleared.

The class and experience of Darebin is the key factor. Schwager gets on top. The premier kicks the last goals of the match to win 11.10 to 10.6. The Uni players never drop their heads. Irish has given her all.

Footy is about the skills and about the contest, wherever it is played. This was real footy.

www.vwfl.org.au