AFLW star Libby Birch is moving the goal posts for Australian girls, releasing the first children’s book about female footballers.
The Maribyrnong local’s great-grandfather played for AFL club St Kilda so she grew up supporting the Saints, but she still overlooked footy when it came to taking up a sport.
“I was a competitive little kid,” Birch said of her childhood in Ascot Vale.
“I remember my dad saying ‘you can’t play footy because there’s no elite level for girls’.
“So I fell in love with netball.
“I could actually see women playing on the bigger stage. That made it real for me.
“If I knew I could play football at the highest level…”
Writing Libby’s Footy Adventures is one way Birch is working to change this narrative for future generations.
A friend tried to buy a picture book for a footy-loving girl back in 2023 but could only find stories featuring male players, so Birch set about spotlighting a female footy star.
“I’ve done a mountain of work to get this over the line and it’s all for the kids and for the sport,” she said.
“Girls deserve to see themselves in stories where they’re not just participating, but leading, thriving, and being celebrated.”
Birch said footy might become a lifelong passion or career for some kids.
“For others, it may simply be a joyful, grounding part of childhood – a place where they feel safe, free, and connected to others,” she said.
“That’s just as valuable.
“I wanted to write a story that honoured all of those pathways.”
Birch worked closely with illustrator Robin Tatlow-Lord to shape not just how the book looked, but how it felt.
“Every young girl or woman’s body type is their own and has their own strength and power,” she said.
“In the men’s comp, everyone looks the same. In W, you’ve got so many shapes and sizes and they all do incredibly amazing things on the football field.
“That’s what I wanted to highlight in the illustrations.
“You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest, you just have to be you.”
Birch’s talent on the netball court took her to the Victorian and Australian institutes of sport, and caught the eye of former AFLW player and current coach Daisy Pearce in 2016.
Birch had never even kicked a footy but eventually joined Pearce at her local club, the Darebin Falcons, to give the sport a go.
“I was in awe of what these amazing footy players had done and what they’d continued to push for even though there was no elite level,” she said.
“They fought for something they couldn’t even see.
“I had to learn from scratch.
“Today, we’ve got all these young girls that can have a full pathway into the AFLW.
“I’m really excited about where W can go going forward.”
The 27-year-old hasn’t missed a game since the inaugural season and has won three premierships with three different clubs.
“It’s been a wild ride. I’ve loved every minute of it,” she said.
The physiotherapist will play for North Melbourne in the 2025 season, which kicks off on 14 August.
Libby’s Footy Adventures is available from 29 July.
