Shannon Campbell’s roots at Maroochydore Football Club run deep.
The story of her family’s connection to the area sounds like a Gang Gajang song. The football field that rose from the cane fields could be the plot for an AFLW version of a Hollywood classic.
Campbell will tomorrow run out onto her own field of dreams, a ground she has been chasing footies around on since she was five years old.
There’s multiple generations of Campbell sweat hydrating the turf that will tomorrow host its first AFLW match when the 2021 AFLW premiers take on Geelong.
The Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex sits on the patch of dirt her grandfather Alfred “Lex” Campbell once toiled over as a well-known sugar farmer in the region.
To borrow an old sporting cliché, Campbell knows every blade of grass on that oval.
Lex, who is now 88 and still owns land at Bli Bli, will be there tomorrow as Campbell’s football journey comes a complete circle. Surrounded by friends and family, Lex will take up position on a wing that wouldn’t look out of place if it one day bore the family name.
As an AFLW premiership player, Campbell is already a Maroochydore Roos club great.
“I played there since I was a junior, I started there when I was seven, so it has been quite a journey for me with Maroochydore,” Campbell said.
“My grandpa actually worked on the land that the AFL fields are now on, so I have a connection to the land there as well as the footy club.
“He was on the cane farms back in the day and had a few farms around that area.
“Maybe one day I’ll get my name there on a wing or something, maybe?”
Kids grow up dream of playing on the big stadiums in front of the huge crowds but Campbell, who kicked the Lions’ first ever goal back in the inaugural AFLW season of 2017 anticipates tomorrow, and the opportunity it brings to inspire the next Sunshine Coast AFLW player, will eventually occupy a lofty position among her career highlights.
“Obviously the premiership is number one and probably always will be,’’ she admitted.
“Kicking the first goal is quite a long way back in memory now but playing in front of my family at home would be right up there, in second spot maybe.
“It’s bloody unreal, back in the day the NEAFL teams and AFL teams have trained or played up there and as an AFLW player now, looking back to when I was an Auskicker at five years old, it is amazing how much our game has grown and it gives those young girls something to aspire to.
“I’m really excited to be able to grow the game on the Coast even more, this is an awesome opportunity to do that.’’
