1900 sign petition urging medal honour for late star
“Whether it be a medal, a trophy, a shield, I didn’t mind what it was,” McCarthy told the Geelong Advertiser.
“I had spoken to a few trophy places and I was happy to fund that personally.
“I understood that maybe naming the league best-andfairest would be a big push — that’s what the public wanted — but I was happy to have another award, not in place of but in addition to. I was happy to fund it but they were not even happy to consider that.”
McCarthy said she decided to launch a petition because of the overwhelming love Geelong’s football community had shown her daughter, who not only won a Youth Girls bestand-fairest, but also claimed AFL Barwon’s inaugural under-19 Girls’ league medal.
“I was getting approached not long after Amy’s accident by coaches from other clubs, parents, players that played against Amy, asking me how they could do this (organise a medal in her honour),” McCarthy said.
“A few people have actually said that they felt AFL Barwon would have done it off their own back. But here we are.
“I’m hoping that AFL Barwon will see that the Geelong community, in particular the football community, are the ones that are wanting this award as well.
“It’s not just coming from a grieving mother, far from it, they were the ones that suggested it and I just feel they owe that respect to both upcoming players and to Amy.”
McCarthy added that the introduction of a senior women’s comp in Geelong provided further opportunity for Gorell to be used as an inspiration to aspiring girls.
“I think women’s football and girls’ football, in order for it to take off, they need a role model,” she said.
“Amy was the role model for so many and that was evident at her funeral, there were a thousand-odd people at her funeral. She’s still a role model for them. She was actually called the face of the TAC Cup when she played that.
“To watch her on the field, interacting with her opposing players, was phenomenal. If she accidentally hurt someone, she would hold play up to make sure they were OK and message them after the game.
“She probably would have been playing VFLW with Geelong and she probably would have been playing AFLW this season as well.”