By: Daniel Cencic
Twitter: @DC_EFL
Persistence and perseverance know no failure.
For 15-year-old Reyce Mactier, there has been no truer philosophy in football as the Knox Falcons under-16s girls’ captain becomes the first junior female footballer in EFL history to play 100 games this weekend.
The skipper has enjoyed a fruitful 2017 season to date, booting 10 goals in three matches.
In a journey which began 11 years ago, Mactier began her love for football at just five years of age, starting Auskick at Bayswater then later Wantirna.
It wasn’t long until Mactier took the field for the first time in her first official match, where she would play two seasons of under-9s for the Heathmont Jets before moving on to Ringwood for under-10s where she would enjoy a break-out season.
Mactier took out the Redbacks’ ‘most determined player’ award, before her under-11s year saw her bestowed with the honour of ‘most consistent player’ – all while playing in male-dominated teams and environments.
By her second year of under-11s in 2013, Mactier had established herself as a dynamic player, fierce competitor and well-respected team-mate and was rewarded with the captaincy in a season where she ran second in the best and fairest.
Moving on from the Redbacks was always going to be a tough choice for Mactier, as the club struggled to field numbers in the junior ranks.
It was, however, in 2014 when she would find her current home – the Knox Falcons Junior Football Club.
It was a daunting prospect moving clubs after building up a strong rapport at Ringwood, but again, persistence and perseverance remained with Reyce, for incredible rewards.
Former coach and now friend Stuart McCullough named Mactier vice-captain, as she would clock up game number 50 in her first season with the Falcons, followed by a 2015 season which would see her become a formidable key forward and captain, leading her side to the preliminary final.
Tough decisions and sacrifice to this point had been a constant in Reyce Mactier’s career – but perhaps none tougher than the choice between playing her final year with the boys, knowing that after 2016 in under-14s she could no longer play football with her male counterparts, or make the move into female football.
With the newly-created Deakin University Eastern Region Girls’ Football League, Mactier’s decision to make the move soon became justified, enjoying a successful year of under-16s footy, co-captaining the side.
Remarkably, playing two years out of her age group produced a grand final, winning the under-16 girls’ best and fairest, the League goal-kicking, and coming runner-up in the League best and fairest.
A dominant 2016 season would result in Reyce’s selection in the under-15s EFL interleague team, capping off an already stellar career.
In nine seasons of footy and 11 years’ involvement, Reyce’s football journey serves as an inspiration to both female and male footballers alike.
Stepping into the-then male-dominated football club environment at the age of five began a love for the game which Reyce plans and hopes to take as far as possible.
Persistence and perseverance know no failure, as 100 games for Knox’s Reyce Mactier this weekend proves to the football world.
