Monika Beer (née Werner)
Born in January 1958, Monika Werner was on the verge of her 16th birthday and attending Watsonia High School when the first clubs embarked upon the journey of forming the Victorian Women's Soccer Association (VWSA) in 1973. By the following year, from never having kicked a ball, Werner had starred in goals with Greensborough and represented Victoria in the inaugural Australian Women's Soccer Association (AWSA) National Championships.
Werner quickly established herself as one of the premier goalkeepers in the country. She won a hat-trick of VWSA League Championships with Greensborough between 1975 and 1977, playing with a who's who of Victorian football pioneers including Shona Bass, Andrea Martin, Betty Hoar and Janette Melvin. She stepped down a division the following season to join Richmond Alemannia, returning to her German roots and helping the newly formed Women's team achieve promotion in a near flawless season, conceding just five goals in an unbeaten campaign.
The step down in class didn't affect her representative claims, selected for Victoria in her fifth consecutive National Championships in August 1978, before her greatest honour came in the form of a national call-up a few months later. Australia were invited to participate in the World Invitational Tournament in Taiwan in October, and Werner played in the opening two matches against Denmark and Thailand before injury curtailed her involvement for the remainder of the event. Classified as non-A Internationals, it would take almost half a century before her efforts were formally recognised by Football Australia, awarded an un-numbered cap at the Friendly International between Australia and Uzbekistan at Docklands in February 2024.
Werner's representative career was ultimately cut short by knee injuries sustained while playing, the time off needed to recover in direct conflict with her work commitments, one of the common factors faced by women in the VWSA era. A move to South Melbourne was met with some level of success, as she helped the club to two Runner-up Championship finishes against her all-conquering former club in Greensborough.
Post playing-career, Werner continued her involvement in the game, coaching locally with Eltham Soccer Club and assisting a number of representative teams after the VWSA had amalgamated with the Victorian Soccer Federation.
Almost quarter-of-a-century later, Monika Beer was formally inducted into the Football Victoria Hall of Fame in 2024, joining a number of her pioneering contemporaries who have left an indelible legacy on the game.