Rosa Harrold (née Vloedmans)
A pioneer in the most unheralded of disciplines, Rosa Vloedmans can rightly be considered one of the trailblazers of Women’s football in Victoria.
The daughter of Dutch migrants, Vloedmans was one of eleven children in a family passionate about football. The family were synonymous with the Boronia Soccer Club, where Rosa would eventually hold Committee and Team Manager roles with the club, as well as Knox Park later on in her career.
But Vloedmans' initial foray into football was different to that of her brothers, as she followed a path into officiating, becoming the first woman (only a teenager at the time) to pick up a whistle and referee matches in metropolitan Melbourne.
Quite what inspired Rosa to become a match official is largely the result of one of her brothers, who suggested he wanted to become a referee. Rosa was inspired to take up the challenge - "I'll be a referee before you" - and with few opportunities for women to play the game, she quickly earned a reputation as an up-and-coming match official in the lower levels of the Victorian Junior leagues.
By 1972, Rosa’s accreditation as a referee saw her officiate Junior Boys and Men’s District League fixtures, and she was the appointed referee in the Doveton vs Bayswater match played as a curtain-raiser to Victoria vs Cruzerio in July 1973, the first ever women’s match played at Olympic Park, a key driver in the eventual formation of the Victorian Women’s Soccer Association later that year.
Her performance in that match was observed by long-serving referee and Allsport Weekly journalist George Yelland.
Official referee, Rosa Vloedmans controlled the game with the dignity and ability we have come to expect.
While official records can neither confirm or deny such a claim, newspaper reports of the time suggest that Vloedmans was indeed Victoria's (and Australia's) first accredited match official, and her efforts in taking the whistle in matches involving Men and Boys, not to mention pioneering Women, are a testimony to her drive and ambition to subvert the norms of the era.
The legacy of Rosa Vloedmans impact is best summed up by her daughter Kathleen Harrold.
My mother didn't just open doors for me, she blazed a trail for generations to come. Her journey reminds us that progress is built on the shoulders of pioneers like her.
Rosa Harrold passed away in 2012, but her legacy lives on as a pioneer of the game.