While many people around the grounds will recognise Maisie Tanner as the player-coach from Balmain’s Grace Martin Trophy team, those at the club see nothing but her loyalty and service to the community.
Words by Liam Cook
A 21-year veteran of the Balmain and District Football Club, Tanner joined at just five years of age and now oversees a host of responsibilities that ensure the club continues to thrive.
Tanner has taken on myriad roles in her time at Balmain; everything from board membership, women’s coordinator, member protection information officer, coordinator of the all-abilities and game leader program, not to mention coaching her own team in the top tier Grace Martin Trophy competition.
Despite the potential burden of carrying so many leadership duties on her plate at just 26 years of age, Tanner still brims with pride and appreciation for her involvement at the club.
“This sport has taught me resilience, confidence, and leadership,” Tanner told Football Canterbury.
“Balmain is inclusive and caters to everyone, regardless of standard, status, or age: no matter who you are. The same smile I get to see from players in the U6s to the O50s is the reason I keep coming back week in and week out.”
The area of Balmain is a reflection of the growth in women’s football and community that Tanner has observed since being a MiniRoo.
With over 1000 female members currently at the club, she is inspired by the upward trajectory and continued promotion of female football and believes the best is still to come.
“It’s great when you’re out and about in the Inner West and see the Balmain colours, you feel a sense of community, a sense of family, even,” she said.
“I hope that my efforts at the club help to inspire even just one young girl to start kicking a ball – or to one day help Balmain produce a Matildas player.”
An international representative would not be a foreign prospect for Tanner, whose uncle, Chris Powell, represented England alongside David Beckham, as well as playing for Charlton, Leicester, and West Ham United.
This family connection is just part of the innate and inescapable connection to the game within a football mad household that propelled Tanner to impart her passion on others.
“My mum started playing at the ripe age of 40 and is still playing 15 years later and I grew up hearing my dad’s footsteps down the hallway in the early hours of the morning sneaking away to watch a Chelsea game.”
Tanner’s dedication to her club has engendered her own personal development.
Arising out of pure enthusiasm for the beautiful game, Tanner has persevered when others would have relented.
“I was forced to put myself out there and become confident if I wanted to keep playing football when my friends stopped playing. So I had to find a team or players that wanted to play and were as passionate as me,” she said.
“I have travelled far and wide to play the sport. My dad and I drove to Cootamundra for a State Cup match one year and after a 5-0 loss the seven hour drive home seemed like an eternity.”
Whilst satiating her passion for the game as a player and administrator, Tanner’s most fulfilling role is the All Abilities ‘All-Star’ coach.
The program provides an opportunity for the Tigers’ junior to reciprocate the joy Balmain has provided her for so many years.
“We have kids aged 6-18 with both intellectual and physical differences and seeing them smile and feel a part of a community is the reason I do it.
“I love making the kids feel welcome and a part of something where they can be themselves and have like-minded and similar people around them. It is something that they all look forward to every week so it is rewarding to be involved in the program.”
Clubs across Australia all benefit from role models who give back to their community, and there are few better exemplars of this than Balmain’s Maisie Tanner.
