Inspirational Jacintha crowned July's Harvey Norman Female Contribution Award winner

The women and girls in remote and regional North Queensland Indigenous communities are enjoying the opportunities that come from playing rugby league, thanks to the hard work and care of Jacintha McAvoy-Geia.

McAvoy-Geia, now aligned with Valleys Diehards in Brisbane, helped reintroduce women’s football to the Townsville All Blacks carnival in 2017 for the first time in seven years with the help of Bindal Sharks president Jenny Pryor.

Four years later she, for the first time, provided rugby league for girls at the carnival in 2021 with the assistance of Queensland Maroons and North Queensland Cowboys legend Matty Bowen.

Many of the players were from Palm Island.

It is this commitment to the game which has seen McAvoy-Geia take out  Queensland Rugby League's Harvey Norman Female Contribution Award for July, earning the nod in the same week as the Hostplus Cup's Harvey Norman Women in League Round.

Ever since her efforts in 2017, there has been women’s football at the All Blacks carnival, with many players signing with clubs in the region.

McAvoy-Geia contacted a friend in the town of Bowen who put together an open women’s team called "Bowen Stingers" to play against her team, "Aja Girlz", back in 2017.

“Aja Girlz ended up taking it out. It was a team from the Townsville and Palm Island region,” McAvoy-Geia said.

“Bowen Stingers versed us twice and we ended up playing for a trophy named for my late grandmother-in-law Eva Geia, who was a big influence on Palm Island back in the day at All Blacks Carnivals.

“After we did that the Murri Carnival was taken to Townsville in 2018.”

McAvoy-Geia, who has family members on Palm Island, last year turned her attention to providing pathways for girls.

“My cousin works at the PCYC on Palm Island and we linked up with an ambulance officer there,” McAvoy-Geia said.

“There was nothing on the island for young girls so I reached out to a few sponsors to see if we could start up rugby league for the girls to encourage them.

“I linked up with Matty Bowen and we both put in sides and we got a lot of the girls from Palm Island and girls that were at boarding school came back to play in the Townsville All Blacks carnival.”

The Palm Island Barracudettes girls' outfit played against Bowen’s team, MB1, for the first time (both teams pictured in main image).

The Palm Island women and girls both ran out with ribbons on their jersey, raising awareness about domestic violence and suicide prevention issues.

“The main reason for putting those teams in was to raise awareness and provide hope for the young girls in those communities that don’t get opportunities,” McAvoy-Geia said.

“There are a lot of mental health issues going on in communities. Rugby league helped me through mine so that is why I put this forward to the girls to come together as a team and create an environment where they can share what they are going through. We try and get through the issues we face in Indigenous communities together as one.”

After playing in the carnival many girls signed up with their schools and clubs to play this year in the Townsville district.

“Some of the girls just finished playing in the Michael Morgan Cup,” McAvoy-Geia said.

“A girl who played in the halves from Palm Island last year, Tameira Robertson-Wotton, had never played before and she took it up this year for club and ended up getting selected for Charters Towers in the Michael Morgan Cup. I wanted to give the girls hope and the confidence to keep going.”

McAvoy-Geia has teamed up with Bowen again to organise an under 15s team consisting of juniors from the Torres Strait, Yarrabah, Cairns, Townsville, Palm Island and Cherbourg communities to play at the Murri Carnival in Redcliffe later this year.

“It will be a new experience for them and give them exposure to opportunities we have in South East Queensland,” McAvoy-Geia said.

The team will be called "Murri Gummaz", with ‘gummaz’ a Torres Strait Island term for women.

It is extraordinary, but much of what McAvoy-Geia has achieved was done while living in Canberra and working in government.

"The reason I do what I do is because I want to give back to the community," McAvoy-Geia said.

"I grew up a lot in Townsville and moved away after I finished school to get an education. I have a job and I want to give back.

"I have been relocated to Brisbane now. I am at Valleys Diehards. I volunteer, coach and play also.”

McAvoy-Geia is coach of the Valleys Under 14 Division 2 side, is on the Indigenous committee and plays as a prop for the open women. Her three daughters play in the under 16s, 14s and 10s, so it is a family affair. 

"The girls that I coached this year finished third on the ladder, a team of girls who didn't know how to play football before,” she said.

“That is what I want to do, teach girls to play rugby league and enjoy it.

“I don’t let my girls say they are teammates. On that field in training and game day they are sisters, and sisters, we are always there for one another."