Debbie Lee | |
Fullname: | Deborah Lee |
Club1: | East Brunswick Scorpions |
Years1: | 1991–1992 |
Games Goals1: | ? (?) |
Club2: | St Albans Spurs |
Years2: | 1993–2014 |
Games Goals2: | 200+ (?) |
Games Goalstotal: | 304 (?) |
Coachyears1: | ????– |
Coachclub1: | St Albans Spurs |
Coachyears2: | 2017 |
Coachclub2: | Representative Victoria |
Coachgames Wins2: | 1 (1–0–0) |
Coachstatsend: | 2017 |
Sooteam1: | Victoria |
Soogames Goals1: | 15 (?) |
Deborah "Debbie" Lee (born 1974) is a former Australian rules football player and coach.
She has campaigned for recognition of women's Australian rules football in Australia, giving up a WNBL career to focus on developing the sport.[1]
She was later appointed president of the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL).
Apart from being the president of the VWFL, she played for the St Albans Spurs. She first played in 1990 with the East Brunswick Scorpions before forming her own club in 1992, the Spurs. Hall won the Helen Lambert Medal as the Victorian women's competition best and fairest five times and was an All-Australian named player six times.[2]
Lee worked as the head of the Melbourne Football Club's AFL Women's operations in 2017 before leaving to take up the same role with the in 2018. She was at the same time appointed as the club's VFLW coach for the 2018 season.[3] A key initiative of Lee's were the Melbourne-Western Bulldogs exhibition matches that ultimately paved the way for the formation of the AFLW.[4]
Lee was the first-ever female inductee to the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2021 for her playing excellence and for being the driving force for women's AFL.