MELBOURNE has appointed Debbie Lee as its Women’s Football Operations Manager ahead of its inaugural National Women’s League season.

Lee, who currently also works as the club’s Community Manager, has driven Melbourne’s women’s   football program since its inception in 2013.

General manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said the appointment was recognition for Lee’s outstanding work in the field.

“We’re in a very fortunate position to have someone of Debbie’s experience at our football club, who has been involved in women’s football for 20 years at club level and league level,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Debbie has been involved in building our women’s program for the past four years.

“With all that experience we’re very pleased that she’s accepted the role of Women’s Football Operations Manager for the inaugural season.”

Lee has been a longstanding figure in women’s football, both on and off the field.

She played 302 games in the Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL), founded women’s football club VU Western Spurs (formerly Sunshine YCW Spurs/St Albans Spurs) and was VWFL president from 2004 until 2012.

Lee actively pushed for AFL Women’s Exhibition Games at the Melbourne Football Club and has driven the club’s women’s football program since 2013.

This year, she was included in the AFL Women’s Football Advisory Group, which makes recommendations for the inaugural National Women’s League.

Lee said she was excited for the new opportunity at Melbourne.

“It’s fantastic that the opportunity has presented itself and I’m really fortunate to work for a club that supports women’s football in a genuine and meaningful way,” she told melbournefc.com.au.

“I’ve been on the journey since inception and the club’s been able to provide a platform for me to drive the women’s strategy and be able to contribute to the game in a meaningful way.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge – it’s an exciting opportunity for myself personally and it’s great that the Melbourne Football Club has given me the opportunity to fulfil this long-term ambition.”

Lee will be based in Melbourne’s football department and will work closely with Mahoney to further develop the women’s football program.

“It’s about list builds and appointment of coaches and building a football department in conjunction with Josh Mahoney and Andrew Nichol,” she said.

“It’s making sure we get the right people and culture in the organisation to ensure that we provide a really good, elite learning environment.”

Mahoney said he was looking forward to fully integrating women’s football into the club’s football department.

“Through Debbie’s experience and the work that a number of people involved with our football club have done over the past four years, we feel like we are in a very strong position to deliver a women’s program which will give our draftees the best opportunity to develop and perform in the upcoming season,” he said.

“Debbie will be based in our football department and we see this as a very important part of our program as we integrate our women’s football into our football department, allowing staff from both our women’s and men’s programs to work together and share learnings.

“We see Debbie’s appointment as a key pillar in our women’s program and will be looking to fill other roles over the coming months.”

Mahoney said the process of appointing women’s team staff and coaches would commence shortly, with certain roles potentially also including work within the men’s team structure.

“In terms of coaching structure, we will run a thorough process, which will begin by advertising all the roles within our women’s coaching structure this week,” he said.

“Within our women’s structure, there will be opportunities for some roles to also be involved in our men’s program and the senior coaching role will potentially be one of these.

“If the quality of the people that we have already received enquiries from since we were granted a licence is any indication of the people that will be involved in our women’s structure, it adds confidence to our ability to deliver the best program we can for our women’s team players.”

Lee said there would be a thorough selection process to ensure the club secured the best available talent for its women’s team coaching structure.

“We’ll go through a really diligent process and we’ll open it up to the market,” she said.

“There are key focuses that we’re looking for that are going to mirror what we’re looking for in our men’s team.

“We’re looking for individuals with versatility, good football content and strong relationship building skills.

 “I think it’s a really exciting opportunity for people to get involved in the Melbourne Football Club.”