Tayla Harris (born 16 April 1997) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

(AFLW) and

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. She previously played football for and .

Early life and amateur career

Harris was born and raised in Brisbane's northern suburbs and began playing competitive football for Aspley at age five. She played in a mixed competition with young girls and boys until 2010. At the age of 15, she began playing senior football for Zillmere in the AFL Queensland Women's League (QAWFL), where she won the league

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award in her first season. In 2017, following a move to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, she began playing in the VFL Women's competition with the St Kilda Sharks. She represented Queensland in the youth girls competition, and is a five time All-Australian. At the age of 17, she was drafted to the representative side as part of the AFL women's exhibition series. She continued to play for the club through 2016. She also played as part of the ' representative team in 2016. She attended primary school at Prince of Peace Lutheran College and high school at Albany Creek State High School.

AFL Women's career

Harris was one of two marquee player signings announced by in anticipation of the league's inaugural 2017 season. She made her league debut in the club's inaugural match, in round 1,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, against at

Casey Fields Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, soccer, tennis, cycling, go ...

. In round 2, she was nominated for the league Rising Star award for a two-goal, twelve disposal and seven mark performance against , and also was named "Player of the Week" by the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

. At the conclusion of two rounds she was ranked equal fourth in the league for total goals scored (two) and first in the league for contested marks (eight). At the end of the season, Harris was listed in the 2017 All-Australian team. Prior to the 2017 AFLW trade period, Harris expressed her desire to be traded to a Victorian club. The trade period started on 15 May. Early talks between Brisbane and faltered; although Carlton offered

Bianca Jakobsson Bianca Jakobsson (born 30 March 1993) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). She previously played for Carlton and Melbourne. AFLW career Carlton Jakobsson was drafted ...

in trade, Brisbane wanted an additional player. also made an offer for Harris. On 25 May 2017, Harris was traded to in a complex trade involving four teams, five players and a draft pick. She played six matches with her new club in 2018 and kicked five goals, tying with

Darcy Vescio Darcy Vescio (born 3 August 1993) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. As a heavily marketed marquee player, Vescio has been referred to as a "household name" in Australia by E ...

to share the club's leading goalkicker award with them. She also claimed All-Australian selection that year, named on the interchange bench. Her 2019 and 2020 seasons were both solid, as she kicked 8 goals in each. She was named in the All-Australian team in 2020 on the interchange bench. 2021 saw Harris down on form, playing 9 games but only kicking 4 goals and averaging under 10 disposals. Harris was involved in controversy in March 2021 after it was reported that she missed part of her training in order to create an instagram post promoting her new documentary. Around May 2021, it was revealed that Harris was looking for the club to double her salary to a total of $150,000, which were reluctant to do. Harris cautioned that she may switch sporting codes back to boxing, where she was successful in the past. It was reported that her relationship with the club had begun to deteriorate. Harris ultimately requested a trade to , and was traded on 8 June.

AFLW statistics

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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Professional boxing record

Online harassment

A picture taken by

AFL Media AFL Media is an Australian sports media company operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) to provide coverage of the league and the sport of Australian rules football. History Established in 2012, AFL Media provides content to AFL.com.au ...

photographer Michael Willson showing Harris kicking for goal during a 2019 match against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

became the target of sexual

Internet trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the int ...

after it was posted on social media by

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. Harris retweeted the photograph with the caption: "Here’s a pic of me at work... think about this before your derogatory comments, animals". Critics of the trolls included fellow AFLW players

Erin Phillips Erin Victoria Phillips (born 19 May 1985) is an Australian rules footballer for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, a radio host, and a former professional basketball player. She played nine seasons in the Wo ...

and

, Geelong player

Patrick Dangerfield Patrick Dangerfield (born 5 April 1990) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Adelaide Football Club. Drafted by Adelaide in 2007, Dangerfi ...

, cyclist Anna Meares, AFLW head of football

Nicole Livingstone Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. Since retiring from swimming Livingstone has had careers as a television sports commentator and media presenter and as a sports administrator. She wa ...

and

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

chief executive

Gillon McLachlan Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou, having previously served as his deputy. In 2022 he announced his resignatio ...

, and federal minister for women

Kelly O'Dwyer Kelly Megan O'Dwyer (born 31 March 1977) is a former Australian politician. She served in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party, and held senior ministerial office from 2015 to 2019. O'Dwyer was a solic ...

. Phillips, Vescio, Meares and O'Dwyer joined the chorus of people condemning Seven's decision to remove the photo, which was perceived as yielding to the trolls. It was later reinstated with an apology. On 11 September 2019, a bronze statue immortalising the image was unveiled in Federation Square Melbourne. On 27 February 2020, Tayla Harris was announced as an ambassador for

Our Watch Our Watch, formerly Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children, is an Australian organisation that exists to help prevent violence against women and their children. Founded in mid-2013 with Natasha Stott Despoja as founding ...

, a national organisation tasked with preventing violence against women and their children.

Personal life

Harris' partner is fellow AFLW player Kodi Jacques.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Tayla 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Brisbane Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Carlton Football Club (AFLW) players All-Australians (AFL Women's) Australian women boxers Middleweight boxers BBC 100 Women Lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBT sportspeople LGBT players of Australian rules football Melbourne Football Club (AFLW) players 21st-century LGBT people