Women's captain departs football club after men's offensive Silly Saturday costumes

A women's senior football captain has stepped away from her local club after photos of the senior men's leadership team were posted online during their "Silly Saturday" post-season celebrations.

In the photos, the captain of the men's senior team at Box Hill North Football Club (BHNFC) was dressed as a schoolgirl being sexually assaulted by a St Kilda AFL player.

In another, the deputy vice captain was dressed in full body black face with a large penis attached to the costume. This photo was left on Instagram for over three months.

Genna Krienke, 25, said she immediately brought the costume of the AFL player to the club's attention back in August 2025, but was disappointed by the lack of response over the following four months.

"When I first saw it I was outraged and disgusted," Krienke said.

"I could not believe that he was dressing up as an outfit of a young girl who had made allegations of sexual assault against very powerful people in society — and that was what the captain, who leads the team, was wearing."

She said after an initial meeting with the president and secretary — a few days after she first raised the issue — she did not hear back for a month and a half.

She initiated another meeting mid-October, when she informed the club of the blackface photo and was told nothing had happened regarding the first photo.

It was not until January 2026 that she was informed they were going to take action, and only after the media had reached out to them.

The club said in a statement to the ABC it "sincerely apologises for any offence caused following the players end-of-season gathering".

"Certain costumes and associated social media posts were inappropriate and do not

reflect our values or the inclusive environment we strive to provide," the statement read.

"To be clear, the club strongly condemns this behaviour and is taking the matter extremely seriously."

Krienke said the coach of the senior men's team was also at the event and had not raised the issue with the club or done anything about it.

Former BHNFC women's player Velvet Micale, 25, who was still involved around the club in a social capacity last year, said she was horrified by the photos and lack of apology from the men's players.

"Everyone's just devastated and in disbelief that this is happening," Micale said.

"Then there's no accountability. I think that's the big problem as well. I mean, I was horrified because we had an under-18 player and that's what they're mimicking, someone her age being assaulted. It's unfunny. It's wrong."

Micale said she knew of about five other women's players who were considering leaving the club following the incident.

'This behaviour is unacceptable'

Box Hill North has now elevated the matter to its governing body, the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), which in turn has advised AFL Victoria and sought its feedback on next steps, including education or reprimands.

The club is awaiting advice for the committee to consider and finalise its position.

"Our volunteer committee is committed to ensuring our club is a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone," BHNFC said in its statement.

"The club is committed to strengthening education, reinforcing our code of conduct, and continuing to review our policies and practices. We remain focused on learning from this experience and fostering a culture built on respect, accountability, and

inclusion."

Representatives also emailed Krienke to say they were updating club processes, so an incident of a similar nature would not happen again.

This involved updating its code of conduct; requiring all future player registrations to read and acknowledge the acceptance of code of conduct; a new club disciplinary policy to be drafted and all future functions, gatherings or events to be sanctioned by the committee moving forward.

The club also reiterated it did not support any "Mad Monday" or "Silly Saturday" events.

"It felt as though me complaining about this and bringing it to their attention wasn't serious enough for any action to occur," said Krienke, who wanted to see an immediate investigation into the behaviour.

"It took an external media company to reach out for them to finally get that player to take down the picture [of blackface] and to bring it to VAFA's attention."

She added that the women's team's former coach also brought the matter to the attention of the club and advocated on behalf of players.

Krienke refuted that the timing of the incident, in the off-season, delayed a response, as the matter was brought to AFL Victoria as soon as media reached out to the club, which was also during the off-season.

Krienke said that as the captain of the women's team and a leader within the club, she had a responsibility to demonstrate leadership and to stand up not only for herself, but her teammates as well.

"That meant bringing this behaviour to the club's attention, continuing to push for it to be taken seriously and adequately addressed, and ultimately making the decision to leave the club," she said.

"Leaving was deliberate, it was a way of making clear that this behaviour is unacceptable, and of showing others that it is okay to refuse to stand by or tolerate conduct like this."

A wider problem

Krienke said she told the president the fact there were multiple problematic photos indicated a wider club issue, especially as those involved were in the leadership team "who set the behaviour and the culture at the club".

She also believed this type of behaviour from men's players was not an outlier or exclusive to one club.

Last year, ABC reported 30 players from Kyneton Football and Netball Club's (KFNC) women's team split from the club following claims of inequitable treatment and disrespect. KFNC denies allegations and maintains it has always been as inclusive as possible.

Within that story, women and gender diverse players from around Victoria claimed that poor treatment, inequitable access to resources and a lack of support from their football clubs was widespread.

Krienke said she left her old club in Melbourne before BHNFC with 20 other women's players in part due to misogyny, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.

"It's definitely something that occurs at most footy clubs and unfortunately this behaviour is usually locker room talk," Krienke said.

"But [in this case] to see it done so publicly and posted on social media, the level of planning that went into it, where he came up with this idea of a costume, went out and purchased it, and then he decided to post it on social media from a club event, was really scary."

She said more education was needed so people could understand the consequences of making jokes about sexual assault, given violence against women is so prevalent.

"I think we're seeing the real life implications of jokes around sexual assault and sexual harassment and footy club culture with the Tom Silvagni incident and the power dynamic there," Krienke said.

"If we don't have that education, then players aren't going to call each other out, they're not going to hold each other accountable and they're not going to think about their behaviour and their actions before doing it."

The players involved via the club have been contacted for comment.

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