Show caption Melissa Etheridge has been on an Australian tour and found the time to take in an AFL game at the MCG. Photograph: Don Arnold/WireImage AFL misses another trick as Melissa Etheridge delivers goodwill in spades Nicole Hayes It is impossible to measure the depth of publicity the singer brought so it is perplexing the AFL did not seem to rate it Tue 10 Apr 2018 03.29 BST Share on Facebook

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This is a story about the power of social media, and how a handful of fans of music and footy brought their two loves together, and made magic happen. It’s also a story about a missed opportunity.

Last week, during Melissa Etheridge’s Australian tour, she was struggling to stay awake to avoid jet lag. In her Byron Bay hotel, careful not to wake her wife, she turned on the TV and stumbled on GWS playing Collingwood in round two of the AFL. As a huge sports fan, she was transfixed.

So she did what any contemporary popular culture icon would do, she tweeted about it. “And here I am jet lagged and needing to say awake!! Wife fell asleep… I am watching Australian football… what the..?”

She kept watching. “Ok...I enjoyed the ‘Footy’ game (Aussies love to put ‘y’ on the end of everything!) evidently the ‘Pies’ lost to the ‘Giants’ I did start to understand it! Gnarly game with no helmets or pads or even mouth guards! Just need to stay awake for 2 more hours...”

She then tweeted that she was hooked. The response among her Australian fans was rapid-fire. Hundreds of retweets, replies and shares with explanations of the rules, clarifications of AFL slang and terminology, pleas by fans to support their club.

Watching this unfold, the all-female AFL podcast team The Outer Sanctum (of which I am a member) offered to take Etheridge to a game. Arguably having no idea what she was agreeing to, she said yes. She was particularly excited to hear that women played AFL at an elite level.

Things escalated. When Leanne Menard, a local music publicist, AFLW fan and listener of The Outer Sanctum saw the Twitter chat, she approached The Outer Sanctum to invite players and AFLW diehards to a series of meet-and-greets with the musician. Suddenly Etheridge was tweeting photos of herself with Adelaide Crows star Erin Phillips, and was appearing on mainstream media, including Fox Footy’s AFL360, declaring her love for the game, and her admiration for the women who have smashed through the sorts of barriers a gay woman in rock and roll knows all too well. When Etheridge finally made it to Melbourne, a large group of local AFLW and VFLW champions and advocates, on-field and off-field, gathered pre-concert to meet the rockstar and talk to her about her new love.

Somehow, we have just escorted Melissa Etheridge to her first ever #AFL game. What a night!!! #AFLBluesPies Thank you @metheridge! pic.twitter.com/odzZC4ealN — theoutersanctum (@outersanctum01) April 6, 2018

But there was more. Via Twitter, the Carlton Cheersquad had invited her to come to the MCG match pre-concert. Marngrook Footy Show’s Shelley Ware worked her magic with Carlton and arranged to escort Etheridge, her wife Linda, and tour manager, Steve, to the game to watch the first quarter in the Carlton Cheersquad. Shelley and The Outer Sanctum left the pre-concert meeting to head across the pedestrian bridge with the Etheridge crew, who were flimsily disguised in baseball caps and sunglasses, to make the trek to the MCG.

Along the way, Etheridge asked questions about the game, the ‘G, and its history. Once inserted into the Cheersquad, she proceeded to cheer and yell, while Carlton and Collingwood put on some (admittedly) scrappy, but watchable football, accentuated by what was a typically rowdy Carlton versus Collingwood crowd.

Too soon we had to leave. Completely impressed and – I’m predicting – a lifelong convert to our game, Melissa and Linda’s questions and interest continued all the way back to the concert hall. At which point, Etheridge’s team headed inside and we found our seats in the auditorium. Ten minutes later, free of her sunglasses and baseball cap disguise, Melissa Etheridge joined Sheryl Crow on stage, apologising for her tardiness because she couldn’t resist sneaking across the road to watch the footy.

For the rest of the concert, Etheridge talked about footy, female empowerment, the LGBTIQ community, the irony of her performing in Margaret Court Arena, the amazing AFLW community, and more footy. It was a mutual appreciation society and one of the more empowering moments I can remember. Her voice is still a powerhouse of sultry rage, and her stage presence is undeniable. From an entertainment point of view, it was rock solid.

But Melissa Etheridge has always been more than her voice, and much more than a rockstar. She’s been an advocate for women, and more particularly, the LGBTIQ community, smashing barriers and discrimination, forcing the mainstream music industry to stand up and listen – and even applaud – long before marriage equality was even a consideration.

And here she was giving AFL footy a free kick to her hundred thousand plus Twitter followers, her tens of thousands of Australian fans, and who knows who else through her media appearances. It is impossible to measure the depth of publicity Etheridge has provided our great game, nor the level of goodwill her engagement with women’s footy and the LGBTIQ community has handed the AFL this past week.

It is perplexing then that the AFL didn’t seem to rate it at all. There were no mentions on their Twitter feed, and no support or encouragement of fan engagement anywhere on social or mainstream media. Once again it was left to AFL fans and advocates of women’s footy to wave the flag.

Whatever the reason for the AFL’s silence, there is a clear way to redress this. Etheridge has declared her interest in performing at the 2018 grand final. There’s an online campaign in support of this. Having seen her live on stage only a few days ago, there are tens of thousands of fans – myself included - who can guarantee she has the voice and the presence to raise the roof (if the MCG had one), and leave the sort of mark half-time performances have largely failed to deliver.