Caroline Wilson, chief football writer for the Melbourne Age was today named the Essendon Football Club Women's Network Football Woman of the Year.

Wilson was presented with the award at today's EFCWN Luncheon at the Savoy Ballroom which more than 750 people attended.

There is little doubt that for the majority of last century the world of football journalism has been considered to be an exclusively male bastion.

It was a sport played by men so it followed that it should be reported on by men. Of course this is an antiquated notion but it is a barrier still taking some time to break down.

One female journalist who is leading that charge is the chief football writer of the Melbourne Age Caroline Wilson.

Caroline has always been passionate about the game of football (she is a member of the Richmond Football Club) and it was that passion which saw her become the first ever full-time female football journalist. She has blazed a trail ever since.

Caroline has made great strides in the world of football journalism – a fact that was again acknowledged earlier this month when she won the AFL Media Association Print Journalist of the Year.

Caroline won the 1988 Gold Media award for Football Journalism and became the first women to do so. She was also the 1993 Sunday Age Journalist of the Year.

She continually tackles the tough issues that confront football and has attracted her fair share of critics in doing so – but that has been more a result of her hard-nosed approach to her job than the fact she was female.

The grass roots supporter and the advancement of the game are often diametrically opposed but Caroline firmly believes they must go hand in hand.

Her colleagues describe her a “versatile”, “an impact writer who can write features and hard news equally well” and … I don’t know if she will like this … “the mother hen to female journalists.”

One colleague said of her “she has almost single-handedly broken down the barriers for female football journalists. She takes great pride in the fact that there are so many high quality female journalists coming through and she continually encourages them.”

She has been an advocate for the advancement of women’s involvement in elite level football. She continually encourages the female journalists she works with and took great pleasure in The Age’s Melissa Ryan winning the Rising Star Award at the recent AFL Media Association awards.

Away from football she has covered the Commonwealth Games, four Wimbledon Tennis Championshsips, three British Open Golf Championships and will be a key part of The Age’s upcoming Olympic coverage. Caroline spent time as a 3AW drive time host (she won the National Radio Award for the Best Current Affairs Reporter in 1995) and also took time out to have three children.