Australia's Heather Marini is blazing a college football trail

Heather Marini was told she couldn't be here. The football sideline was a place for coaching staff. This could not possibly be a place for a woman -- or so the referee thought. Ordered to step away from the sideline, Marini was emphatically told "You are not a coach." Yet, she was and didn't shy away from letting the ref know.

"I turned to him and said I've been coaching for many years, you can't make that assumption," Marini said. This was several years ago when Marini coached for the Monash Warriors, a team in southeast Melbourne, Australia.

Fast-forward to 2019, and the 30-year-old Australian from Stanhope -- a rural town 197 km north of Melbourne -- is the only female coach in Division I college football.

Marini was installed as the offensive quality control coach at Brown University in May 2019, making her the first female football coach in the Ivy League school's history.

Amidst the pouring rain in Stanford -- 60 km from San Francisco, there is a sense of pride in Marini's voice as she discusses her journey. However, there is a noticeable determination for her story to continue. Her sense of accomplishment is dulled by a burning desire to achieve more. It would be plausible to say Marini is a woman thriving in a man's world; but the history-maker disagrees.

"I wouldn't go that far," she said with a laugh. "That's a bit too headliney for me. Football is football no matter where you're from, or what gender you are. Once you cross that white line everything is the same."

If it weren't for her now-husband Kieren, Marini never would have stood on any sideline, in Australia or indeed at Brown. Kieren, an offensive lineman for the Monash Warriors, begged his then-girlfriend to attend a game. Marini knew virtually nothing about the sport, but made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Stanhope regardless. Her jeans, ballet flats and cardigan were by no means suitable for a cold, wet, five-and-a-half-hour game on the gridiron.

"To this day I've never seen a longer game in my life," Marini recalled with a smile. "I was freezing to death! I said to him 'I love you and all, but I'm never coming to this silly sport ever again.'"

Marini was true to her word ... for a week. Then she made herself useful, helping out with strapping due to a lack of staff and resources. This led to a sports trainer job in the 2008 season but, at that point, there was still no interest in the sport itself.

It was only when she transitioned to strength and conditioning coach in 2009 that Marini's world changed forever.

"That was when I really got into it. My husband and I did our coaching course together. I thought if I'm going to be the strength [coach], I may as well learn more about this silly sport."

Before long the sport became her second love. An internship at Oregon State in 2010 heightened Marini's infatuation with America's game.

On her daily walk to the performance centre, Marini would pass some of the best sporting facilities on the West Coast. Oregon State has both an indoor and two outdoor football fields, to go along with the Valley Football Center, which houses a locker room, meeting rooms, a players' lounge, media room and a barbershop.

"I remember looking up and thinking this is incredible! How is this a thing? In Australia, even in the professional scale, we don't have anything like it. It was an amazing thing to be a part of."

Returning from America, Marini found herself in charge of the U/19 Warriors and managed to combine her love of netball whilst coaching the team, whose roster included current Denver Bronco Adam Gotsis.

Despite mostly positive experiences at the Warriors, she admits there were periods of resistance. These included exchanges in which "friends" of Marini's would question her involvement in a male-dominated world. Their reasoning? A desire for a female-free environment.

"I've had people say to me 'I've come to football to get away from my wife,' or 'Why can't we have a place we can get away from women?' Part of me is like 'Well, you've got to work on your relationship!'"

Despite the obstacles, Marini remained determined to follow her dreams of working in American football. Once she met Samantha Rapoport, the NFL senior director for diversity and inclusion, at the NFL Women's Careers in Football Forum, doors began to open.

The annual forum, which began in 2017, aims to provide an opportunity for women to network and interact with college football and NFL coaches.

Marini left the inaugural forum with contacts, but ultimately without a job or any sign of one.

She was unemployed in San Francisco for six months, living off a one-person income with her husband, Kieren. Life was tough and complications with her visa meant Marini could not work in any capacity. There were days where she hated football but she remained persistent. Despite flying across the country on her own accord to meet with coaches, she could not land anything concrete.

That was until Rapoport put her name forward as a summer scouting specialist for the New York Jets. Tasked with scouting opposition players in preseason, Marini found herself at the Jets' facility for 80-100 hours a week, for the entire preseason.

At the end of the preseason, James Perry, Brown University's head coach, encouraged her to apply for a coaching position at Brown. She was warned about the level of sacrifice and difficulties surrounding the role; so too that she would be overworked and underpaid.

"There was no way I could turn it down," Marini said.

There are perks to the role -- an office, Nike merchandise and working at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Yet, the brutal realities are apparent. During football season there are no days off, with Friday mornings and Sunday mornings -- reserved for church -- the only reprieve.

 Twelve-hour days are the norm. A lighter week would be considered a 60-hour workload, but it's no different from life back home.

 "It's crazy in-season but to me when I was working two jobs, studying and going to football practice after work, it's no different except it's all in one place now."

Despite creating history, Marini understands this is only the start if she is to go on and realise all her dreams. There are challenges along the way, including an internal battle between self-expression and blending in.

She has started to wear makeup and pearls on game days but won't go as far as to paint her fingernails pink, for fear of negative perception. Despite her rural upbringing, Marini has always preferred heels to gumboots.

She would help out on the farm, herding sheep one of her jobs, but she has always enjoyed some glamour. So much so, that she competed in a Miss Earth pageant during her first year of university. Marini harbours concerns as to the perception that might create, but ultimately hopes there can be a separation between one's personal interests and the X's and O's of football.

"Eventually I want it to get to a point where it's so normalised to have a woman in the office, that it is actually OK to do whatever I want to do. There was a time when teachers and doctors were all men. Now we're used to them also being women and so it's another evolution in that social process."

As for wanting to be the first female college football head coach?

"Do I have to? I wouldn't mind being the second or third," she said. "It would be great if someone could iron out the wrinkles before I get there!"

Irrespective of the future, Marini has demonstrated that no matter one's accent or gender, there is room in America's game for those who dare to tackle uncharted territory.