Ellen Maple grew up pursuing kayaking and Gaelic Football and had also played A Grade netball for Uraidla and Heathfield. 
In 2016, Ellen Maple was playing SAWFL Division 2 football for the Mt Lofty Devils where she won the Best and Fairest that year. Her team made the Grand Final but fell short. Maple also won the SAWFL’s Pitman Medal for “Rookie of the Year” in a tie with another player. That player was her future Norwood and premiership team mate, Ebony O’Dea (who was playing Division 1 for Adelaide University at that time). The award is given to the first year player(s) with the highest number of votes. 

With the establishment of the SANFLW in 2017, Maple and her twin sister Tess joined the Norwood team. Maple was Norwood women’s player number 9, and was allocated the number 8 guernsey. In the very first game of the inaugural year of the SANFLW competition, Norwood played North Adelaide at Norwood Oval. It was Ellen Maple who wrote her name into the history books that night as the first ever goal scorer in the competition, and in doing so also put herself in the Club’s records forever alongside George Giffen, five time Norwood Premiership player and later, Captain of the Australian Test Cricket Team, who kicked Norwood’s first ever goal in 1878. 

Maple quickly established herself on field as a quick and courageous midfield player, playing six of a possible seven games that year. Her determination was always evident and she was highly regarded by her coaches and everyone around her. In the 2017 Grand Final, she was constantly at stoppages, laying tackles and winning ‘hard ball gets’. Maple and her team mates, including her twin sister Tess, were rewarded for their attack on the footy with a premiership and a premiership medal. 

Off the field, Maple was known as a bubbly personality with a great heart and a smile that lit up the room. 

The following year, the Maple sisters moved across to Sturt. It was that club’s inaugural year and Maple made her debut as player number 25 for Sturt in round 3.  She was named in the best players in seven of her eight games in 2018.

Sturt played its final game (round 10) in 2018 against Glenelg on April 8. That night, Maple was driving her car and was involved in an accident with a stobie pole at Glengowrie. Sadly she passed away and was laid to rest on 18 April. Her sudden passing at the age of just 22 was a deep shock to her family and friends, and also to the women’s football community. Current and former team mates and officials from Norwood, Sturt and the Mt Lofty Devils were especially affected. 

To recognize the impact that Maple had as a footballer and as a person, the Norwood and Sturt Football Clubs agreed to introduce the annual Ellen Maple Medal, to be awarded to the most courageous and determined player in the first Norwood-Sturt minor round game of each season. This Medal was first awarded in 2019 and the inaugural recipient was Norwood’s Najwa Allen. Players from both teams also wear yellow armbands during this match, in memory of Ellen Maple for whom yellow was her favourite colour. 

The Mount Lofty Devils awarded its first Best and Fairest award to a female player in 2016, and the winner then was Ellen Maple. That club’s Women’s A Grade Best and Fairest Award is now named the Ellen Maple Medal. 

Chris Brown, October 2024