AFL Women's

AFL Women's
Sport Australian rules football
Inaugural season 2017
CEO Gillon McLachlan
No. of teams 8
Country Australia
Headquarters Melbourne ("AFL House")
Sponsor(s) NAB
Related
competitions		 Australian Football League
Official website www.afl.com.au/womens

AFL Women's is a future Australian rules football competition. It will be Australia's first national women's Australian rules football league. The league will be run by the Australian Football League (AFL) and will be contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. The first season of the league is scheduled to begin in February 2017 with eight teams.

History

In 2010 the Australian Football League commissioned a report into the state of women's football around the country.[1] Along with findings concerning grassroots and junior football, the report recommended the AFL Commission begin working toward the establishment of a national women's league. While the option of new stand-alone clubs was considered, a model utilising the resources and branding of existing AFL clubs was to be the preffered model for the planned league[2]

The first on-field step towards the competition took place in 2013, when the AFL announced an exhibition match to be played between women's teams representing Melbourne and Western Bulldogs later that year.

On 15 May 2013, the first women's draft was held, establishing the playing lists for the two clubs in the forthcoming exhibition match.[3] The match in question was played on 29 June 2013 and marked the first time two women's side had competed under the banner of AFL clubs. The exhibition series was repeated with one game between the clubs in 2014 and two in 2015, the last of which, played on 16 August 2015, was broadcast on free-to-air television and attracted strong ratings.

The success of these series prompted the AFL to accelerate its plans for a nationwide women's competition, announcing a preferred start date of 2017,[4] Prior to this, the league had announced only aspirational plans to have the women's competition established by the end of the 1910s. The already planned 2016 exhibition series was expanded at the this time, with a total of ten matches to be played in venues across the country and featuring a range of new temporary representative teams.[5]

Details about the branding of the league were released in the second half of 2016. The AFL announced that the league would be named "AFL Women's" on 15 September 2016, with the logo being unveiled on 19 September 2016.[6][7] The logo is a stylised rendition of an Australian rules football ground goal square and goal posts, drawn from a perspective which shows a "W".[7] On 10 October 2016 the National Australia Bank was named as the league's naming rights sponsor.[8]

Clubs

AFL Women's operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.

In 2016 the AFL opened a process for existing clubs to tender applications for the forthcoming inaugural AFL Women's season. The eighteen senior clubs in the Australian Football League had until 29 April 2016 to place a bid for a licence, with thirteen clubs making bids. The AFL's preferred distribution of clubs was four clubs from Victoria and one each from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.[9]

The inaugural teams were announced on 8 June 2016. As the only teams to bid in their respective states, Adelaide, Brisbane Lions and Greater Western Sydney were granted licences to compete in 2017.[10] Both Western Australian clubs made bids, with Fremantle's bid chosen ahead of West Coast's. Eight Victorian clubs made bids: Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Collingwood were successful, with Geelong, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda unsuccessful. All five unsuccessful bidders were granted provisional licences, which will enable them to be considered if and when the league expands beyond eight clubs.[11]

The competition's 8 teams are based across 5 states of Australia. The majority (4) are based in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The states of New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia have one team each. Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, and Northern Territory are the only states or mainland territories not to have AFL Women's clubs.

Club Moniker State Est. First exhibition
series		 Joining
league		 Coach
Adelaide Crows South Australia 1990 2017 Goddard, BecBec Goddard
Brisbane Lions Lions Queensland 1996 2016 2017 Starcevich, CraigCraig Starcevich
Carlton Blues Victoria 1864 2017 Keeping, DamienDamien Keeping
Collingwood Magpies Victoria 1892 2017 Siekman, WayneWayne Siekman
Fremantle Dockers Western Australia 1994 2016 2017 Cowan, MichelleMichelle Cowan
Greater Western Sydney Giants New South Wales 2009 2016 2017 Schmidt, TimTim Schmidt
Melbourne Demons Victoria 1858 2013 2017 Stinear, MichaelMichael Stinear
Western Bulldogs Bulldogs Victoria 1877 2013 2017 Groves, PaulPaul Groves

Arrangements for the inaugural season

The inaugural season of the women's competition will be played over eight weeks in February and March 2017, with matches will be a mix of stand-alone games, and curtain-raisers or closers to AFL pre-season games. There are preliminary broadcast deals are in place for at least one match to be televised live in each round.[12][13]

The competition will be over-age, with a minimum age qualification of 18. In order to equitably spread talent, each club will be able to sign two marquee players and a number of priority players who already have a connection to the team, with the remaining players entering via drafts or state-based zones.[12][13][14] Each team will have a list of 25 players, plus two rookies, with draft order being selected by lottery.[15] Initially the competition will be semi-professional, with the AFL proposing that marquee players earn $25,000, with the pay scale reducing to $10,000 for priority players and $5,000 for lower drafted players, for a total team salary cap of $200,000. This proposed pay structure has been criticised as too low by the AFL Players Association.[16][17] Prue Gilbert of the AFL Players Association Advisory Committee for the Women's League writing an op-ed in The Age arguing that woman's footballers' pay needs to be lifted as they are expected to be professional players but will not be able to live off their earning; that the AFL is in a financial position to offer better pay; that the woman's league needs to be competitive against other, better paying sports; that higher pays will show they are valued, and that these attitudes will filter through wider society; and that sport in Australia should be trying harder to close the pay gap between male and female athletes.[18] Gillon McLachlan, the AFL's chief executive, has defended the pay proposal stating that: "we don't have a broadcast deal, we don't have a sponsorship deal, at the moment we don't have any commerciality around the league" and that "we've got to start up, a complete start-up, so we're investing millions of dollars next year in establishing a league", with some of that money going towards female pay.[17]

The 16 marquee players were announced on 27 July 2016.[19] Under the priority selection rules, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle are allowed one player, while Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions are allowed two players and Greater Western Sydney are allowed four. Due to injuries, Fremantle and Greater Western Sydney have been permitted an additional priority pick, allowing for two and five in total, respectively.[14]

2017 Club Marquee players Priority players Rookie players
Adelaide Chelsea Randall, Kellie Gibson Courtney Cramey, Angela Foley[20] Erin Phillips,[21] Jasmine Anderson[22]
Brisbane Lions Tayla Harris, Sabrina Frederick-Traub Emma Zielke,[23] Kaitlyn Ashmore[24] Kate Deegan,[25] Delissa Kimmince[26]
Carlton Brianna Davey, Darcy Vescio Lauren Arnell[27] Nat Exon, Kate Shierlaw[28]
Collingwood Moana Hope, Emma King Meg Hutchins[14] Kate Sheahan,[29] Helen Roden[30]
Fremantle Kara Donnellan, Kiara Bowers Kirby Bentley,[31] Ebony Antonio[32] Gabby O’Sullivan,[33] Kim Mickle[34]
Greater Western Sydney Renee Forth, Emma Swanson Maddy Collier,[35] Alex Williams,[36] Louise Stephenson, Phoebe McWilliams, Jessica Dal Pos[37] Jessica Bibby, Ellie Brush[38]
Melbourne Daisy Pearce, Mel Hickey Karen Paxman[39] Catherine Phillips,[40] Harriet Cordner[41]
Western Bulldogs Katie Brennan, Ellie Blackburn Emma Kearney[42] Libby Birch[43] Romy Timmins[44]

A state based draft was held on October 12, 2016. The draft order was determined by random draw on 29 September. The draft operated in snake formation with the club holding the first selection of the first round also holding the last selection of the second round and so on and so forth.[45]

Selection position Club
1 Greater Western Sydney
2 Brisbane Lions
3 Carlton
4 Fremantle
5 Western Bulldogs
6 Collingwood
7 Adelaide
8 Melbourne

Women's exhibition games (2013–2016)

Prior to the creation of the league, the AFL ran four years of exhibition matches between sides representing Melbourne and Western Bulldogs. In 2016, the series was expanded to multiple teams from around the country.

2013 exhibition game
Sunday, 30 June Melbourne 8.5 (53) def. Western Bulldogs 3.3 (21) MCG (crowd: 7,500) Match report
  • Melbourne received the Hampson-Hardeman Cup. Named after women football pioneers Barb Hampson and Lisa Hardeman, who developed the first women's championships in 1998.[46]


2014 exhibition game
Sunday, 29 June Western Bulldogs 4.2 (26) def. by Melbourne 10.12 (72) Etihad Stadium (crowd: 24,953 (D/H)) Match report


2015 exhibition series
Sunday, 24 May Melbourne 4.13 (37) def. Western Bulldogs 4.5 (29) MCG (crowd: 29,381 (D/H)) Match report
Sunday, 16 August Western Bulldogs 5.6 (36) def. by Melbourne 6.4 (40) Etihad Stadium (crowd: 27,805 (D/H)) Match report


2016 exhibition series
Sunday, 2 March Melbourne 3.3 (21) def. by Western Bulldogs 6.5 (41) Highgate Recreational Reserve Match report
Saturday, 2 April SANFL Blue 5.4 (34) def. SANFL Red 5.2 (32) Adelaide Oval (crowd: 51,585 (D/H)) Match report
Saturday, 9 April Sydney 9.8 (62) def. Greater Western Sydney 5.3 (33) SCG (crowd: 37,045 (D/H)) Match report
Saturday, 9 April West Coast 13.10 (88) def. Fremantle 3.5 (23) Domain Stadium (crowd: 40,555 (D/H)) Match report
Sunday, 10 April Northern Territory 13.11 (89) def. Tasmania 7.11 (53) Peanut Reserve Match report
Saturday, 16 April Brisbane Lions 5.8 (38) def. Gold Coast 3.6 (24) Gabba (crowd: 20,041 (D/H)) Match report
Sunday, 22 May Melbourne 14.7 (91) def. Brisbane Lions 3.2 (20) MCG (crowd: 26,892 (D/H)) Match report
Sunday, 5 June Western Bulldogs 8.5 (53) def. Western Australia 5.10 (40) Etihad Stadium (crowd: 28,769 (D/H)) Match report
Sunday, 5 June South Australia 4.3 (27) def. NSW/ACT 3.7 (25) Adelaide Oval (crowd: 40,896 (D/H)) Match report
Saturday, 3 September Western Bulldogs 14.6 (90) def. Melbourne 7.9 (51) Whitten Oval (crowd: 6,365) Match report

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Review could lead to AFL women's league". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Cheryl Critchley; Michael Warner (22 March 2010). "Sam Newman weighs into debate on female footy". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Twomey, Callum (16 May 2013). "Pearce the first pick in AFL's inaugural women's draft". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Gorr, Libbi; Goswell, Gus (18 February 2016). "AFL promises 2017 women's competition as eager starters call for more details". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  5. ↑ "AFL announces 10-match national women's exhibition series to be played in 2016". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "AFL announces name for inaugural women's competition". Australian Football League. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Logo revealed for new AFL Women's competition". Australian Football League. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (10 October 2016). "NAB signs on as AFL Women's League naming-rights sponsor". Australian Football League. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Matthews, Bruce (29 April 2016). "Decision time as 13 clubs want women's team". Australian Football League.
  10. ↑ Women's league bidding heating up, with teams scrambling for licenses
  11. ↑ Matthews, Bruce (15 June 2016). "Eight teams named for inaugural women's league". Australian Football League. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  12. 1 2 Bruce Matthews (21 March 2016). "Women to kick-off 2017 with two-month season". Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  13. 1 2 Grant Baker; Eliza Sewell (15 June 2016). "AFL National Women's League: Marquee system aims to spread the talent across eight licensed clubs". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 Matthews, Bruce (20 August 2016). "Meg Hutchins joins Pies under new women's priority pick rules". Australian Football League. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "Women's draft nominations open". Melbourne Football Club. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  16. ↑ Ward, Roy (5 September 2016). "AFL celebrates bumper women's TV ratings but holds line on pay talks". The Age. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  17. 1 2 Lisson, Ben (5 September 2016). "Women's AFL: Gillon McLachlan defends pay offer to players after exhibition match ratings soar". Austrlian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  18. ↑ Gilbert, Prue (9 September 2016). "Five reasons the women playing AFL deserve a decent deal". The Age. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  19. ↑ Matthews, Bruce (27 July 2016). "Sixteen of the best: women's marquees named". Australian Football League. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  20. ↑ Wade, Natasha (25 August 2016). "Crows unveil women's team signings". Adelaide Crows. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  21. ↑ Burtenshaw, David (13 September 2016). "Crows sign Erin Phillips". Adelaide Football Club. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  22. ↑ Burtenshaw, David (5 September 2016). "Family ties for new Crow Anderson". Adelaide Football Club. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  23. ↑ "Emma Zielke selected as our priority pick". Brisbane Lions. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  24. ↑ Burton, Cassie (1 September 2016). "Lions secure Kaitlyn Ashmore". Brisbane Lions. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  25. ↑ "AFL Womens: First rookie signing". Brisbane Lions Football Club. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "Lions Sign WBBL Star". Brisbane Lions. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  27. ↑ "2017 Women's Team". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  28. ↑ "Women's team boosted by rookies". Carlton Football Club. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  29. ↑ Harrington, Anna (September 2016). "New Magpie Kate Sheahan says she still can't believe she'll be a part of the 2017 AFL women's competition". Fox Sports. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  30. ↑ "Roden joins Collingwood women's team". Collingwood Football Club. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "Former netballer excited to "provide a pathway"". Fremantle Football Club. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  32. ↑ "A dream come true". Fremantle Football Club. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  33. ↑ "O'Sullivan a Freo Docker by chance". Fremantle Football Club. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  34. ↑ "Mickle trades javelin for Sherrin". The Age. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  35. ↑ Zell, Alison (17 September 2016). "Maddy Makes History". Greater Western Sydney Football Club. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  36. ↑ Curley, Adam (21 September 2016). "Welcome to the GIANTS Alex Williams". Greater Western Sydney Football Club. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  37. ↑ "Three from the Big V". Greater Western Sydney Football Club. 24 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  38. ↑ Dutton, Chris (2 October 2016). "GWS Giants recruit WNBL record holder Jess Bibby and W-League star Ellie Brush". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  39. ↑ Lewis, Georgina (16 September 2016). "Melbourne signs Paxman as priority player". Melbourne Football Club. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  40. ↑ Lewis, Georgina (5 October 2016). "Phillips joins Melbourne as rookie". Melbourne Football Club. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  41. ↑ Lewis, Georgina (5 October 2016). "Cordner continues tradition". Melbourne Football Club. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  42. ↑ Matthews, Bruce (25 August 2016). "Envious Bulldog reunites with teammate for women's league". Australian Football League. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  43. ↑ Sewell, Eliza (14 September 2016). "Western Bulldogs sign state league netballer Libby Birch as a rookie for National Women's League". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  44. ↑ "Dogs sign second rookie". Western Bulldogs Football Club. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  45. ↑ Olle, Sarah (29 September 2016). "AFL Women's draft lottery: GWS Giants win first pick in inaugural women's league draft". Fox Footy. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  46. ↑ First bounce for women's footy at the MCG
  47. ↑ Di Giorgio, Giulio (4 September 2016). "Women's All-Stars game a ratings smash". Australian Football League. Retrieved 4 September 2016.

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