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The Roar

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Women's sport weekly wrap: AFLW has set the standard for other sports

The Carlton vs Collingwood AFLW match attracted a bumper crowd. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Expert
9th February, 2017
229
2655 Reads

Emma Kearney. Brianna Davey. Darcy Vescio. If you watched any games during the opening weekend of the AFLW, one of these three women might have been your stand-out player.

It was a historic weekend for Australian rules football and the numbers reflect the groundswell of support which has been building since the eight teams for the inaugural women’s competition were announced in June 2016.

The opening weekend of the competition blew everyone away. On Friday night, the game between Carlton and Collingwood was played in front of over 25,000 people at Princes Park. There was so much demand that at least 1000 people were locked out and Gillon McLachlan stood outside the ground pre-game, apologising to people who couldn’t get in.

The numbers on Saturday and Sunday proved that Friday night’s attendance wasn’t a one-off. Over 25,000 people turned up to watch the other three games over the weekend, with some even turning up in lightning and torrential rain.

Television figures impressed too, with almost 2 million people tuning in to the games on Friday and Saturday.

These numbers do not take into account the number of Twitter impressions, Facebook shares and water cooler conversations over the last week, celebrating the fact that women now have the opportunity to play AFL at the highest level. These are perhaps the most important aspects of all.

Yet, despite 50,000 people turning up during the weekend to watch AFLW, one person was noticeably missing. Unfortunately, due to prior commitments, Collingwood President Eddie McGuire could not be there to see Collingwood play Carlton in the opening game.

What is perhaps most disappointing is that this does not surprise me. The sooner dinosaurs like McGuire are removed from positions of influence in our sporting clubs, the more inclusive and diverse they will become.

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But rather than focus on Eddie, I want to call out the efforts of a couple of people on social media who have been relentless in their promotion and support of the new competition, including (but definitely not limited to) The Outer Sanctum, Erin Riley, Change Her Game, Alison Smirnoff, Megan Hustwaite, Neroli Meadows and Like a Girl.

The role of these influencers cannot be underestimated in making sure that AFLW was front of mind in the week leading up to the opening weekend and during the opening weekend.

AFLW Carlton Blues Darcy Vescio

Speaking of media, over the past couple of days I have noticed a lot of fans of women’s sport venting their frustration that the AFLW has received so much media coverage, despite the fact that other sports have been playing in the women’s sport sand pit for several years like basketball, cricket and rugby league.

I understand this perspective, but the phrase that keeps coming to mind for me is ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game’.

The AFL absolutely needs to be commended for its commitment to this competition (however long that commitment has been) and their hard work to ensure that the competition remained front of mind in a way I have never seen before for women’s sport.

In the lead-up to opening weekend, new content was being produced every single day. The media was flooded with stories about the players, their respective clubs and where the fixtures would be held. Players were interviewed, videos introducing the players were produced, and influencers in the game like Susan Alberti and Sam Mostyn were front and centre, advocating the importance of this competition.

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The result was that each day this content was shared on social media and the excitement around the opening weekend continued to build.

The other sports absolutely need to learn from the AFL and make sure that content is being shared all the time about their women’s teams. The sharing of this content needs to be absolutely relentless, and the efforts of those in the media and influencers who are passionate about that sport need to be taken advantage of.

The AFL has shown what is possible – I now want to see women in sport celebrated like this across the board.

If you don’t think your sport is being covered enough, be part of the change by being an advocate and an influencer in your social networks. If you can introduce one new person to women’s sport (in whatever code), then you have absolutely made a difference.

Rugby league
Women playing rugby league – if you haven’t seen a game yet you are all out of excuses.

Last weekend was a first for the Jillaroos, when they managed to beat the Kiwi Ferns in three out of three games, claiming their first ever Auckland Nines series win in a clean-sweep.

In a weekend described by Sammy Bremner in her acceptance speech as “another step forward for the NRL and women in rugby league”, the only negative was fan-favourite (and my own personal favourite) Kezie Apps sustaining a broken fibula, which will see her sidelined for a couple of weeks.

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Did you miss that game? No matter. Tonight the All Stars game will be a double-header, with the Indigenous Women’s All Stars taking on the Women’s All Stars at 5:30pm (AEDT). Then, this weekend, the opening round of the Tarsha Gale Nines will take place.

Todd Greenberg may have said earlier in the week that the NRL will not begin a women’s competition until there is a large enough talent pool to sustain it, but the fact that this year there will be a women’s World Cup, that the next generation of Jillaroos have the opportunity to play in the Tarsha Gale Nines, and that the Sharks Nines team has been confirmed to play six games at Southern Cross Group Stadium means we are slowly making our way towards the end goal.

I know we will get there.

W-League
If you are from the Harbour City or our Nation’s Capital, you can absolutely be forgiven for suffering from a broken heart this week after both Sydney FC and Canberra United were knocked out at the semi-final stage in the W-League.

This sets up a grand final between the Perth Glory and Melbourne City, which will see City chasing their second title in a row and Perth trying to pick up where they left off in their 5-1 thrashing of Sydney FC last weekend.

Netball
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the Australian Diamonds, who last weekend retained the Netball Quad Series after defeating England by one point.

Captain Sharni Layton, unsurprisingly, said she was “really proud of all the girls”.

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As well as all that, I’ll be heading to Blacktown International Sports Park to see the Australian women’s softball team (the Aussie Spirit) play in the Down Under Series against Japan and New Zealand.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend ahead, whether you are watching rugby league, AFL, WNBL or the W-League.

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