Has anyone seen the advertisement on Fox Footy, where Jason Dunstall drops a bag of cement off a multi-story building down on to Alastair Lynch in order to re-enact the impact of a Jonathan Brown tackle?
The guys exhibited Brown’s tackle in this way to demonstrate the physical force and intense power that backs up most of the contact throughout game-play.
Now, this is where women’s footy comes in. It is this physical athleticism that splits males and females apart and opens up a plethora of debate.
‘Women are too weak for AFL’ and ‘women don’t know footy’ are statements said on regular occasions in social conversations with friends and families. And this is where the problem arises.
Australian society does not appreciate female presence in AFL.
In light of today’s deadline for the first AFL women’s draft nominations, there is a dire need to shine the light on the social stigma of women in a ‘men’s game’.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I also believe there may be a significant portion of bias on my behalf considering I am a female.
But there seems to be a divide in understanding and compassion for the existence of sport and an increasing inequality that sets Australia apart from the gender equality in sport within sporting codes in other countries.
This issue has nothing to do with the literal physical capabilities of females – rather the opportunistic standards in Australian sport, particularly AFL.
Women can think for themselves, and if any woman feels they have the capacity to perform at the elite level of AFL, give them the chance.
Women are human beings – just like men, believe it or not – and they have the power to think as individuals.
If they are certain they are fit enough to take on the game at an elite level, it is at their prerogative.
Only the individual can whole-heartedly assess their personal abilities and once they come to their own conclusion it is also their responsibility for the collateral they endure as a part of participating. This includes the physical injuries sustained within game-play.
In the same way as the male AFL draft, men are selected based on the standard of their fitness performance and how skillfully they can carry out the fundamentals involved in a real-time match. Women would be based on the exact same merits.
It is the mere opportunity for women to play at the elite level of AFL that breaks the deadlock of sexism in the AFL, irrelevant of whether they are able to compete to the desired standard.
Giving women the chance to apply for elite level matches cultivates a more balanced gender scene in AFL, along with the acceptance of women to engage in a draft this will cause a growth of possibilities for women in sport.
It will encourage an increased participation of women in all areas – administration, coaching, umpiring etc – and even possibly more fans.
It really is that simple.
The inadequate physicality of women in comparison to men at the elite level in sport substantiates a valid argument on the strengths and weaknesses within AFL competition.
However, this has nothing to do with the reflection of AFL in society.
In round 14 of this year on Saturday 29 June, the first official women’s AFL game will be played between the Melbourne Football Club and Western Bulldogs Football Club.
This match is a giant leap forward in the acceptance of women in to what is socially known as a ‘gentlemen’s club’ of Australian sport.
The exclusive nature of all sectors within AFL represents a supremacy. This exclusive gender membership of AFL involvement is male dominated and has been for the past 150 years.
The AFL’s plan to support the co-existence of female and male leagues in 2020 will include the female league being nationally televised alongside the current male league.
These plans and strategies to incorporate an increasing female presence in AFL are immensely hopeful in encouraging female affiliation in all sectors of the sport.
Unfortunately for those stuck in the 1950s, women are determined to break into the once male-dominated social club that makes up AFL and are more than ready to take some speckys over the entire competition.
Knoxy
Guest
Why should women be forced to compete against men in sport? The bottom line is that women will always be at a physical disadvantage when playing against men. If they removed the gender barriers in all sports, I doubt there would be any professional female athletes left competing. It's just not a level playing field.
Steve
Guest
That's not equal though: that's a softer competition that stands as a tacit admission that female AFL players are inferior. You don't want it like Tennis where Women play a watered down, weakened version of the game. You can't blame people for not being interested in a second rate product. Fair's fair: remove the gender barriers- if a woman can play at the top rank in any sport, let her, and afford her the full respect due to a top athlete. If she can't, don't create a version of the sport with training wheels and expect it to be given the same respect as the real thing.
Tom
Guest
Bill I think you've misread the article. Females will have an equivalent competition not compete in the same competition.
Bill C
Guest
I'm not sure if this is a tongue in cheek article or not. I cannot think of one female sportsperson who would be able to compete with males at any sport in the world, let alone one as physically demanding as the most elite sporting competition in Australia. The only way it could happen is for the rules to be modified so much that it takes the entire physicality out of the contest so that the males can't lay hard tackles or bumps on the females. Probably the only sport on the planet where females should be given the opportunity to compete against males is golf.
Knoxy
Guest
You don't really think that all men's and women's divisions in sport should be abolished do you? If that were to happen then you would have pretty much no professional female athletes playing in any of the sports listed above. No Williams sisters in tennis, no Stephanie Rice at the Olympics, no female soccer players etc. I'm all for allowing women to compete along side the men in sport if they choose, but they shouldn't be forced compete against the men. Women's sport should be allowed to stand on its own merits.
Tom
Guest
Very compelling article, and I'm glad you are giving this more exposure. The minority out there that cannot grasp the fact that both males and females are equal should seriously reconsider the way the view the opposite sex. If females want to be a part of the afl community whether it be playing, commentating etc. there should be nothing stopping them or intimidating them from our great game. I still am puzzzled that we have such an inequality and people are willing to discriminate females involved in afl. At a community level the female presence around local (male) footy clubs as well as female afl leagues is very strong, and i know that women playing afl at an elite level is very exciting and this strong presence will only be beneficial.
Stavros
Guest
For an irrelevant sport, you sure do like posting about it. Keep it up, as it gives us a good laugh.
Shmick
Guest
Wow Matt. Worst comment ever. Congratulations.
Dmak
Guest
Matt I would hope you would not allow your child to waste time participating in a sport in the first place as they would be better off spending their time studying to get a scholarships to Universities, which will allow them to travel the world and meet nice people I really wish people would get over this thing of needing to only participate in sports that lead to playing internationally. People play a sport because they enjoy it that is why it is call "PLAY" not work. If children were only participating in a sport because they believed it was going to be their careers they would be greatly disappointed. Worldwide very few people make it as professional sports people for example look at soccer the world has a populatation of almost 7 billion. Of those according to Fifa 265 million of those 7 billion play some form of soccer(4% of the world population). out of the 265 million players only 50,000(0.02% of all soccer players-according to FIFpro.com) of those play soccer professionals (many of these of small wages and may only have a short career). So you are really better off training up in a trade and playing a sport you love,instead of banking on being a sporting superstar.
Nathan of Perth
Roar Rookie
Mind you, a 75kg male athlete would probably be very similar to a 75kg male athlete in terms of what happens in situations like going head on into 100kgs of Aaron Sandilands... Phil Davis to take over the explanation here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YChfAG7vLUE
dasilva
Guest
Yeah that does seem like the barrier. It's does challenge the basic traditional notions of chilvary and also challenge our basic innate instinctual reaction There's this division in the debates of women rights. Women are independent and strong and can achieve any thing vs Woman need help and needs special protection as they are physically weaker than men Human beings are genetically programmed to see any sort of violence or any women getting hurt to be more 'worst' than similar violence against men. From an evolutionary standpoint, woman are the limiting factor in reproduction and any species that doesn't protect the well being of woman is a species that goes extinct. Our instinctual reaction to women getting hurt is a product of that. The traditional society was built on that instinctual principle that women needed protection even if that means reduced freedom. On one side that benefited women generally lived longer, avoid being conscripted in the military and generally women had lower rates of homelessness and extreme poverty. On other hand it oppresses them due to restricted freedom of movement, restricted career opportunies to have economical and political power. Now that human race are no longer living in the hunter gatherer society and in a technologically advance society where everyone has it easy, and we are at no risk of being extinct. These basic instinctual reaction are arguably obsolete but our instinct that got us here still persist. I think that until the day where the general reaction to women getting hurt is, toughen up girl is when I see women playing contact sport to be a viable. However until that day comes, I think Trev concern is 100% right.
Nathan of Perth
Roar Rookie
Long bow from a thin reed.
Nathan of Perth
Roar Rookie
You're making an enormous amount of spurious associations there, to go with the false assumptions. Basically your comment is bad and you should feel bad for having typed it.
Trev
Roar Rookie
So because it's purely Australian they shouldn't play it? Tell your kids not too listen too Cold Chisel, Paul Kelly etc because they also have no international relevance.
Trev
Roar Rookie
In a contact sport like AFL or NRL, it simply can't happen at that level. Imagine Johnathan Brown or Willie Mason running through a woman? would they be labeled woman bashers? that would be my main concern with awollowing them too play at that level, assuming they were good enough.
Matt
Guest
Agree 100%, biggest waste of a sport purely for it's irrelevance to the world. Why any parent would want their daughter doing Auskick is beyond me, it leads nowhere. Get your kids playing International sports where you can get scholarships to Universities, travel the world, meet all races & religions in their backyards.
Matt
Guest
I think that's what he was talking about, it seems in battle of wits you came unarmed.
Alysia Thomas-Sam
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure what the exact rule for excluding women from elite AFL game-play is, but I know that Sal Rees (an acclaimed Victorian Women's Football League player) tried out for the 1995 AFL draft and she was the first woman to try out. This caused great controversy and the AFL draft was later amended to disallow women from taking part. Considering women aren't allowed to take part in the draft, accordingly there was to be no women taking part in an AFL match let alone participate within an AFL team. I'm glad you're interested in the issue even if you don't follow AFL!
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Couldn't have said it better! Got what it deserved.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Just a question as I'm not that aware about this issue as I don't follow AFL but I am interested in issues like this Is there actually any rules forbidding woman to play against men? Has there been a case where a women was good enough to make the team but couldn't due to "women shouldn't play against men" My opinion Should there be rules restricting women to play against men? No. However if there is no rules restricting women to play against men and it still turns out zero women can make the cut, is that a problem? Answer is also no. I don't think most people oppose to women playing against men they just believe that no women would be good enough but they would be happy to be proven wrong. It's just that you haven't pointed out any specific rule restricting woman playing AFL in the article