Last year, I regularly went to VFLW (Victorian Football League Women’s) games as a friend of mine was playing. For what was then the premier league of women’s football, the contrasts between the playing conditions were extreme.
It felt haphazard, and really it seemed to have little oversight by any governing body. Compared to the VFL itself, it felt like a distant cousin.
But with the success of the AFLW this season, and its planned expansion over the next couple of years, the AFL now seem determined to create pathways for young players.
On the face of it, this is a good thing, but the way they have done it means that some of the history and uniqueness of the competition are going in order for the AFL to have complete control.
Six new teams will enter the VFLW next year, five of them aligned with AFL clubs. This has pushed three major clubs out of the competition – the St Kilda Sharks, Diamond Creek and the Eastern Devils – all of which have a rich history.
Additionally, the licences of Seaford and Cranbourne have been transferred to other clubs. Luckily, both Melbourne Uni and Darebin, the two most successful clubs, have managed to stay in (Although with Melbourne Uni in an alignment with North Melbourne). With many of the teams with new licences also getting AFLW teams over the coming years, there is a risk that the VFLW might become a glorified reserves competition, just like the VFL has become.
This would be a disaster.
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Before the VFLW begun, women’s football was governed by the VWFL (Victorian Women’s Football League) – a competition with a history stretching back to 1981. The creation of the VFLW was a step towards creating a more professional league, which lined up with the VFL season. Part of this included double-heading games with VFL men’s matches, in order to increase exposure of women’s football.
This increased exposure seemed to work. The 2016 VFLW grand final at Piranha Park, in Coburg, was larger than many VFL crowds, and they were treated to a triple-header, with the Division 1 and Premier Division of the VWFL, and VFLW grand finals all held on the one day.
This year, the VFLW grand final was played on the same day as the VFL – which increased exposure for the VFLW, but lessened the exposure and the link to the lower divisions of the women’s game.
All the women’s teams of the VWFL now play in regional competitions linked to the men’s, which has probably increased efficiency, and increased the number of clubs playing, but might have caused an unintended break between the elite and lower levels of the game.
Just as an aside, when the VFLW was created, none of the award names transferred to the new competition. So instead of winning the Helen Lambert Medal for the best and fairest, players simply win the nameless and soulless VFLW Best and Fairest award. While this might sound like a small thing, it shows a break with history, and while a break with the past is sometimes necessary, there usually has to be good reason behind it.
It seems that the AFL wants to take sole credit for growing the women’s game, when the VWFL was responsible for a lot of the growth. By deleting names that went hand-in-hand with women’s football, the AFL has assumed complete control and wiped out its past. This is not a good thing.
Women’s football has an extremely positive future. Participation is up, as are the number of clubs participating. At the elite level, the AFLW looks poised to continue its growth. However, at the level between the elite and the lower leagues, the AFL’s interference has created a situation where the competition risks losing its soul.
Women’s football in Victoria has a rich history, it can’t be simply thrown away. A soulless competition is not good for anyone.
republican
Guest
........thats fine, if you are happy to support sport at this tier, which I personally consider obscene and oxymoronic. If you do support plastic consumer leagues i.e. the AFL, then you don't have the right to bemoan the abject compromising of any cultural aspect of the code, thats all Im saying. You either support it or you don't, while I don't. You cannot have your cake & eat it too in my opinion......
Darren
Guest
You mean if women's footy wasn't so popular the AFLW wouldn't exist and we would just have a suburban league? This article may help you: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/sharp-female-spike-helps-afl-break-participation-record-again-20171130-gzvurd.html
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Republican When you had the Frank Lowy funded FFA poaching John O'Neill from the ARU, then Ben Buckley from the AFL and then David Gallop from the NRL - well, you can see that there are market forces at play that determine the pay rates more than anything else. The AFL does not operate in a vacuum. The NRL is a code that is 'slave to television'. The AFL has resisted on more fronts and for longer. But commercial pragmatism generally finds a way to win out.
I ate pies
Guest
Without the hijacking women's footy wouldn't be expanding, and would still be just Darebin dominating a local league. Maybe I need to put things in simpler terms.
Cat
Roar Guru
Liam
Guest
... what? Gridiron is a sport that is only attended at big meaningful events - the Superbowl, for example - otherwise the attendance is patchy at best. AFL is attended better than any other sport in Australia, with the exception perhaps being State of Origin - again, another event based spectacle, and even then the attendance is rivaled by a Richmond home game. When you're presenting an analogy, it helps if the things you're comparing are alike.
Jarren
Guest
The AFL seemed determined to create pathways for young players? How so very dare they. As for awards, the VFLW is a completely different comp to the VWFL. That it has some of the same teams is an accident of history, and probably a mistake. Not sure how the awards could carry over. They are left with souless names for now while history is built to enable them to be given a name that resonates with that comp. The VFLW was created to have a comp sitting between suburban footy and national footy. A comp where clubs had the facilities and resources to fast track development. If that could have been provided by the old suburban clubs of the VWFL, then it should have stayed that way. If not, its hard to see why they put those suburban clubs in it. Ideally, the VFLW should never have had Cranbourne, St Kilda etc in it to start with. Suburban clubs should have been left in suburban leagues with suburban awards, and the VFLW created over the top from scratch.
Darren
Guest
VFLW, state league, was the premier league and now AFLW, national league, is which has ramifications. Not quite sure what your point is. Although I agree with maintaining trophy names.
Cat
Roar Guru
And your point is what exactly?
Cat
Roar Guru
The usual republican clap trap. Who said anything about a 'beacon of virtue'? So the CEO gets paid a commensurate salary as any other CEO does. What's the big deal?
republican
Guest
........to pay its CEO and higher echelon salaries akin to what any multi national would. The AFL is hardly a beacon of virtue in respect of the indigenous code Cat, especially as long as it remains a slave to television.......
Cat
Roar Guru
When it produces and provides most of the funding ...
Glenn
Guest
Unfortunately the AFL thinks it owns the game and everything flows from there.
I ate pies
Guest
Women's footy has no chance on its own. The only reason people go to watch them is because they are wearing the jumpers of AFL teams. If they were playing in stand alone teams the highest level would still be the VFLW and no-one would be watching them, or paying them to play. Women's footy owes everything to the AFL.
republican
Guest
.......they completely decimated our rich local ACTAFL but unlike WA & SA as two analogies, we continue to be be cynically exploited by the governing body, with NO recognition whatsoever of our footy pedigree, so NO AFL entity of our own, unlike WA & SA......
republican
Guest
......the AFL is an insatiable commercial behemoth, akin to any multi national really. They are all about exclusive control over all competition, so of course they are 'hijacking' the womens game as they have in respect of the mens game. Most Australians now refer to our indigenous code as AFL which indicates just how successful they have been in this respect. The AFL are a self perpetuating empire, solely dependent on television. Perhaps they will need to pay heed to what is happening with the American equivalent, i.e. Gridiron, where ratings are dropping significantly, as reported in the Fairfax media today...........
Kurt
Guest
SHOCK, HORROR, national comp trys to use local clubs to feed supporter numbers.
Johnny Dalmas
Guest
Sounds a little like what has happened in the men's game: the AFL dominates other leagues with a rich history and who have grown the game in their local area (here I'm thinking the WAFL and SANFL in particular). With very little acknowledgement or compensation to these other leagues for their efforts. At least in he case of the WAFL and SANFL the AFL haven't killed off any clubs -- although recently the AFL did try to change the Colts WAFL competition to separate it from the seniors and reduce the teams from 9 to 6.