Marconi Stadium’s western grandstand was packed at the start of the month, because the Wanderers have a wonderful supporter base and Perth superstar Sam Kerr was playing!
It was a fun day out at an old school ground that gave the fans great exposure to the players, especially afterwards when a sea of fans, male and female, lined up to get a photo or autograph with Kerr. Wanderers keeper Jada Whyman and skipper Erica Holloway also proved popular.
Sadly, this fantastic occasion was not broadcast on TV.
So why isn’t FFA ensuring every single W-League game is broadcast? There is Foxtel, ABC, Ten, SBS or even YouTube or iFollow.
By scheduling W-League games before or even after A-League games, you increase the chances of these games being covered and minimise the cost to TV networks since the cameras are already there. There are plenty of fiscal reasons why this doesn’t happen – after all, no one is going to throw away money – but in the long term, by exposing the league you can get more fans and then more quality players, who will bring in more fans.
Melbourne Victory veteran Laura Spiranovic, who has been involved in the W-League for several years agrees.
“It provides an opportunity for viewers to connect with the W-League more often – familiarising themselves with the players and the teams, which hopefully encourages interest and in turn helps the game to grow,” says Spiranovic.
Melbourne City utility keeper and Galaxy United WNPL star Emily Kenshole also supports this view.
“All A-League games are broadcast on tv, so why shouldn’t the w-league?” says Kenshole.
“Women’s football is continually growing so allowing the country to watch all games on tv is only going to benefit and enhance the women’s game more.”
If we look at other sports, how did the AFL become popular in Sydney? It didn’t happen overnight. They had live games on Channel Seven on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for years. They exposed their product and showed people how good it could be. When the Swans started being successful things clicked.
Same can go for women’s football. Our Matildas are hot right now! Why not promote the W-League on the back of that? The Sam Kerr factor is huge, yet how many people out there know where she is playing next weekend?
She played in Newcastle a few Saturdays ago, in what was a huge treat for the Novocastrian football community. The rest of us wouldn’t have minded watching her play either, but I personally didn’t fancy a three-hour trip to the Hunter. But I may have switched on the TV for a bit just to watch it.
That was a huge opportunity lost for the women’s game. The W-League is sadly still a hidden diamond!
Chris
Guest
Agreed football is the biggest participation sport in Australia and women And girls play a big part of that . Sam Kerr needs to be on every billboard around the country she is a true world superstar and all Aussies love to get on the bandwagon supporting a superstar. There are so many good news stories with the W league it just needs marketing and as you say getting all games broadcast .
Kangajets
Guest
My 3 dogs Scooby Lilly and cookie were allowed to be signed up gws members this year . True story. Afl pets membership Unfortunately they won’t attend the games though
punter
Guest
Yet gets 13K to the biggest game of AFL in Sydney, the biggest event of AFL in Sydney, against one of the top teams in the world, 7K couldn't be bother turning up, amazing.
JANAKAN
Guest
Punter GWS has 20,000 members. Not doing bad at all for a traditionally non afl area
JANAKAN
Guest
NOn existent?? The swans had 58,000 members in 2017? The giants 13,000. Brisbane had 21,000 and the Gold Coast 11,000 despite being in a rugby league state and being at the bottom for years. A league clubs would kill for these numbers.
Redb
Roar Guru
I'm a reprobate from the FLOG days on the SMH, eh punter.
chris
Guest
"Definitely a football fan but i am a realist too" Being a realist, can you explain the almost non existence of AFL in the northern states?
chris
Guest
Exactly Waz. Bobbym wouldnt have a clue. Maybe he needs to get out more and see how many kids turn up to football clinics etc. Many of them girls btw. I recently attended a clinic where the juniors got to meet Sydney FC players for autographs and ask questions. There were close to 200 girls there and they loved seeing their heroines in the flesh
Kangajets
Guest
Polkiinghorne is a tough nut in defence .
LuckyEddie
Guest
Pretty big overseas to I hear, from no one. If the AFL game was any good surely after 100 years some country any country would play it, but no one has bothered.
LuckyEddie
Guest
The AFL have bags of money and buy off any opposition, in particular schools. My daughter attended a primary school where the only inter school winter sport available to boys and girls was AFL. The kids did not like the game but the school loved it, it was all paid for by the AFL. The dodgy AFL then tried to pass these kids off as stats to show how the game was growing in QLD. All a paid up con job. The school changed the system when parents told them what to do with the aussie rules, sideways.
Nemesis
Guest
Are you saying there are not at least 2x half page ads each week in the Courier Mail when Brisbane is playing at home? I haven't read a print newspaper for around 15 years, so I can't say for sure if there are ads in the Melbourne newspapers but I do see screen shots from the Herald Sun football writers (Matt Windley & David Davutovic) and I'm sure I see ads for ALeague & WLeague regularly in those screenshots from their newspaper.
Lionheart
Guest
The last Roar home game had a lot of advertising in the Courier Mail. Wasted money really, anyone reading the Football page in the CM is already hard core. Maybe they'd pick up a few fans, but I doubt not too many. Driving home after the previous Roar home game I heard the match advertised on FM radio. This was after the game, an advertisement to go to the game. Crazy, wasted and you'd hope a simple mistake, but I do wonder as I've heard this post-match advertising before. I wonder if anyone is at home sometimes. But I do think FM radio is a great target audience for A League advertising.
Waz
Guest
“So, $12m won’t go far“ .... correct! But where is it going? It’s not going into newspaper Ads! It’s not going into TV Ads! It’s not going into Radio! Plenty of people comment the ffa/HAL don’t spend on marketing but clearly they do, to the tune of $12.4m, so if people aren’t seeing it, where does it all go?
Betty B
Guest
Tameka Butt, scored against US but gets no creds. IMO a better footballer than S Kerr. Then there's KK, playing in Europe now and no longer in W League but she's the key to Matildas' future success. Certainly our best midfielder. And Polknghorne, among the best defenders in the world, playing weekly and keeps S Kerr goal-less when they match up. This nonsense anout S Kerr being Australia's best female athlete (that honour goes to Sally Pearson), is like calling Tim Cahill our best. Sam's great, but she has plenty of competition for the best title.
chris
Guest
Waz - wishful thinking. The mods on this site are very protective of their AFL fans. Lots of inappropriate comments stay on while Ive had comments deleted that are nowhere near as parochial and personal.
Kangajets
Guest
Chris Afl fan wrote this article, he’s bored waiting for Alf to invent the wafl again
chris
Guest
Redb hangs around the football tabs pretending he is non-plussed about it all. Lots of "lol" and "aww soccer boys upset" type responses.
chris
Guest
Yes trust him the AFL is absolutely HUGE in Sydney. Just ignore the 40k watching on Ch 7, the 13k that attended a major semi and the barren AFL grounds on a weekend. Apart from that its HUGE.
chris
Guest
"Personally i wouldnt go out of my way to watch W league same as most people" Why did you write this article?