Football across the country is entering a new age – an age where women can take part in the sport from Auskick through to seniors, without any restrictions.
The AFL announced the teams for its inaugural women’s league season in 2017 on Wednesday.
Eight teams (Cartlon, Collingwood, Brisbane, Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle, Adelaide and GWS) were selected to the league, which will inevitably expand as time goes on.
The creation of the league is validation and opportunity to all women wanting to be part of the sport.
The launch of the league forced me to reflect back to my junior days, when females in football went almost completely unseen.
Particularly, I recall playing on a girl in my under 13s season.
Our team had progressed to the grand final to face the side that had dished us our only losses for the season – they were undefeated.
In that side, playing at full forward, was a girl.
She was notorious among us for destroying our backline on three occasions that season, not including the grand final.
We had strategies to try and stop her but at the end of the day, she was too damn good.
She kicked at least four goals that day and led her side to a 15-point victory over us.
The next year, in under 14s, we came up against that side, and to our relief she was nowhere in sight.
I remember leaning over to my opponent and saying “where’s the girl you guys had? we might actually beat you if she’s not playing.”
He laughed and informed me that we as under 14s were too old, too big and too strong for her to play with us anymore.
At the time, I was rapt with the league’s decision because she could no longer boot bags of goals on us.
But looking back, it was a shame that her development as a football player was stunted just because we were considered to be “bigger” than her.
Now, women don’t have to go in and out of different programs and clinics to have a kick of the footy.
A number of country football leagues have separate women’s leagues, and females are picking up the basic skills and fundamentals that every footballer needs from a young age.
The league, along with women’s football in general, will continue to increase in size and popularity over the coming years.
That is a feat that Australian rules football can be proud of.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
