AFL Women's (AFLW)

AFL Women’s (AFLW) is a national semi-professional Australian Rules football league for women. Operated by the Australian Football League (AFL), the AFLW made its debut with a roster of eight teams in 2017. The league subsequently expanded to ten teams in 2019, fourteen teams in 2020, and eighteen teams in 2022. Despite facing controversies over issues like gender-based pay disparities and sexist reactions from critics, the AFLW quickly became one of Australia’s most popular sports leagues. Drawing sell-out crowds and impressive television ratings, the AFLW helped raised the AFL’s annual revenue to a record-breaking A$794 million in 2019. More importantly, the popularity of the AFLW has boosted participation in the sport amongst Australia’s female athletes and increased interest in women’s sports with spectators and the Australian sports media alike. This is particularly the case with women’s Australian Rules football, which largely struggled to attract and maintain participants or gain much public attention until the creation of the AFLW.

Background

One of Australia’s most popular sports, Australian Rules football has a long and celebrated history. Although the game has evolved considerably over time, some form of Australian Rules football has existed since 1841. Footy, as the game is commonly called, originated in the Australian state of Victoria before eventually gaining popularity across the country. The professional version of the game got its start with the formation of the AFL in 1896. Since that time, Australian Rules football has become a beloved national institution unrivalled in the Australian sports world.

Australian Rules football is played on a large oval field called a pitch. Two pairs of tall posts are positioned at either end of the pitch. These posts represent two separate scoring areas, with the two front posts at each end of the pitch serving as the scoring area for goals and the rear posts acting as the scoring area for behinds. The game is played using an oval ball made of leather. The primary object of Australian Rules football is to score points by getting the ball through one of the goals.

Each team fields a squad of eighteen players at a time, with four more players available to enter the game from the interchange bench as necessary. Every game is comprised of four twenty-minute periods, which each period starting when the umpire bounces the ball in the center circle. Once the ball is bounced and officially ‘in play,’ the players may contest for possession of the ball. As play unfolds, players move the ball around the field through kicking, handballing and running.

Points can be earned by scoring goals or behinds. Goals, which are worth six points, are scored when a player kicks the ball through the two middle posts without it being touched by another player. Behinds, which are worth one point, are scored when a player kicks the ball between the inside and outside posts or strikes one of the taller posts. Behinds can also be scored when the ball is carried over the goal line and between any of the posts. The final score is tallied so as to reflect the number of goals and behinds scored in the game and the team with the most points at the end of play is declared the winner.

Overview

Although female professional Australian Rules football did not come into existence until the twenty-first century, women have played the game since it was first developed. The road to a professional Australian Rules football league began when the AFL started occasionally hosting female exhibition matches and round-robin tournaments in the early twentieth century. In the years that followed, many female Australian Rules football players joined to organize and participate in their own amateur competitions on the local and regional levels. The first step towards founding a professional league for women came when the AFL called for a formal review of women’s football across the country in 2010. The resulting report showed that creating a professional women’s league was a viable possibility. Bolstered by these findings, the AFL moved forward with plans to start its own women’s league. Eventually known as the AFLW, the league was initially set to begin play in 2020, but ultimately had its start date moved up to 2017 due to an overwhelming outpouring of support.

Rather than establishing a series of entirely new clubs, the AFL instead opted to give its existing clubs the opportunity to put together their own female professional teams. After thirteen of the league’s eighteen clubs submitted bids to purchase AFLW franchises, the league selected eight clubs to participate in the AFLW season. The clubs taking part in the inaugural 2017 season included Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle, Adelaide Crows, Greater Western Sydney Giants and Brisbane Lions. That year, the AFLW played a 28-match competition that began with an opening match that pitted the Collingwood Magpies against the Carlton Blues on February 3, 2017 and ended with the Adelaide Crows earning a 35-to-29 win over the Brisbane Lions in the grand finale.

Although there was some resistance from critics who opposed the idea of women playing Australian Rules football, the AFLW enjoyed an overwhelming level of support across the country. Thanks to this support, the league was able to start expanding ahead of the 2019 season with the addition of the Geelong Cats and North Melbourne. The AFLW expanded again in 2020 when Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast were welcomed into the league. In 2022, Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, and Sydney were added as well, just before the start of the seventh season.

While AFLW play is similar to AFL play in most respects, there are some key differences. One noticeable difference is the AFLW clubs only field sixteen players at a time. AFLW games are also designed to be a bit shorter than AFL games because each quarter lasts seventeen minutes instead of the traditional twenty. Also, AFLW teams are allowed sixty rotations per team per match, as opposed to the men's fifty rotations per team per match. In addition, the ball used in AFLW is slightly smaller than its AFL equivalent so as to better suit female players and so that it can be kicked further. These and other variations help make AFLW as safe and exciting as possible.

Bibliography

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