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AllFlying |
Footballers
finally winning respect
Despite
AFL being one of the most popular sports in the country, women have struggled
over many years to gain acceptance as serious participants. But as Sam Ryan
found out, things are changing.
 Australian
Rules Football is renowned for its toughness - it's a sport that separates the
men from the boys. But despite the bravado and macho-ism that gets tossed around
by 'rough-head' footy commentators, footy is by no means purely a 'mans' game
anymore.
It's been a little over ninety years since women first played competition
Australian Football, but there was little progress from that time until a few
years ago.
RMIT University PhD football history researcher Peter Burke says that the First
World War prompted many local football clubs and competitions go into recess, in
order to encourage the men to enlist in the armed forces. Local employees in
Perth organised female staff into teams, as a show of patriotism, in the hope
"that male footballers would be enthused to enlist after seeing that
football was just a game that even girls could play," Burke said recently
in a story for the RMIT University website.
Participants took the games seriously, despite many onlookers considering them
to be no more than a 'novelty', but after the war support for women's football
again faded.
Mr Burke notes, however, that things are now changing.
"Women's football is one of the fastest growing sports in primary and
secondary schools in Victoria. One of the most unique features of Australian
football has been the prominent role played by women in supporting and following
the game."
In fact, 36 per cent of all AFL club members are women and an estimated that 45
per cent of all AFL supporters are female. This may be partly due to the success
of Channel Nine's football-variety program The Footy Show, and its
particular appeal to females, who form up to 50 per cent of its audience. It is
clear women are interested in the game, but are the opportunities there for
those who want to play?
While sports such as basketball, hockey, tennis and athletics, to name but a
few, seem to embrace their female athletes almost as much as their male
counterparts, women's football players have, until recently, struggled to even
form leagues or access development programs, let alone gain exposure.
Figures from this year's AFL census, which documents data taken from
competitions and development programs in 2004, shows that participants in
women's competitions now stands at 7066 around the country. Compared to the
268,611 participants in club competition football this figure seems quite small,
but there is definitely some momentum behind the growth of women's football
given this participation rate has more than tripled since 1999.
AFL Census figures for Queensland are particularly interesting. The sunshine
state boasts the highest number of participants in women's competitions, with
2732 -- more than double that of the second highest Western Australia (1,355),
and close to three times that of the 'sports-mad' Victorians (972).
Cairns is the hotspot of women's football in Queensland, with a thriving
six-team competition, and healthy crowds showing their support. Keiran Daley is
the AFL Queensland Trainee Development Manager, and hopes to extend this success
to new leagues in Townsville and Mackay, where support for trial matches has
been strong.
Amy Fletcher, a Queenslander who took up the game a short ten months ago after
being turned onto it by her Victorian partner, told ABC Online she finds the
sport more free flowing than others she has played.
In Queensland, girls make up 22 per cent of all Auskick participants. The game
has become so popular among young girls that the AFL has set up two all-girl
Auskick centres in Queensland, St Hilda's School in Southport and St Margaret's
Anglican School in Ascot.
There are leagues running in every state and territory of Australia except
Tasmania, as well as the AFL National Women's Championships, played annually
since 1991.
Women are even taking up the game in America where three teams -- Atlanta Lady
Kookaburras, Arizona Lady Hawks and Florida Fusion, with players from the
Milwaukee Lady Bombers splitting up and making up numbers on the other teams --
recently contested the first ever USAFL Women's Championship. The contest was
played over the weekend of October 1 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Atlanta
coming out victorious.
These women have set out to prove that their brand of football is not just a
novelty, but a one to be taken seriously, that can be just as enjoyable and
exciting as the men's.
By Sam
Ryan
(Nov 2005)
Did you know?
Some interesting facts about women in football
*There are 2,876 girls in Victoria's Auskick program.
*52 female-only football clinics and programs were conducted this year in
Victoria.
*Over four million AFL fans are women, about half Australia's female population.
*The number of female football players has increased nationally from 2,222 in
1999 to 7,066 players in 2004.
*46 per cent of the Brisbane Lions club members are female.
Story Links
RMIT -- AFL
football not always a man's domain
International Australian Football Council -- Women
AFL Census 2004
USAFL website
ABC Online - Women
pull on the jersey
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