AFL Victoria, the Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL) and AFL South East have released plans to establish a regional division of the VWFL for 2016. This progression comes on the back of extraordinary growth of the game at all levels of the female sector of the sport and is a key part of the strategy to establish national, state, premier and localized female competitions.
8 teams are targeted for the inaugural year of the regional competition; with these being a collection of newly formed teams and others from the lower grades of established clubs. The competition would remain under the management and control of the VWFL in the first year, transferring to a local administrative structure in 2017 under the AFL South East Commission.
Discussions are continuing with a number of clubs regarding the creation of new teams, however the VWFL and AFL South East are extremely confident that the goal of an 8 team competition will be realized in the first year.
AFL South East region general manager Jeremy Bourke said that this move was an exciting development for the region and a reflection of the level of interest female football has created in the region.
"To think that in 2013, we had one Youth Girls team on the Mornington Peninsula and now we have over 20 Youth and Junior Girls teams is just extraordinary. Combine that with the growth of female football in the South East Juniors, our region has had the most significant increase in participation in female football in Australia over the past 2 years. The creation of a regional senior women’s competition is the natural progression and we are extremely excited to be the first in Victoria for this to occur".
In announcing the plans, AFL Victoria’s female football manager Darren Flanigan said, "The unprecedented growth of female football allows the VWFL to join forces with AFL South east and create the first ever regional women’s competition in Victoria. The VWFL and AFL Victoria see region competitions as a vital step for all female footballers to gain access to open age competitions without the need to travel to metropolitan Melbourne to participate in their sport of choice."
Further details around team composition will be released shortly. Any club interested in fielding teams in the new competition are asked to contact AFL Victoria on 8341 6000.
Last Modified on 04/01/2016 12:12