Gillon McLachlan
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Football forever changed for the better in 2015.
With our announcement to form a national women’s league and the immediate build of an industry-wide plan to support that new league, we have witnessed a tide of change that has built on and amplified the amazing work over many decades by the pioneers of women’s football.
It saw a re-set of Australia’s iconic football code immediately take place. From a sport that for more than a century had focused on the pursuits of sporting excellence for men, it now offered women and girls an elite competition with talent pathways to provide both inspiration and aspiration.
That was impossible without the incredible work of those thousands of pioneering women players, coaches and administrators who worked for years to build the opportunities for women and girls at community level and kept pushing for a national competition and a national pathway. We are here today because of their passion and commitment.
Since the introduction of a national league, we have witnessed unprecedented growth in both the AFLW and in women’s participation. Eight club licenses were awarded within a year and an official competition was in place inside two years – and in 2017 we launched the AFLW, whose arrival inspired so many girls to take up our game. In 2018, the overall number of women and girls playing our national game was one-third of our total football participation around the country. More than half a million girls and women were now playing our game.
Since our AFLW debut, we have enabled further growth and progression, adding two more clubs in 2019, followed by four more in 2020, before announcing that all 18 clubs would field a team by our seventh season, commencing late 2022. Now our competition is whole and with this has come increased opportunity for Australian girls and women:
» Opportunity to train and develop in high-performance environments and play elite Australian Football.
» A chance to live out their dreams and ambitions as footballers.
» Play a leadership role in enabling women’s sport and women in sport’s governance.
But there is still so much to be done.
Rapid growth, both at community level and at the elite level, brings us the challenge and responsibility to ensure we have enough ovals to play on, umpires to officiate games, administrators to run competitions and the pathways for players to pursue their dreams – to play in the AFLW or for the love of community football.
The AFLW is the jewel of football for women and girls. As our players lead on the football field, we will continue to lead off field and make decisions for the betterment of women’s football – a game we want to succeed and flourish. Growth can often cause pain and as frustrating as it might be, some of the detail is still to be determined, however the possibilities are endless and we will work to maximise the opportunities ahead of us. It is a key priority for the AFL to continue to create and support more opportunities for women in every part of our game and at every level of our game.
All parts of our game must exist together, community and elite, to strengthen our base and sustain for the long-term. We must make the right decisions at the right time – these decisions must be agile and flexible within a sporting landscape that is evolving quickly, thus ensuring the long-term health and future growth of girls and women’s football at every level.
What is vitally important for women’s Australian Football is for these next steps to be taken with the whole of our industry working together to build our game. From players, coaches and clubs at all levels, through to communities and government, it is the responsibility of ALL to get it right.
I look forward to working together to create the sustainable and successful future we all desire.
Gillon McLachlan
CEO AFL
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