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Women Playing Football.

© Corrina Huxham

“Anything a man can do, women can too.” A line used in this day and age of equality between the sexes. What does this have to do with Aussie Rules football I hear you ask? It does because women play Australian Rules football too. They may not be better than the men, but they are certainly making a go of it. We may never see a battle of the sexes on the football field as we do with other sports such as golf and tennis, but the women involved truly love watching, supporting and yes playing football. There are women’s football leagues through out the country, even an annual national competition that resulted in a national body for women’s football being formed.

The oldest women’s football league was established in Victoria back in 1981. The Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL) commenced with only four teams playing in an open age competition. Nowadays there are sixteen clubs playing, forming enough teams to fill three divisions. The formation of the third division occurred this year, and it allows for beginners to play without being intimidated by more experienced players. The VWFL now has teams with various skill levels, catering to all types of women from as young as twelve up to women in their forties. For more information check out their website at http://www.vwfl.org.au

The women interested in playing football and living in Western Australia should check out http://www.wawfl.org.au the Western Australian Women’s Football League (WAWFL) Internet site. Formed in 1987, the WAWFL had four teams playing in its first year. The league has grown steadily throughout the following years, and with seven teams playing in 1999, the league introduced night games. This season, however, there are only four teams playing.

In 1994, the WAWFL sent it’s first state team to South Australia to play in an interstate match. In 1998, a team was sent to represent Western Australia in the first national women’s competition. Teams have participated in this carnival type competition in 1999; however, there has been no WAWFL State teams sent in 2000 or 2001 for various reasons including lack of funding.

History shows back in 1993, the women associated with the Northern Territory Football Association (NTFA) Clubs University and Banks, challenged each other to a football match. The two clubs are bitter rivals on the football field, and this rivalry extended to the exhibition matches. Two games were played, and the women enjoyed playing so much, that a match was organised against the Jabiru women. This continued until 1996, when due to a lack of competition and subsequently lack of interest, the team disbanded. However, the ladies made plans to start up a competition some time in the future. Interest started to increase once again in 1999 when a small group of women started training on a regular basis. During the next twelve months, exhibition matches were played for both the NTFA and NTFL (Northern Territory Football League), which were well received and generated more interest. As a result, the women started their own 9-a-side competition at both schoolgirl and senior levels and the Northern Territory Women’s Football League (NTWFL) was born. Interest and participation increased and culminated with a team being sent to Canberra in 2000 to represent the Northern Territory at the National championships. The web address for the NTWFL is http://www.geocities.com/womensfootball/...