Would you watch a televised national womens league

[getthefooty]

I watched a few local women's games ages ago and was very underwhelmed with what I saw, and promised myself I wouldn't sit through one again. However after watching the women's cricket world cup recently my views have changed somewhat. There were intricacies in the women's game that don't exist in the men's game simply because whilst it is the same sport, they are clearly two very different games. In the end I was pretty fascinated by a lot of the matches and have followed women's cricket since.

I can only assume this would be the same with AFL, as others have said, if there was a real effort made to assemble the most talented female footballers I would watch it.

 

[jatz14]

Womens football is improving at a rapid rate, so judging it on the basis of a game seen ages ago is a bit unfair. Some people also judge the game by saying, the women dont jump as high, hit as hard or kick as far as the top men. No one says Dawn Fraser was crap because the top male swimmers would have beaten her. AS you say, it needs to be watched and judged on its own merits, and a game style will evolve that will suite womens physicality.

I am looking forward to the Womens warm up game to the Demons Bulldogs game recently announced. It sounds like they are trying to assemble the best players they can. I hope there is video posted some where

My fear is the lack of goals from outside 50, high marks etc will lead some people to dismiss it out of hand, the standard `it doesnt look like male AFL, therefore its crap and we shouldnt bother response`

 

[Thurlow2Mackie]

I like this thread. I would definitely watch it. I wonder though, if women's football tends to be scrappy, if some of the rules can be revised for women? Maybe less players on the field, or rules against flooding.

 

[jatz14]

I like this thread. I would definitely watch it. I wonder though, if women's football tends to be scrappy, if some of the rules can be revised for women? Maybe less players on the field, or rules against flooding.

It does tend to be a bit scrappy, but not because of things like flooding. Flooding is really an AFL tactic, even lower grade mens teams do not do it because of the endurance required. Uneven skills causes the scrappiness, players fumbling the ball get run down, handballs clear get missed, melee ensues. Same as amateurs. Looking at womens footy in America on youtube is like watching a rolling maul. If you get the best players in one national 6 team comp, a lot of the scrappiness will just disappear due to cleaner skills.

 

[Oneiros]

Have to agree that trying to play in the same way as the AFL (as in league, not sport) is not really an option. Focus on the skills rather than the endurance running, allow more to be let go in terms of contact/bumping, more spread out play, and away we go.

The reason we clamp down on contact so much in the men's game (high contact, in the back in tackles, sliding) is because the AFL players strength and speed makes even the minor contact quickly add up. But in semi-professional women athletes, the force will not be as consistently high. Not saying that a woman who would serve as an enforcer/sniper for a national level-team couldn't murder your average pub-going punter in a shirt-front, but it's not the same as Jonathon Brown deciding he'd like to turn another player's 200 bones into 400 bones in a shepherd.

Play to the strengths but don't be silly, sexist or sell it short when deciding what the strengths are.

 

[jatz14]

U18 Girls national championship starts May 5, live streams here http://www.aflvic.com.au/index.php?id=557

 

[jatz14]

Thought I would bump this thread following Gills recent encouragement of womens football stake holders to try to get the womens comp of the ground by 2017 rather than 2020. Possibly looking to tie in to the next broadcast deal?

Very ambitious if that is the case. I still think 2017 is pushing it, even waiting until 2018 would make a big difference with the increasing number of juniors.

However the rapid rise in standards even since this thread started makes it worth the attempt.

The first womens draft game was very good, the second was much better, and this year they will have 2.

Have developments changed peoples opinions?

 

[manboob]

A little but not much. I think it is one of those things that I wouldn't actively seek out but if it were on before or after the AFL matches I would take a look. Doesn't have to be on the same network even. Just available and at a good time.

 

[le dominateur]

Thought I would bump this thread following Gills recent encouragement of womens football stake holders to try to get the womens comp of the ground by 2017 rather than 2020. Possibly looking to tie in to the next broadcast deal?

Very ambitious if that is the case. I still think 2017 is pushing it, even waiting until 2018 would make a big difference with the increasing number of juniors.

However the rapid rise in standards even since this thread started makes it worth the attempt.

The first womens draft game was very good, the second was much better, and this year they will have 2.

Have developments changed peoples opinions?

Any new comp will have teething problems, might as well start it as early as possible. Waiting until 2020 might improve the standard, but I think it is better to get it going even if it is 6 teams, gives all the young players out there something to aim for.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

The WNBL and W-League seems to do okay, so no reason why a national women's AFL comp wouldn't. They can start small, maybe just have 5 teams to begin with (WA, SA, VIC, QLD, NSW) and 10 rounds.

 

[jatz14]

The question just got a little less rhetorical http://www.[NB: girlsplayfooty doma.../04/afl-womens-game-to-make-historic.html?m=1

Possible announcement of 7 broadcasting one of the womens games to be made May 12. Could be a televised womens game as early as next month.

 

[jatz14]

An age article on the match, which is going to be the second match (August) http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...-heading-to-freetoair-tv-20150430-1mwy0q.html

 

[Starburns_]

Conditionally....I might.

It would really depend on how it was implemented. A less is more approach of 6 teams, 10 game season, with clean air on TV so it wasn't clashing with the AFL, and done in such a way as to not be a significant drain on AFL resources, could work.

That said, personally, I doubt it'd attract the same level of interest from me that women's tennis does. Plus I only watched the Foxtel Cup maybe once despite being a fan of the concept.

It'll be very interesting to see how the AFL do this.

Another benefit of aligning teams with AFL clubs is it gives them an instant supporter base.

My immediate reaction to the question would be no, assuming it's just going to be scrappy footy. But if Freo had a team I might, especially if they were any good.

On the flipside of this though, what if the WA team was West Coast? An 18 team women's league would be a disaster, half that number is too many.

Surely alignment is the worst possible idea for launching a women's league, especially in Melbourne (Geelong is perhaps the only way alignment would work). Surely more generic teams (like A-league or BBL) would make more sense, for every fan you gain with alignment, there's almost certainly one more you alienate because they won't support a rival club.

 

[jatz14]

On the flipside of this though, what if the WA team was West Coast? An 18 team women's league would be a disaster, half that number is too many.

Surely alignment is the worst possible idea for launching a women's league, especially in Melbourne (Geelong is perhaps the only way alignment would work). Surely more generic teams (like A-league or BBL) would make more sense, for every fan you gain with alignment, there's almost certainly one more you alienate because they won't support a rival club.

This is their great dilemma in that if they create unaligned teams for the purpose of not alienating existing supporters of clubs, do they end up with teams that do not resonate with anyone. WA has a very good female club team in the Coastal Titans, but they do not draw big crowds, would a 'Perth Princesses' in a Womens AFL resonate more strongly. Its OK to say you cannot have a WCE womens team because of the fear of putting of Freo fans, but a neutral team may not interest either fan group.

Bolded bit is key, is it worth alienating 1 fan, to get another, if the fear of alienating 1 means you get 0. Or can they go their own way and create their own fans. I think it is a question that will be giving the people making the decisions sleepless nights in the years to come as the answer may dictate the viability of the league.

 

[jatz14]

As an example, imagine if Collingwood had a womens team. Tweets about the team, individual players, news from the official Collingwood account to everyone who follows their account. News stories on the Collingwood website, backgrounds on players, staff. Monologues from Eddie on what they want to achieve. Stories on the male players helping out the womens at training. Emailing info and offers to the whole Collingwood membership.

The value of that promotion to the league would be huge. If they get their supporters to the point where they recognise the female players, and know their backstory, the dramas of the team etc, some supporters will become interested in spite of themselves. It might be worth pissing of the faithful of the other clubs for.

 

[Starburns_]

This is their great dilemma in that if they create unaligned teams for the purpose of not alienating existing supporters of clubs, do they end up with teams that do not resonate with anyone. WA has a very good female club team in the Coastal Titans, but they do not draw big crowds, would a 'Perth Princesses' in a Womens AFL resonate more strongly. Its OK to say you cannot have a WCE womens team because of the fear of putting of Freo fans, but a neutral team may not interest either fan group.

Bolded bit is key, is it worth alienating 1 fan, to get another, if the fear of alienating 1 means you get 0. Or can they go their own way and create their own fans. I think it is a question that will be giving the people making the decisions sleepless nights in the years to come as the answer may dictate the viability of the league.

I reckon you have to take the chance of not getting anyone by not aligning, if the teams can't be viable on their own without an alignment, then the argument could be made that maybe they shouldn't exist.

You need tentative, partial alignments with the existing clubs, an embrace everyone approach. If the women's league is going to play curtain raisers (which would be one of the better ways to gain exposure, even if it sacrificed the gate), you share those around (half the home games before WC games, the other half before Freo). Assuming a 6 team league has WA, SA, NSW, QLD and two Vic teams, you split the Victorian teams by the two Melbourne stadiums. The only issue with this is if it reaches a point of expansion, that 6 team comp may become a 10 team comp (3xMelbourne, 1xGeelong, 2xWA, 2xSA, 1xNSW, 1xQld), and the non-alignment in WA and SA becomes a problem, but at least by then it's probably a healthy, established league.

It's a tough call to specifically align teams, if you align with Collingwood for the exposure, you create a greater gap between the haves and have nots from a fan perspective. If you give Melbourne or North a team, it probably dies because the existing fanbase isn't large enough to sustain a team that's still niche.

If you want people to care about the league, you can't alienate half of the potential fans before you've even begun, because you're not guaranteed to reach the half that you didn't alienate anyway. You have to have faith in the product organically drawing them in.

 

[jatz14]

Reading between the lines on Gillons comments, I strongly suspect it will be a comp aligned to existing clubs. He stated 'There is a great level of support from the clubs, and this year, there has been a great deal of jockeying and jostling' If the teams are not aligned, then what are the clubs jostling about?

 

[Gus Poyet]

I probably would once it improved to where the game play was better than wathcing my local clubs U/18 games.

At this stage though it's not to that level. Getting better though.

 

[Gus Poyet]

The umpires in this game have been horrible though.

 

[SgtSchulz]

The teams have to be parallel to the current clubs.

 

[Starburns_]

Reading between the lines on Gillons comments, I strongly suspect it will be a comp aligned to existing clubs. He stated 'There is a great level of support from the clubs, and this year, there has been a great deal of jockeying and jostling' If the teams are not aligned, then what are the clubs jostling about?

'Jostling' could mean many things though, from the ambitious attempts to have their own team, to even partial offerings like access to club training facilities, or interest in having a women's curtain raiser.

That said, it doesn't look good. Club alignment would kill the league before it got started. Either the teams already trying get squeezed by the bigger clubs (which sends a very bad message to those clubs), or the bigger clubs aren't represented and the league has even less eyeballs.

Speaking personally, in a women's competition I am probably no more inclined to support Richmond than a generic franchise (my interest is the spectacle and standard), I wouldn't be watching Bulldogs, Melbourne, or anyone else though.

The teams have to be parallel to the current clubs.

There isn't the money, the talent pool, or even the demand for women's footy in general to do that across 18 clubs.

No idea why people are averse to 'franchises', one third of the AFL fall into that category, and every other major competition in this country, aside from the NRL (BBL, NBL, A-League, netball), is composed entirely of such teams.

 

[Gus Poyet]

They need to be aligned to local football clubs or regions.

I help a mate out coach an u/16's girls team. It's aligned to my mens seniors club.

That way it allows for them just to be incorporated into the club and the benefits that entails i.e insurance, facilities, grounds etc

A Victorian comp that was built around the regions would be the best way to get it to a certain level. Such as the GFL in Geelong region having its own squad which in turn could play the Ballarat region, the Bendigo region, the Shepp region, split Melbourne up into 3 por 4 regions. That way you'd instantly have 8 teams around the state with support from local clubs in those leagues as well as the AFL.

 

[Starburns_]

A Victorian comp that was built around the regions would be the best way to get it to a certain level. Such as the GFL in Geelong region having its own squad which in turn could play the Ballarat region, the Bendigo region, the Shepp region, split Melbourne up into 3 por 4 regions. That way you'd instantly have 8 teams around the state with support from local clubs in those leagues as well as the AFL.

That's not exactly a national competition though, and it still dilutes the pool.

The end game here for the AFL (judging by what they've said on it) seems to be a competition that gives a pathway to female athletes to play football on at least a semi-professional basis.

 

[Gus Poyet]

That's not exactly a national competition though, and it still dilutes the pool.

The end game here for the AFL (judging by what they've said on it) seems to be a competition that gives a pathway to female athletes to play football on at least a semi-professional basis.

The AFL are morons though.

Their business plan is if you throw enough money at something it will eventually stick.

 

[Starburns_]

The AFL are morons though.

Their business plan is if you throw enough money at something it will eventually stick.

McLachlan still appears to be more savvy than his predecessors though, so you never know.