Local Womens International Footy

TWLS

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The article below talks about the ongoing development of Womens footy in New Zealand particularly the Auckland Region.
The NZ National team - The Kahus -- Kahu means Hawk -- currently sit at the U18 level but will graduate to Seniors by the time the 2017 International Cup arrives and the NZAFL have said they will be there.
The number of Secondary Schools that have AFL programs albeit small in some cases has grown in the last 5 years in NZ due to the hard work of AFLNZ and its volunteers.
The upcoming two matches against the touring Australian Indigenous Woomeras will bring further development for the NZ Women.
The Woomeras - Woomeras symbolises strength and power - were formed in May 2014 as a National U18 female Indigenous development program for footy, personal growth and leadership and they toured to NZ last year as well. This is another big step for the Indigenous players and International Womens footy in general. Speaking of International Womens footy we will cover more stories as we find them.
http://aflnz.co.nz/blog/2015/12/01/nz-kahu-squad-announced-to-take-on-woomeras/
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
The article below talks about the ongoing development of Womens footy in New Zealand particularly the Auckland Region.
The NZ National team - The Kahus -- Kahu means Hawk -- currently sit at the U18 level but will graduate to Seniors by the time the 2017 International Cup arrives and the NZAFL have said they will be there.
The number of Secondary Schools that have AFL programs albeit small in some cases has grown in the last 5 years in NZ due to the hard work of AFLNZ and its volunteers.
The upcoming two matches against the touring Australian Indigenous Woomeras will bring further development for the NZ Women.
The Woomeras - Woomeras symbolises strength and power - were formed in May 2014 as a National U18 female Indigenous development program for footy, personal growth and leadership and they toured to NZ last year as well. This is another big step for the Indigenous players and International Womens footy in general. Speaking of International Womens footy we will cover more stories as we find them.
http://aflnz.co.nz/blog/2015/12/01/nz-kahu-squad-announced-to-take-on-woomeras/

Womens footy overseas has been growing steadily in recent years.
One location where that expansion has taken off is the AFL London Womens Comp. Formed this year with 4 teams and they will no doubt expand as they go forward and also recruit from other sports.
Their first Premiership was won by the Wandsworth Demons 5.5.35 who beat the Wimbledon Hawks 1.2.8. We noted they both had squads of 22.
The article below describes their formation and its influence already on Womens Footy in Europe. We hope they get to the 2017 International Cup in one form or another (GB or England).
http://www.afllondon.com/womensfooty
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
Womens footy overseas has been growing steadily in recent years.
One location where that expansion has taken off is the AFL London Womens Comp. Formed this year with 4 teams and they will no doubt expand as they go forward and also recruit from other sports.
Their first Premiership was won by the Wandsworth Demons 5.5.35 who beat the Wimbledon Hawks 1.2.8. We noted they both had squads of 22.
The article below describes their formation and its influence already on Womens Footy in Europe. We hope they get to the 2017 International Cup in one form or another (GB or England).
http://www.afllondon.com/womensfooty

The link below is about the recent tour of New Zealand by The Woomeras AFL Indigineous team
http://aflnz.co.nz/blog/2015/12/14/woomeras-tour-of-nz-a-big-success/

A couple of points here --
The Kahus were formed in 2013 out of the various AFLNZ High School comps and Aussie Rules is a completely new sport for the players.
However they will soon pick up the game as time goes by.
Also the Woomeras is a great concept as it gives the players a pathway to the new league because there will be scouts checking out these type of tours. We hope this particular tour idea continues perhaps to PNG.
 

jatz14

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Dec 13, 2011
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The advantage AFL has is that womens sport in general is still in such a poor state, that they can be a shinning light quite quickly.
 

TWLS

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I would use the terminology "formative state" rather than "poor state". It's come a very long way, off of a small base in a very short time.

I think Jatz14 means Womens sport in general and being low paid/conditions compared to the Mens sports.
However that can change -- The Lynx Womens Basketball team based in Perth is now part of the very successful- The Wildcats Mens Basketball team Franchise- and are now sitting on top of their comps ladder-(WNBL)- We dont know their pay set up/conditions but it will be better than before one would think.
 

jatz14

Brownlow Medallist
Dec 13, 2011
11,368
16,074
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Perth Glory W-League
I think Jatz14 means Womens sport in general and being low paid/conditions compared to the Mens sports.
However that can change -- The Lynx Womens Basketball team based in Perth is now part of the very successful- The Wildcats Mens Basketball team Franchise- and are now sitting on top of their comps ladder-(WNBL)- We dont know their pay set up/conditions but it will be better than before one would think.
The core group are full time professional. Never been the case before at least in Perth
Shows in the result.
Another part is exposure, the AFL can give female footy exposure not matched by any other sport in Australia

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
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488
WA
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West Coast
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The core group are full time professional. Never been the case before at least in Perth
Shows in the result.
Another part is exposure, the AFL can give female footy exposure not matched by any other sport in Australia

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk
This time around we will have a look at Womens footy in PNG.
Grassroots...........
In Papua New Guinea Auskick is called Nuikick and is for Boys and Girls.
We found an article which said that the first official Nuikick/Auskick clinic in PNG was held in June 2012 on Lihir Island in the New Ireland Province. Apparently it is a mining centre and about 80 children attended who were a mixture of locals and expat kids. Obviously those official clinics have popped up elsewhere since.
There are school comps for U15 girls in the various centres around the country.
Recently there was a AFL PNG Academy 30 player U16 Girls squad - The Kurukums - picked to travel to QLD in 2016.
The girls represented the following centres -Mt Hagen,Kavieng,Kerema, Lae and Port Moresby. The spread of locations is a good sign.
In 2013 AFL PNG fielded a team - The Kurukums- in the 8 team QLD U17 Youth Girls Champs for the one and only time so far. It was a young team which included two 13 year olds. The PNG Girls played 7 matches which they lost by varying margins and probably indicates further development will be ongoing.
It is likely the name Kurukums is derived from the Cocoa Ant of the same name which has a nasty sting!
In Port Moresby in 2015 all of their schools involved in Aussie Rules U15`s fielded girls teams. This was the first year it has happened to have all of them competing in the girls program, which is a step forward.

Seniors........
There are 4 Senior Womens teams competing in the First Grade Esiloan Port Moresby Premiership. This is down from the 6 playing last year.
There are 2 Senior Womens teams competing in the Lae Premiership.
The above Senior Womens comps comps were the only ones we could find however there maybe others as the U15`s Girls should move up the age groupings. Any other info welcomed.
As a comparison with the Mens programs in Port Moresby there were 10 Senior Mens teams in their First Grade 2015 Premiership. This comp was completely re-organised about 3 years ago with the arrival of heaps of U17`s from the lower levels. This situation is what all International footy countries are striving for.

International Cup.......
The AFL PNG Womens Flames competed at the 2011 International Cup and finished fourth out of five teams after playing 5 matches.
They defeated the Indigenous/Multicultural team by 50 points and lost to -USA -twice,Canada and Ireland which was the biggest loss -68 points
Three players from the PNG team were selected in the 2011 Womens World Team.
Jocelyn Tatsie (Reserve) -Alang Vinnie Isaac (CHF) -Taiva Lavai (Right Wing).
There was a Flames Team Squad selected for the 2014 International Cup but did not travel because no sponsors could be found.
Both International Cup Squads were made up of players mainly from Port Moresby and Lae.
The next International Cup will be held in Melbourne in 2017 and all being well The Flames will attend.
We think that AFL PNG is slowly growing the grassroots of their Womens footy with the usual budget restraints and will take further time to mature.
Again any more info welcome.
 
Last edited:

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
This time around we will have a look at Womens footy in PNG.
Grassroots...........
In Papua New Guinea Auskick is called Nuikick and is for Boys and Girls.
We found an article which said that the first official Nuikick/Auskick clinic in PNG was held in June 2012 on Lihir Island in the New Ireland Province. Apparently it is a mining centre and about 80 children attended who were a mixture of locals and expat kids. Obviously those official clinics have popped up elsewhere since.
There are school comps for U15 girls in the various centres around the country.
Recently there was a AFL PNG Academy 30 player U16 Girls squad - The Kurukums - picked to travel to QLD in 2016.
The girls represented the following centres -Mt Hagen,Kavieng,Kerema, Lae and Port Moresby. The spread of locations is a good sign.
In 2013 AFL PNG fielded a team - The Kurukums- in the 8 team QLD U17 Youth Girls Champs for the one and only time so far. It was a young team which included two 13 year olds. The PNG Girls played 7 matches which they lost by varying margins and probably indicates further development will be ongoing.
It is likely the name Kurukums is derived from the Cocoa Ant of the same name which has a nasty sting!
In Port Moresby this year all of their schools involved in Aussie Rules U15`s fielded girls teams. This was the first year it has happened to have all of them competing in the girls program, which is a step forward.

Seniors........
There are 4 Senior Womens teams competing in the First Grade Esiloan Port Moresby Premiership. This is down from the 6 playing last year.
There are 2 Senior Womens teams competing in the Lae Premiership.
The above Senior Womens comps comps were the only ones we could find however there maybe others as the U15`s Girls should move up the age groupings. Any other info welcomed.
As a comparison with the Mens programs in Port Moresby there were 10 Senior Mens teams in their First Grade 2015 Premiership. This comp was completely re-organised about 3 years ago with the arrival of heaps of U17`s from the lower levels. This situation is what all International footy countries are striving for.

International Cup.......
The AFL PNG Womens Flames competed at the 2011 International Cup and finished fourth out of five teams after playing 5 matches.
They defeated the Indigenous/Multicultural team by 50 points and lost to -USA -twice,Canada and Ireland which was the biggest loss -68 points
Three players from the PNG team were selected in the 2011 Womens World Team.
Jocelyn Tatsie (Reserve) -Alang Vinnie Isaac (CHF) -Taiva Lavai (Right Wing).
There was a Flames Team Squad selected for the 2014 International Cup but did not travel because no sponsors could be found.
Both International Cup Squads were made up of players mainly from Port Moresby and Lae.
The next International Cup will be held in Melbourne in 2017 and all being well The Flames will attend.
We think that AFL PNG is slowly growing the grassroots of their Womens footy with the usual budget restraints and will take further time to mature.
Again any more info welcome.

We will continue in the South Pacific and have a look at Womens footy in Fiji.

Grassroots......
AFL Fiji promotes Bula Kick (Auskick) to the kids of Fiji. The program is for boys and girls aged 4yrs to 13 yrs.
Because Fiji is a Rugby mad country it has not been easy to get schools to have a look at Bula Kick. However progress has been made in the last couple of years.
In 2014 about 5,000 children were introduced to Bula Kick for a initial 3 week course as a new sport.

Every year on October 10th Fiji celebrates its Independence from Great Britain in 1970 as Fiji Day. Celebrations are held in that week all over the country.
Those celebrations include the U15 Fiji Day Cup run by AFL Fiji. Last year they had over 250 U15 players attend, which included for the first time "6 girls teams."

Here is an example of how Bula Kick is being utilised to spread the game. The western part of Fiji saw its first clinic last year and 20 boys and 7 girls turned up for the event.
Of course volunteers do most of these clinics and have to organise everything just like elsewhere in the footy world. Our game is a very minor sport so to have people willing to do that stuff is huge.
Another avenue of teaching our sport is through the Fiji National Sports Commission with who AFL Fiji is affiliated. The Commission covers a huge range of sports and is a great concept. In one example we read about a Commission Sports Officer who was teaching a Cricket Clinic and also had a footy with him and was teaching the basics of our game. More about the Commission later.

Seniors......
There are 2 Senior Womens Teams in the AFL Fiji Premiership Comp. They are the Royal Eagles and the Qio Vula (Have a Shark Logo).
We believe they had their first proper season last year. There were some games in their 9 match schedule where players had to be swapped around, but they got to hold their Grand Final and the season was considered a success.
We noted that the Women got plenty of coverage for this game.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=319817 Write up pre grand final

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=319817 Write up on grand final

International Cup.........
Fiji attended the 2014 International Cup for the first time for the Women. They finished 5th out of seven teams. They played 4 matches in a Round Robin Tournament.
They lost against the following - Ireland Banshees by 61 points, Canada Northern Lights by 65 points, USA Freedom by 78 points.
They beat the following - USA Liberty by 46 points.
In a play off to decide 5th/6th they beat Tonga by 4 points.
Fiji Tribe had one player selected in the 2014 World Womens Team -Salote Matakibau (Centre Half Back)
Special mention to the Fiji Sports Commission who assisted in getting the Mens and Womens teams to the Cup.
Also a plug for the Fiji Media and their open coverage of our game. The Fijiians love their sport and we hope that more take our game up.

Ex AFL Player David Rodan who is Fjiian Born retired in 2013 after 185 games with three clubs -Richmond, Port Adelaide and Melbourne. He suffered a career ending knee injury in late 2013. David and his wife have worked hard for several years in Fiji to keep the game going. We hope he continues with that.
The AFL West Coast Eagles star Nick Natanui has deep roots there and receives media attention each time he visits the country-- It all helps.
The article below covers the whole situation over there.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=313574 challenges for aussie rules in a rugby dominated country
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
We will continue in the South Pacific and have a look at Womens footy in Fiji.

Grassroots......
AFL Fiji promotes Bula Kick (Auskick) to the kids of Fiji. The program is for boys and girls aged 4yrs to 13 yrs.
Because Fiji is a Rugby mad country it has not been easy to get schools to have a look at Bula Kick. However progress has been made in the last couple of years.
In 2014 about 5,000 children were introduced to Bula Kick for a initial 3 week course as a new sport.

Every year on October 10th Fiji celebrates its Independence from Great Britain in 1970 as Fiji Day. Celebrations are held in that week all over the country.
Those celebrations include the U15 Fiji Day Cup run by AFL Fiji. Last year they had over 250 U15 players attend, which included for the first time "6 girls teams."

Here is an example of how Bula Kick is being utilised to spread the game. The western part of Fiji saw its first clinic last year and 20 boys and 7 girls turned up for the event.
Of course volunteers do most of these clinics and have to organise everything just like elsewhere in the footy world. Our game is a very minor sport so to have people willing to do that stuff is huge.
Another avenue of teaching our sport is through the Fiji National Sports Commission with who AFL Fiji is affiliated. The Commission covers a huge range of sports and is a great concept. In one example we read about a Commission Sports Officer who was teaching a Cricket Clinic and also had a footy with him and was teaching the basics of our game. More about the Commission later.

Seniors......
There are 2 Senior Womens Teams in the AFL Fiji Premiership Comp. They are the Royal Eagles and the Qio Vula (Have a Shark Logo).
We believe they had their first proper season last year. There were some games in their 9 match schedule where players had to be swapped around, but they got to hold their Grand Final and the season was considered a success.
We noted that the Women got plenty of coverage for this game.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=319817 Write up pre grand final

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=319817 Write up on grand final

International Cup.........
Fiji attended the 2014 International Cup for the first time for the Women. They finished 5th out of seven teams. They played 4 matches in a Round Robin Tournament.
They lost against the following - Ireland Banshees by 61 points, Canada Northern Lights by 65 points, USA Freedom by 78 points.
They beat the following - USA Liberty by 46 points.
In a play off to decide 5th/6th they beat Tonga by 4 points.
Fiji Tribe had one player selected in the 2014 World Womens Team -Salote Matakibau (Centre Half Back)
Special mention to the Fiji Sports Commission who assisted in getting the Mens and Womens teams to the Cup.
Also a plug for the Fiji Media and their open coverage of our game. The Fijiians love their sport and we hope that more take our game up.

Ex AFL Player David Rodan who is Fjiian Born retired in 2013 after 185 games with three clubs -Richmond, Port Adelaide and Melbourne. He suffered a career ending knee injury in late 2013. David and his wife have worked hard for several years in Fiji to keep the game going. We hope he continues with that.
The AFL West Coast Eagles star Nick Natanui has deep roots there and receives media attention each time he visits the country-- It all helps.
The article below covers the whole situation over there.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=313574 challenges for aussie rules in a rugby dominated country

This time around we will travel to the Northern Hemisphere and have a look at Womens footy in Canada.

Grassroots......
Vancouver with the NDJAFL has the longest running school program for boys and girls which was established in 2002.
This Vancouver program has helped the footy expansion in British Columbia. The result is in 2015 there are now 5 Senior Mens and 1 Senior Womens team in that Province.

The other school programs around Canada have under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s programs playing generally nine a side games on soccer fields due to a lack of ovals.

A Group that successfully introduces our game to the girls/boys in the grassroots in the Canadian Schools is the Aussie X organisation. The sports leisure market in Canada is very competitive with a wide range of activities being available -aka Australia.

Seniors..............
There are 4 Senior Womens teams in Ontario Province
' 2 Senior ' Alberta Province
' 4 Senior . Quebec City
' 1 Senior ' British Columbia Province
Note-- in 2015 The Ottawa Swans Womens team switched from AFL Ontario to AFL Quebec and created 2 teams which raised the Quebec comp to four sides.

Womens footy was introduced to Canada in 2007 with the formation of the Calgary Kookaburras. This club was the catalyst for the growth of the Womens game in Canada.
After they were formed the USA challenged Canada to the first Womens match in the 49th Parallel Cup Series and the Kookas supplied most of the Canadian team.
See next topic--------
The first National Canadian Womens team - The Northern Lights - were formed in 2007. In that year they played their first Internationals against the USA Freedom Womens team.
The teams were playing for the 49th Parallel Cup. These matches continue today except the years when the 3 yearly International Cup is held. They are considered as a form tune up and Selection Table for the trip to Australia.

In 2013 the Canadian Womens Nationals were hosted by the Ottawa Swans who play in the AFL Ontario League.
They played the 9 a side format over 2 days and 8 teams (100 Women) rocked up from all over the country.
The 8 clubs were- Ottawa, Hamilton, Central, Calgary, Etobicoke, Edmonton, Montreal, High Park
The Grand Final was won by the Edmonton Emus.
There had been 2 prior Womens Nationals in 2009 and 2010.
AFL Canada is organising the Inaugral 2016 Canadian Provincial Championships for Men and Women. The date will be in May and Venue to be decided.
What attracted our attention was the addition of an Atlantic team (Presumably Women and Men) from the newer development areas of AFL Canada.
Atlantic will draw from -- Ottawa, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.


Another promotion of the Canadian Womens game occurred last year when Rogers Cable TV Toronto broadcast several rounds of the AFL Ontario League comp. Their package covered 1 x Womens Game and 2 x Mens Games each weekend. Rogers TV are based on the East Coast of Canada. Getting media cover for our game overseas is another challenge for the various leagues.

Canadian Womens teams do compete in the Annual USAFL Nationals with success. This practise has been going on for several years, and there are too many results to detail here.

International Cup.........
The 2011 International Cup in Melbourne was the first time Cup appearance for the Canadian Women. AFL Canada picked a 30 player squad - The Northern Lights - which was from all over Canada.
They played 4 matches --Lost to Ireland by 23 points, Beat PNG by 25 points, Beat USA by 18 points, Beat Aust/Indig by 20 points. These results got them to the Grand Final = Which they lost to Ireland by 31 points.
The following five Canadian players were selected in the 2011 World Womens Team.
Caitlin Kidd (Right Back), Erin Le Blanc (Left Half Back), Erin Loughnane (Ruck), Aimee Le Gault (Ruck Rover), Sarah Ennor (Interchange).

The 2014 International Cup in Melbourne saw the second appearance of the Canadian Women. However this time possibly reflecting the depth of numbers AFL Canada sent two squads. The main team were the Northern Lights and the other squad was a developmental type and were named the Midnight Suns.
The Northern Lights team played 4 matches -Beat USA Freedom by 54 points,Beat USA Liberty by 125 points, Beat Fiji by 65 points, Beat Tonga by 132 points. These results got them to the Grand Final =Which they beat Ireland by 26 points to claim the International Cup Championship. This result reversed the 2011 outcome.
The Midnight Suns team played 5 matches- Beat Tonga by 24 points,Lost to USA Freedom by 56 points, Lost to Ireland by 65 points, Beat USA Liberty by 20 points, Lost to USA Freedom by 117 points.
The following ten Canadian players were selected in the 2014 World Womens Team.
Hilary Perry (Left Half Back), Emma Dickson (Right Wing), Aimee Le Gault (Centre)-Captain, Veronica Fernandez (Right Half Forward), Kirsten Bodashefsky (Centre Half Forward), Kendra Heil (Left Half Forward), Renee Tung (Interchange), Lara Hilmi (Interchange), Danah Arnold (Interchange).

After researching all of the activity above in the Canadian Womens game we can only conclude that growth and success will continue.
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
This time around we will travel to the Northern Hemisphere and have a look at Womens footy in Canada.

Grassroots......
Vancouver with the NDJAFL has the longest running school program for boys and girls which was established in 2002.
This Vancouver program has helped the footy expansion in British Columbia. The result is in 2015 there are now 5 Senior Mens and 1 Senior Womens team in that Province.

The other school programs around Canada have under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s programs playing generally nine a side games on soccer fields due to a lack of ovals.

A Group that successfully introduces our game to the girls/boys in the grassroots in the Canadian Schools is the Aussie X organisation. The sports leisure market in Canada is very competitive with a wide range of activities being available -aka Australia.

Seniors..............
There are 4 Senior Womens teams in Ontario Province
' 2 Senior ' Alberta Province
' 4 Senior . Quebec City
' 1 Senior ' British Columbia Province
Note-- in 2015 The Ottawa Swans Womens team switched from AFL Ontario to AFL Quebec and created 2 teams which raised the Quebec comp to four sides.

Womens footy was introduced to Canada in 2007 with the formation of the Calgary Kookaburras. This club was the catalyst for the growth of the Womens game in Canada.
After they were formed the USA challenged Canada to the first Womens match in the 49th Parallel Cup Series and the Kookas supplied most of the Canadian team.
See next topic--------
The first National Canadian Womens team - The Northern Lights - were formed in 2007. In that year they played their first Internationals against the USA Freedom Womens team.
The teams were playing for the 49th Parallel Cup. These matches continue today except the years when the 3 yearly International Cup is held. They are considered as a form tune up and Selection Table for the trip to Australia.

In 2013 the Canadian Womens Nationals were hosted by the Ottawa Swans who play in the AFL Ontario League.
They played the 9 a side format over 2 days and 8 teams (100 Women) rocked up from all over the country.
The 8 clubs were- Ottawa, Hamilton, Central, Calgary, Etobicoke, Edmonton, Montreal, High Park
The Grand Final was won by the Edmonton Emus.
There had been 2 prior Womens Nationals in 2009 and 2010.
AFL Canada is organising the Inaugral 2016 Canadian Provincial Championships for Men and Women. The date will be in May and Venue to be decided.
What attracted our attention was the addition of an Atlantic team (Presumably Women and Men) from the newer development areas of AFL Canada.
Atlantic will draw from -- Ottawa, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.


Another promotion of the Canadian Womens game occurred last year when Rogers Cable TV Toronto broadcast several rounds of the AFL Ontario League comp. Their package covered 1 x Womens Game and 2 x Mens Games each weekend. Rogers TV are based on the East Coast of Canada. Getting media cover for our game overseas is another challenge for the various leagues.

Canadian Womens teams do compete in the Annual USAFL Nationals with success. This practise has been going on for several years, and there are too many results to detail here.

International Cup.........
The 2011 International Cup in Melbourne was the first time Cup appearance for the Canadian Women. AFL Canada picked a 30 player squad - The Northern Lights - which was from all over Canada.
They played 4 matches --Lost to Ireland by 23 points, Beat PNG by 25 points, Beat USA by 18 points, Beat Aust/Indig by 20 points. These results got them to the Grand Final = Which they lost to Ireland by 31 points.
The following five Canadian players were selected in the 2011 World Womens Team.
Caitlin Kidd (Right Back), Erin Le Blanc (Left Half Back), Erin Loughnane (Ruck), Aimee Le Gault (Ruck Rover), Sarah Ennor (Interchange).

The 2014 International Cup in Melbourne saw the second appearance of the Canadian Women. However this time possibly reflecting the depth of numbers AFL Canada sent two squads. The main team were the Northern Lights and the other squad was a developmental type and were named the Midnight Suns.
The Northern Lights team played 4 matches -Beat USA Freedom by 54 points,Beat USA Liberty by 125 points, Beat Fiji by 65 points, Beat Tonga by 132 points. These results got them to the Grand Final =Which they beat Ireland by 26 points to claim the International Cup Championship. This result reversed the 2011 outcome.
The Midnight Suns team played 5 matches- Beat Tonga by 24 points,Lost to USA Freedom by 56 points, Lost to Ireland by 65 points, Beat USA Liberty by 20 points, Lost to USA Freedom by 117 points.
The following ten Canadian players were selected in the 2014 World Womens Team.
Hilary Perry (Left Half Back), Emma Dickson (Right Wing), Aimee Le Gault (Centre)-Captain, Veronica Fernandez (Right Half Forward), Kirsten Bodashefsky (Centre Half Forward), Kendra Heil (Left Half Forward), Renee Tung (Interchange), Lara Hilmi (Interchange), Danah Arnold (Interchange).

After researching all of the activity above in the Canadian Womens game we can only conclude that growth and success will continue.


Back in the South Pacific we have a look at Womens footy in the Solomon Islands.

Grassroots...
Aussie Rules was first introduced to the Country back in 2003/2004. Since then it has had many ups and downs along with the Islands fortunes but still has a presence today led by dedicated volunteers.
The Solomon Islands AFL Federation known as SIAF introduce children to our game with Solkick Clinics for boys and girls.
The SIAF holds or has held Solkick clinics in several centres --White River, Malaita, Honiara, Tenaru, Tulagi. They have policy also of taking the clinics to outlying areas of the Islands all of whom have never seen our game at all.

In 2014 the SIAF created a AFL Secondary Schools Cup and invited several schools to compete. Six schools entered teams of boys and three of those schools entered all female teams. That was a promising start for the ladies and the first time many of the players overall had played an actual game. This was a step forward.
In 2015 the Cup was held again and at least two female teams competed.

To enhance their Grassroots development program the SIAF have put in a application for a Development Officer to the Australian Volunteers Group.
Although the following Grassroots program does not involve the girls at present it is a great idea. Since last year the SIAF have sent two of their most promising boys off to QLD each year. They hold a 3 month Scholarship to play in a selected AFL QLD comp in their age groupings. Their progress is followed very closely by the local footy fans.
We that reside in the footy heartlands do not realise the great work that AFL QLD does in fostering our game in the South Pacific.
Last month a footy club from the Hunter Valley in NSW visited for clinics and handed out some footy gear.

Seniors-----
As far as we can tell there is no Regular Seniors Womens comp up and running at the present time.

International Cup......
No appearances yet.
 

TWLS

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2015
1,321
488
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
GWS Giants
Back in the South Pacific we have a look at Womens footy in the Solomon Islands.

Grassroots...
Aussie Rules was first introduced to the Country back in 2003/2004. Since then it has had many ups and downs along with the Islands fortunes but still has a presence today led by dedicated volunteers.
The Solomon Islands AFL Federation known as SIAF introduce children to our game with Solkick Clinics for boys and girls.
The SIAF holds or has held Solkick clinics in several centres --White River, Malaita, Honiara, Tenaru, Tulagi. They have policy also of taking the clinics to outlying areas of the Islands all of whom have never seen our game at all.

In 2014 the SIAF created a AFL Secondary Schools Cup and invited several schools to compete. Six schools entered teams of boys and three of those schools entered all female teams. That was a promising start for the ladies and the first time many of the players overall had played an actual game. This was a step forward.
In 2015 the Cup was held again and at least two female teams competed.

To enhance their Grassroots development program the SIAF have put in a application for a Development Officer to the Australian Volunteers Group.
Although the following Grassroots program does not involve the girls at present it is a great idea. Since last year the SIAF have sent two of their most promising boys off to QLD each year. They hold a 3 month Scholarship to play in a selected AFL QLD comp in their age groupings. Their progress is followed very closely by the local footy fans.
We that reside in the footy heartlands do not realise the great work that AFL QLD does in fostering our game in the South Pacific.
Last month a footy club from the Hunter Valley in NSW visited for clinics and handed out some footy gear.

Seniors-----
As far as we can tell there is no Regular Seniors Womens comp up and running at the present time.

International Cup......
No appearances yet.
 

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Another stop on our South Pacific Womens footy Journey -AFL Tonga

Grassroots....
Auskick programs will be used to introduce the children to our game per the Primary Schools. There have been School comps running in the Capital for several years.

Seniors......
AFL Tonga conducts a 10 week comp from April to July each season. This will include the Womens and Mens teams which are based in the Capital.
We have been able to establish that Womens footy started in 2007 and has been continuing since.
Several players from the Mens comp now play each season in AFL NSW/ACT Comps in Sydney to get in front of the recruiters. With the upcoming Womens AFL National League a big attraction we may see something similar in the future for the Women playing in the South Pacific.

International Cup....
The Womens team - Tonga Storm - finished 7th out ot 8 Countries in the 2014 International Cup.
A squad of 22 was picked to travel to Melbourne. Their Home Club was listed as Nuku’alofa which is the Capital of Tonga.
This Cup was the first for the women the men having competed before in 2011.
They played 4 matches for the following results--
Lost to Canada Suns by 24 points, Ireland Banshees by 55 points, USA Freedom by 65 points, Canada Lights by 132 points.
In a match to decide 5th/6th they lost to Fiji Tribe by 4 points.
One player from Tonga was selected in the 2014 World Womens team -Malia Afuha`Amango (Centre Full Back)
Considering that Tonga has a small population who are Rugby Union mad it was a great effort by AFL Tonga to get the resources to enable both teams to travel to Melb in 2014.
 

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We now travel to Europe looking at Womens Footy in Scandinavia. This is part one.
Three countries currently have active Senior Womens Comps or have Squads training.
They are Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
There are now 2 seperate Comps these countries can "choose" to compete in. They are as follows ---

1/ In 2014 the Inaugral Womens Nordic 9 a Side AFL was formed with 2 teams.
They were -- The Odense Lionesses (Denmark) and The Helsinborg Wolverines (Sweden). This was a great move to get the Womens game more firmly established however small. We think they played each other once and the scores were
Odense Lionesses 9.4. 58. defeated Helsinborg Wolverines 5.4. 34.
For 2015 this comp saw the addition of another team from Sweden -The Port Malmo Lynx who were formed in 2014.
So we now have 3 teams involved. Odense played 3 matches for 2 wins and a loss. They played Malmo twice for a win and a loss and played Helsinborg for a win. Malmo played twice for a win and a loss and Helsinborg played once for a loss.
Like all new comps player numbers varied up and down but 3 matches overall were put together and finished.

In Oct 2015 the Farum Cats Football Club held a newcomers Gymnasium comp for young male players and added for the first time a female comp.
Supported by the Odense Lionesses squad (About 16) there were a total of 40 female players rocked up to as we say in OZ " To have a go".
This activity resulted later on in the tentative formation of the Farum Wildcats Womens squad. We wish them well for 2016.

Due to distance problems we do not think the Norwegian Women would regularly compete in this league currently.

There is also a Womens Nordic 9 a side Indoor Cup held in February. This is held in the Snow season.

2/ AFL Sweden hosted the first Nordic Challenge(9 a side) at Malmö on 18th April 2015. Both Men's and Women's teams from Denmark, Norway and Sweden took part at a National Team Level.
Womens Matches Results --
12:00-12:45: Sweden Ravens def Denmark Valkyries 47-0
12:55-13:40: Sweden Ravens def Norway 43-7
13:50-14:35: Denmark Valkyries vs Norway (No Scores)
The Womens and Mens teams from Sweden won both comps winning both of their matches.
All 3 matches played on the day in a Round Robin format.
This comp gave the Senior Women in each Country the chance to show their talent.

Summing up all of the activity above Denmark and Sweden are on the Womens Footy expansion trail. AFL Sweden intends to set up the Womens game in more of their major centres as and when they can.
Norway Womens Footy will continue to grow under the guidance of the Oslo Crows Football Club.
We wonder if the lure of the new Womens National League will eventually see Scandinavian players in the future head down under.
 

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The focus this time is on Vanuatu Womens Footy and we are again in the South Pacific.

Grassroots....
As a sidenote footy became more formal in approx December 2010 in Vanuatu and AFL Vanuatu was born, and introduces the kids to footy with Auskick for boys and girls. There are references to earlier years of Aussie Rules activities.
It was noticed later that the Auskick games were being called Pikaninikick sometimes.
The AFL Vanuatu since its inception has been active in holding Auskick clinics for the primary schools and in 2015 they organised a 6 school comp in Port Vila the Capital.

Seniors-----
Looking back in the records AFL Vanuatu had Womens Open teams up and running in their first year of 2011.
We found a reference to a Womens Grand Final result in November 2012.
We now move forward to the 2014 season where the League had expanded to five teams adding the Onesua Magpies.
In the advertising for the weekly games in 2014 it mentions the Women playing at 9.00am but no more info and no mention of the Grand Final result for the Women.
Last year there were changes to the league with at least new club. We did not find any reference at all to the Womens footy in the weekly results.
No doubt they are still playing but not reported on.
International Cup...
Not yet.

AFL Vanuatu gets visits and donations from footy clubs in Australia. Those donations and support are badly needed after the Country was hit by a huge destructive Cyclone early in 2015.

One more thing just noticed the number of views for this topic has just hit 350 since the start. Thanks for the support.
 

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Womens footy in Scandinavia continued =Part two.

The Axios Euro 9 a side Cup which first saw Womens teams compete in 2010. (Ireland and Italy). This comp has grown in stature and is now the top 9 a Side comp organised by AFL Europe. The Mens division has expanded considerably since the early days. Hopefully the Women will do so as well.

The Denmark Valkyries joined this event in 2014 for their first appearance and were represented by the Odense Lionesses from what we can gather. They finished 4th out of 5 teams. The Ireland Banshees beat the England Vixens in the Grand Final.

The 2015 Edition of this Cup saw 3 Scandinavian Womens teams front up possibly reflecting the growth of recent times.
The Denmark Valkyries were beaten in the Grand Final by the England Vixens. The Danish team (16 players) was again represented mainly by the Odense Lionesses.

The Sweden Ravens finished 5th for their first appearance. The Ravens had a 16 player squad at the Cup. Their team list did not indicate their players Clubs this time around.

The Norway Women finished 6th for their first appearance. They had 8 players at the Cup it seems so they had to top up from the other teams. We would say they are in early stages of development and they were from the Oslo Crows club.

We have noted that the Ireland Banshees have only missed 2 Eurocups since 2010. They were in 2013 and last year.

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The info below is recent news and while off topic is still connected to Scandinavia whose teams are now in training for this comp.
AFL Europe have opened up another major Competition in Europe to Womens National Teams. The Champions League 2016 to be held in Amsterdam, Holland in March.
This is for the Men and European Clubs only and is 9 a Side.

The following Womens Clubs have been invited - WAFL London Represented by The Wandsworth Demons.
The Following Countries have been invited to send Womens National Teams
France , Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Wales

These invites are on the basis that Womens footy in Europe is growing and needs encouragement and support. It will be interesting to see who rocks up.
 

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Footy Bytes------
The upcoming Europe AFL Champions League to be held in Amsterdam in March will have a brand new Womens team.
Enter the GB Swans who will have in its ranks players from the following teams....
England Vixens
Scottish Sirens
Also hopefully players from Wales and Northern Ireland. Those are new areas for Womens Footy.
http://www.aflengland.org/?p=1218

It had to happen ----
The first Junior Aussie Rules Club for Boys and Girls in London.
http://www.claphamcubs.co.uk/

The University of Birmingham Club in the UK has reported increased interest in the formation of a Womens team. From five players in 2014 to twenty five in 2015. This was on the back of a female student visiting Australia saw our game and was hooked and started recruiting on her return in 2014.

This has been reported in many places --The British Columbia Australian Football League based in Vancouver has been selected by AFL Canada to hold the Inaugral Canadian National Provincial Championships. They will be held in June this year and will be for Men and Women.
This comp has been mooted for many years in Canadian footy circles and finally has come to fruition. They will be used to pick the National Mens and Womens Squads for IC17.
The BCAFL has also been busy locally. A new Womens team -The Vancouver Vixens - was formed in January and is now recruiting.

This is more good news from European Footy -AFL Europe is reporting there are now 8,500 registered Male players in their region.
The previous census indicated 5,000. The players are spread over 22 Countries.
No numbers were quoted this time for Women and Juniors but it appears they are also growing.
 

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Footy Bytes
Focusing mainly on Womens Footy but other items as well.

Last May AFL INDIA held the third Mumbai Footy Cup which had a record sixteen teams compete from around Mumbai and included two Girls teams. There is likely to be other Girls teams as well around the country.
This is promising for the eventual Womens game in India and hopefully way into the future see an AFL India Womens team at the International Cup.

International Womens sports in Australia are now getting a higher profile. To back this up the Federal Sports Minister Susan Ley has ruled that if there is an equivalent International Womens Sport to the Men when they travel they should travel Business Class as per the men. They have been in Economy Class up until now.
This ruling will be tied to sports that attract Federal Funding which include the Swimmers and others.
Possible reduced funding if not complied with - Rumbles already from some sports notably the FFA.

AFL Scotland is calling for all women interested in playing to rock up for a training session on Feb 21st on Glasgow Green.
Women players are required for the Scotland Sirens who have been invited to the AFL Europe Champions League comp in March. Also Womens teams invited to the upcoming Scottish Haggis Cup.

Now for something different in our ever expanding overseas Footy world.
We had a look at AFL Russia which now has six Mens teams involved. Some of the clubs are very small in team numbers but they do play in tournaments. In June 2015 they gathered in Moscow for a comp and played it looks like in Professional Soccer football Stadium.
Here are the teams and their placings in 2015-----
1. Lazy Koalas 2. St.Petersburg Cats 3. The Slavs 4. Muscovites 5. Arrows 6. Space Pirates. Currently efforts are being made to get The Lazy Koalas to the Champions League Comp in Amsterdam.
We think this league is well - Hard to believe that footy is in Russia.

It looks like there is increased interest in Sydney for the Womens game in some areas. The Baulkham Hills Hawks will have their first all girls teams this year. Two parents daughters were finding the mixed rules games getting too rough so they thought let them have their our own teams.
This is the good part - The parents put notices up in all of their local schools for players and girls also from non footy backgrounds and were amazed at the response.
It turns out 40 girls responded - Enough for a U14 Squad and a U18 Youth Squad. We think we are only scratching the surface up there for talent. The news for the U14 Squad gets better because they will play in a new competition. The U14 Squad is one of eight in the Western Sydney Youth Girls U15 competition, which will be held this year for the first time.
The U18s will play in an existing comp that will now have eleven teams.
 

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Footy Bytes -
The New Zealand U17 Girls have resumed playing in their Youth Competition in Auckland. These girls form the basis of the NZ National Team - The Kahuas - and are formed into two squads - Magpies and Tigers.
Last Saturday the Magpies 5.3. 33 defeated Tigers 4.5.29.
The outstanding player from the Series against the Woomeras last December was Jolyn Collins who was best player for the Tigers.
Jolyn is a player who may end up in the new National League in the future if her career keeps developing, and also if she wants to. As a fan of International Footy I think the pathways are now set down correctly for this situation to become more common.
AFLNZ has earmarked the future participation of the NZ Girls in the National Youth Girls Championships. No time frame was outlined.
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Extremely bad news for Fiji because a lot of the houses and infrastructure are destroyed in various places. The AFL Fiji Women are in full recruiting mode for the new season and we hope thay can get a comp up and running later.
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The Clapham Cubs Auskick Club in London had their first session and featured boys and girls. Noticed the AFL jumpers on display -Collingwood, Hawthorn and Sydney Swans - Great to see.
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This article is from Perth and features Sabrina Frederick-Traub who originally migrated to Perth from England. Her early background was Soccer Football and then gave our game a go and has not looked back. It is a great story that deserves to be told.
http://www.wafootball.com.au/news/9824/sabrina-frederick-traub-my-heart-is-with-afl
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AFL Canada has resumed its 2016 Womens programs with clinics in three regions. We did a quick count and came up with a total of 79 Women players attending in Atlantic, Alberta and Ontario. The Womens game in Canada will continue to grow and they will feature prominently in IC17.
 

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The methods used to attract international women need to be unique. The utilisation of incentives perhaps?
That is a good question. The comment about whether that player would automatically come to the National league was raised because not all good overseas players will want to travel to Australia and try out.
Possibly it gets back to the individuals and their own goals in life. Does it boil down to how much do they want it because they have to leave their Jobs, homes and families.
If they do come what incentives should be provided. A bit early I think at this stage because there are players here already from overseas wanting to get involved and we do not have a league yet.
 

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Footy Bytes -
Womens footy in the Northern Hemisphere is coming out of winter recess for most countries, and is just cranking up as they say.

Another WA Female footballer putting back into the game.
http://www.wafootball.com.au/news/9823/renee-forth-leader-on-and-off-the-field
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WA Youth Girls Squad selected and includes several country players scattered across this big State.
http://www.wafootball.com.au/news/9848/state-u18-youth-girls-squad-announced
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Good article on two U.S. Women footy players trying out in Sydney for the new League
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/wom...7/news-story/4ed36367bf5900b9fb8be61f56adcaaf
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Interesting ABC TV article viewed from a different perspective and video on the new League in 2017 which includes one of organisers from AFL House -Simon Lethlean.
Words of caution also from Netball Australia for the AFL.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-19/gorr-womens-afl-how-i-became-a-convert-to-the-idea/7182782
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This is a story about a very organised U.S. Womens footy team. In a first for U.S. Womens footy The Minnesota Freeze Women took two full teams to the U.S. Nationals in 2013. Their fitness program for Women of all abilities is excellent and the pathways they offer to the U.S.A. National Squads are very clear.
http://mnfreeze.com/women
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AFLNZ has announced their N.Z. Youth Girls Squad who will play a 2 match series in April against the touring Victorian AFL South East Youth Girls Squad in Auckland.
The players in the 20 person squad show that they come from two Provinces only - Auckland and Northland which indicates that is where the main strength is at this time.
A more interesting point for footy development is that fourteen different High Schools/Colleges/Grammar Schools are represented. That is a good spread of schools and reflects lots of hard work by AFLNZ.
The big prize for these girls is selection in the Senior New Zealand Kahu team for the International Cup in August 2017 in Melbourne.
http://aflnz.co.nz/blog/2016/03/09/nz-kahu-youth-girls-wider-squad-announced/
 

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Footy Bytes - Around the world with Womens Footy

The Odisha Swans who are located in the State of Odisha India held their statewide Championships recently, and for the first time Girls teams competed. We think there were 8 teams for the girls from across the State.
The Tigers and the Kangaroos will play in the final for the girls, which is a boost for them.
Womens sports in India are growing with the Indian Womens Rugby team competing in the Womens World 7`s recently, and the current World T20 Cup being held in India with a Womens Division also involved and including India.
With the right funding and support the Womens game will keep expanding up there, and currently there at least four AFL Clubs doing their bit in various ways, and a myriad of support Agencies and AFL India.

The 2nd Annual AFL Europe Champions League was held recently in Amsterdam, Holland, and was co-hosted by the Dutch Australian Football Association and the Amsterdam Devils Football Club, and was held at The Sportspark Complex the home of Dutch Soccer Football.
There were 5 teams in the Womens Division, and the final saw the newly formed Great Britain Swans -26 defeat the Swedish Ravens -13.
The final positions were-
1/ GB Swans (England and Scotland)
2/ Sweden Ravens
3/ Odense Lionesses (Denmark)
4/ Les Gauloises (France)
5/ Wandsworth Demons (AFL London) 2014 Winners.
 
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