Club Mgmt. We finally got an AFLW license!!! - Season starts last weekend of August

[Lore]

Dons' defining day: AFLW licence granted
Essendon Football Club has today become truly whole, with the AFL Commission granting an AFLW licence for the Bombers to join the national women’s competition for the 2022/2023 season onwards.

The AFL announced Essendon, Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide as the remaining clubs to secure licences after reviewing the Bombers’ formal submission document presented to the AFL Commission in early July.

President Paul Brasher said it was a defining day in the history of the Essendon Football Club.

“We are a football club with a proud, rich, diverse, inclusive and successful history, but today, the Essendon Football Club becomes whole. Today is a landmark day for the red and black,” Brasher said.

“We have never been better positioned to enter the AFLW competition and on behalf of the club, I wish to thank Richard Goyder and the AFL Commission for reaching this outcome.

“Likewise, I wish to thank the many staff within our own organisation who have worked tirelessly on not only this submission but through their contribution in ensuring strong foundations have been laid across our club and VFLW program over a number of years. We have particularly drawn inspiration from the players in our VFLW team during that period.

“Through our commitment to growing the game and establishing pathways across Melbourne’s northern corridor and the Northern Territory, through our relationship with Calder Cannons and our NGA programs and our flagship First Nation’s Women’s Pathway Program, we believe we will have the emerging talent to underpin the list profile for our AFLW team.

“With our bespoke AFLW facilities now completed at the NEC Hangar, and with our long-term vision of AFLW games being played at Windy Hill, our impact in the AFLW competition will only be further strengthened.

“We again thank the Victorian State Government for their support in establishing these facilities and their ongoing commitment to providing opportunities for women to participate in our great game of AFL at every level.

“Finally, every young Bomber – boy or girl – can dream of one day representing the mighty red and black, and for us this is exactly why our football club is now truly whole.”

Dons' defining day: AFLW licence granted

Essendon has been granted a licence to join the AFLW in 2022.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[orco]

Thoroughly entertaining game tonight. Wish we had a team in the women's comp.

 

[Doss]

It was entertaining indeed.

We'll get one eventually. Don't blame the club for holding out at first from pushing too hard. Need to stabilise the finances.

Remarkable crowd in particular.

 

[blitzer]

It will be good to get one but I'm content to wait a few years. We can see how other clubs manage their women's team, work down our debt levels and possibly get some advantages from being an 'expansion' side in terms of access to talent etc.

 

[eth-dog]

Am I the only one who thinks "AFLW" would look better as "AWFL" similar to the way the VWFL, WAWFL, SAWFL does it?

 

[Doss]

Can't say I've given it a second of thought, Eth.

 

[eth-dog]

Can't say I've given it a second of thought, Eth.

IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE GRAMMATICAL SENSE

 

[Drummer_19]

Am I the only one who thinks "AFLW" would look better as "AWFL" similar to the way the VWFL, WAWFL, SAWFL does it?

Might want to see how your suggestion sounds out loud. Could be the reason they didn't go with it.

 

[eth-dog]

Might want to see how your suggestion sounds out loud. Could be the reason they didn't go with it.

Yeah, just realized that. Still, WANFL would still make more sense than AFLW

 

[BomberARMY]

Am I the only one who thinks "AFLW" would look better as "AWFL" similar to the way the VWFL, WAWFL, SAWFL does it?

Yeah they probably thought about it, but as an acronym it reads 'Awful' they probably didn't want any negative meaning towards the new competition. Just my 2 cents..

 

[GUMBLETRON]

As with anything the league does, the entire exercise is geared towards maximising TV rights for the marquee product. Get more kids playing, get more women watching, and keep "AFL" front and centre - hence the name.

Essendon will get a team eventually, but was never going to get one in the first tranch. Four Melbourne teams, the two who did the groundwork were gimmes, as were Carlton for Princes Park, so it comes down to the biggest club in the land, or the club coming off the biggest scandal in the land. Or the other Melbourne clubs, who coincidentally all withdrew their bids too.

 

[Doss]

As with anything the league does, the entire exercise is geared towards maximising TV rights for the marquee product. Get more kids playing, get more women watching, and keep "AFL" front and centre.

Goes without saying.

But if a side effect of that is that girls who want to play football now have a top tier (as far as women's footy goes) comp to aspire to, then that's a good thing.

 

[ant555]

Yeah, just realized that. Still, WANFL would still make more sense than AFLW

It is the branding eth. The AFL wants everything they can named AFLX or AFLZ. Queensland footy AFLQ.

 

[Bombermania]

It will be good to get one but I'm content to wait a few years. We can see how other clubs manage their women's team, work down our debt levels and possibly get some advantages from being an 'expansion' side in terms of access to talent etc.

Considering we have a very well established Women's network, I would image they would be eager to focus their attention on the women's side, it might even have the added benefit of increasing the profile of that group among Essendon members, we have one of the largest women supporter bases so if it was possible to join them with that network, which in turn supported the side, it may be a good way of building and maintaining membership levels.

 

[JayJ20]

Am I the only one who thinks "AFLW" would look better as "AWFL" similar to the way the VWFL, WAWFL, SAWFL does it?

It's awfl, so better stick to how it is now

 

[NAB777]

After watching the first 1/4 last night, I would think the last thing anyone should be contemplating... is diluting the womens' talent pool any further.

 

[Runk]

After watching the first 1/4 last night, I would think the last thing anyone should be contemplating... is diluting the womens' talent pool any further.

Harsh. First game. Plenty of growth to occur.

Imagine being told at 12 you can't play footy anymore just because. Then you have nothing until you finish school. imagine losing that six years of potential development. This games got legs whether people like it or not.

 

[NAB777]

Harsh. First game. Plenty of growth to occur.

Imagine being told at 12 you can't play footy anymore just because. Then you have nothing until you finish school. imagine losing that six years of potential development. This games got legs whether people like it or not.

I think there is a place for the womens' game, but I think its development will take a fair but longer than people think... and until then, I would not be adding any more teams, as the 'brand' would suffer.

 

[Runk]

I think there is a place for the womens' game, but I think its development will take a fair but longer than people think... and until then, I would not be adding any more teams, as the 'brand' would suffer.

Fair enough

 

[ant555]

I think there is a place for the womens' game, but I think its development will take a fair but longer than people think... and until then, I would not be adding any more teams, as the 'brand' would suffer.

I agree. I think it needs to run for at least 3 seasons as it is. Allow more younger players to come through and get more playing in the Metro leauge.
Need to work on their venues and ticketing as well.

 

[Jade]

It was entertaining indeed.

We'll get one eventually. Don't blame the club for holding out at first from pushing too hard. Need to stabilise the finances.

Remarkable crowd in particular.

Finances yes, but more - we just needed to get our s**t together as a football club and organisation.

We'll get one, and when we do we'll do it from a position of stability, sound judgement and preparedness.

 

[owen87]

I agree. I think it needs to run for at least 3 seasons as it is. Allow more younger players to come through and get more playing in the Metro leauge.
Need to work on their venues and ticketing as well.

On the plus side, it's a good candidate for using the traditional suburban grounds e.g. Princes Park, Windy Hill, Whitten, Arden St. I like being able to wander down to Windy Hill and check out the VFL when it's on, if they were to play AFLW games I'd most likely do the same.

Good way to build some community around the games in the early stages, I can't see them topping the 22k attendance from Friday night for a standalone match at the moment, the product just isn't at that point yet. Running them as a double-header for the pre-season games will work, and using the existing grounds (when they aren't taken over for Cricket) means they'll be reasonably accessible to the local community and already have most of the infrastructure in place from the VFL comp.

I do agree that from a product point of view they need to do everything possible to prevent diluting the talent pool further, it will take a good 5 - 10 years before we see those 12yo kids that play through to U18 and then AFL level coming through that the Womens side currently lacks.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

Remarkable crowd in particular.

What are prices like?

 

[coastalpipeline]

What are prices like?

At the moment free.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Still in its infancy. As NAB said you don't want to dilute the talent pool any further.

 

[Laverde2Smack]

Skill level is about on par with U12's. A lot of them can't even kick a drop punt. What is exiting about it other than the novelty factor. What makes it harder to watch is the commentators constantly talking everything up, even the skills.