News Richmond to officially join AFLW in 2020

Off memory we got $20m in total for the last redevelopment

Richmond station will be refurbished AFTER Melbourne Metro is complete. With the Pakenham/Cranbourne lines no long stopping at Richmond , it will be a major change for track and platform use

Indeed. A major issue for any Richmond Station redevelopment is the gradient of the existing City Loop Tunnels relative to the station and possible redevelopment site. New Metro system will eliminate this.

Haere Ra
 
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Womens Sport is booming. In some cases like golf, athletics, surfing or tennis, some women might be able to hold their own against men. Fortunately or unfortunately AFLW is under the microscope. The standard is not the same as men's football but if it leads to more women playing sport then fine in my book. I wish it had've been an option for my daughter to try. She ended up playing basketball.
In my neck of the woods in rugby dominated NSW. There are AFLW leagues starting up. I see a few 14, 15 year old girls walking around with arms in plaster. Injuries sustained playing AFL. Parents have a misconception that AFL isn't as brutal as NRL. So AFLW may seem like a fad but imagine if we didn't have a team!
 
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Can anyone nominate a women's sport that turned pro and then flopped?
Tennis, golf, surfing etc suggest not.
Pretty sure AFLW will become a winner eventually, given enough time and support.
And a damn good thing it would be for our game too.
Precisely , it’s simple to understand the game at elite level is in its infancy , depth of talent is only thing holding it back , the best of the talent can be remarkable , watch d’Arcy vassallo from bloos however it thins out quick , that will improve year on year with the numbers coming through and better quality coaching
 
Precisely , it’s simple to understand the game at elite level is in its infancy , depth of talent is only thing holding it back , the best of the talent can be remarkable , watch d’Arcy vassallo from bloos however it thins out quick , that will improve year on year with the numbers coming through and better quality coaching

The talent pipeline is only starting to crank it up. Give the girls another decade and we'll see some special players. But waiting a decade it too much for some. They want the house, landscaping and furnishings without having to do the building.
 
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I can remember when Collingwood and Carlton both fielded teams in the state soccer league. Total cluster ****. I don't really mind if we field a women's team but we need a pre-established exit strategy in case it starts hemorrhaging money. If AFLW is not core business then we need to look at it as philanthropy. There's only so much money you can throw at feeling better about yourself.

Or am I wrong and AFLW is core business?

Forgive me if I am wrong but isn’t the whole business supposed to be NFP? Doesn’t the funds have to be sunk somewhere anyway?
 
Forgive me if I am wrong but isn’t the whole business supposed to be NFP? Doesn’t the funds have to be sunk somewhere anyway?

Yep, it is. Hence the tax breaks. There was always a big saga when the weagles had to pay extra tax for years due to having a minority stake held by Indian pacific and therefore not nfp.

But when you see bleating by teams like Collingwood whenever equalisation bandied about its better to consider that AFL teams are nfp just like China is communist ie it's all just window dressing.
 
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Can anyone nominate a women's sport that turned pro and then flopped?
Tennis, golf, surfing etc suggest not.
Pretty sure AFLW will become a winner eventually, given enough time and support.
And a damn good thing it would be for our game too.
Only difference is golf, tennis surfing and athletics are individual sports. And all bare athletics, the players probably earn the same or more from sponsors.
 

tiggywigs

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Only difference is golf, tennis surfing and athletics are individual sports. And all bare athletics, the players probably earn the same or more from sponsors.

Thanks for considering my proposition.
But its a distinction without meaning as far as I can tell.
Women's team sports such as soccer, basketball,cricket and netball all seem to be growing very strongly at the pro level atm.
And it took women several decades to obtain earning parity with men in pro sports such as golf and tennis.
Change is coming.
There's no going back imo.
 

northeasttiger

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The womens sports are growing but it will be decades before they have the level of support that will justify the payments that the men get.

In tennis the women are paid more than the men in the grand slams as the men play to five sets for the same money that the women play to three sets for.

A few of the senior men have pointed this out but if you make too much of a fuss the feminists will go after you.
 
Womens Sport is booming. In some cases like golf, athletics, surfing or tennis, some women might be able to hold their own against men.

Women's sport may well be booming but at the elite level it's nowhere near the men. Maybe things like gymnastics or diving, might come close (but I am no expert), but in Tennis absolutely not. Serena and Venus once bragged that they could beat any man in the world ranked under 200. Number 203 took them up on it and destroyed them both in straight sets. McEnroe came out and said Serena would be like number 700 in the world. Williams herself said she'd lose 6-0 6-0 in 10 minutes against Andy Murray.

Women's surfing took huge strides in the mid 90s with Lisa Andersen leading the way but it is still far behind the men at the top level. They don't even let women compete at Pipeline or Teahupoo.

Women are far behind men in athletics, with the possible exception of ultra marathoning over huge distances where women often do win.

I don't think we should get participation and interest levels mixed up with performance levels. But I don't think anyone really expects AFLW to be at the same level as the AFL.
 
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Women's sport may well be booming but at the elite level it's nowhere near the men. Maybe things like gymnastics or diving, might come close (but I am no expert), but in Tennis absolutely not. Serena and Venus once bragged that they could beat any man in the world ranked under 200. Number 203 took them up on it and destroyed them both in straight sets. McEnroe came out and said Serena would be like number 700 in the world. Williams herself said she'd lose 6-0 6-0 in 10 minutes against Andy Murray.

Women's surfing took huge strides in the mid 90s with Lisa Andersen leading the way but it is still far behind the men at the top level. They don't even let women compete at Pipeline or Teahupoo.

Women are far behind men in athletics, with the possible exception of ultra marathoning over huge distances where women often do win.

I don't think we should get participation and interest levels mixed up with performance levels. But I don't think anyone really expects AFLW to be at the same level as the AFL.

I’m no women hater and love to see girls given better opportunities in sport. However from a viewer perspective it’s generally crap to watch.

Also as far as I know there are no rules preventing women from qualifying for the AFL, NBA, NRL etc other than talent. Men’s competition is in effect an open class.


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RFCGloryJC

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Yes. There's no comparison in terms of the quality of mens' and women's tennis.
It is no contest. They are worlds apart.
Generally speaking, it is great women enjoy to play football, they find it fulfilling, that is great. That is not in dispute.
My only concern is Punt Road Oval is already a cramped venue, bringing in two women's teams is ill-advised, in my opinion.
The other concern is financial.
My concern is Richmond will have to use its own funds to finance AFLW, I hope not.
New franchise teams in the U.S. are subject to forensic accounting as financially viable.
 
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SumTingWong

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Womens Sport is booming. In some cases like golf, athletics, surfing or tennis, some women might be able to hold their own against men. Fortunately or unfortunately AFLW is under the microscope. The standard is not the same as men's football but if it leads to more women playing sport then fine in my book. I wish it had've been an option for my daughter to try. She ended up playing basketball.
In my neck of the woods in rugby dominated NSW. There are AFLW leagues starting up. I see a few 14, 15 year old girls walking around with arms in plaster. Injuries sustained playing AFL. Parents have a misconception that AFL isn't as brutal as NRL. So AFLW may seem like a fad but imagine if we didn't have a team!
To state that any women's sport is on par with men's in terms of ability is beyond idiotic.
 

RFCGloryJC

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We just need to reduce our financial exposure to AFLW.
Look at Carlton. Now a worthless rabble, a once feared and respected team.
Richmond AFLW should lease a suburban oval with facilities for a couple of nights per week, have a once weekly strategy meeting, give the players data on laptops, that is it.
The U.S. sports franchises are subject to the most stringent financial accounting.
We can do the same.
 
I guess the Craigieburn alliance is no longer there, but that would have been the perfect place to put them. MCG sized ground and connected to the club.
Basing women at the PRO is only justifiable if there is room. Given that we've already got people agitating to pull down the jack dyer stand I think it's fairly obvious that there is not enough room.

Forward thinking would see them based somewhere nearby or the exercise postponed until there is enough room at PRO.
 
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Change is a constant with human life. There has been and will always be change, there’s many ways to manage it and 90% of those management methods end up with a ball park result the same as the others.

It is normal to be cautious of change and react defensively, but eventually the big scary changes will meld into the landscape and be a normal part of every day life.

Look at the game of AFL football and how it’s changed since its inception. Rule changes, teams coming, going, expanding. A wider look at sport in general shows even more changes. Hell women weren’t even allowed to watch sports and were excluded from sports all together not all that long ago.

Look at all the social change that has occurred in the last 150 years or so in Australia. It’s longer than any of us will live for but it’s only two lifetimes.

She’ll be right mate, and she’ll play footy too.
 

RFCGloryJC

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Our loyal fans have waited 37 years for AFL success.
We probably have a five year window of opportunity with our AFL team, we can hopefully snatch one or two more flags in this cycle.
I think they should bring in the two new sides (AFLW, VFLW) from 2025 and as you say at a separate venue.
 

NimFromSudan

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It's so frustrating that these threads constantly devolve into a debate over the merits of women's footy. The debate is over. Women's footy's growth in the last three years alone has led to a massive explosion in the popularity of the sport, the likes of which is close to unmatched in its history.

We have a team now and it's a Richmond team that will soon be an integral part of the fabric of our club.

Get on board or don't, but save yourself the shouting into the wind about how it's not a worthy endeavour, or a waste of money or whatever your objections are.

I look forward to the day we can have a good old BigFooty circlejerk about which player shirks contests too often or how our first round pick is the next Daisy Pearce etc. instead of this crap.


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It's so frustrating that these threads constantly devolve into a debate over the merits of women's footy. The debate is over. Women's footy's growth in the last three years alone has led to a massive explosion in the popularity of the sport, the likes of which is close to unmatched in its history.

We have a team now and it's a Richmond team that will soon be an integral part of the fabric of our club.

Get on board or don't, but save yourself the shouting into the wind about how it's not a worthy endeavour, or a waste of money or whatever your objections are.

I look forward to the day we can have a good old BigFooty circlejerk about which player shirks contests too often or how our first round pick is the next Daisy Pearce etc. instead of this crap.


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I sometimes feel like the bolded bit is lost a bit in certain parts of social media when it comes to discussing womens football.

Local leagues all across the country are absolutley booming with womens / youth girls football teams now, the VAFA alone grew by 30+ teams last year.

And now there is a pathway established from top to bottom which is fantastic.

Once upon a time if you were a young girl playing football you had to play in the boys team but once you got to Under 13's or 14's you were no longer allowed to play and there was no where else for them to go but to another sport.

We have come a long way and it is great for the game!
 
Off memory we got $20m in total for the last redevelopment

Richmond station will be refurbished AFTER Melbourne Metro is complete. With the Pakenham/Cranbourne lines no long stopping at Richmond , it will be a major change for track and platform use

wait what? when is this happening?

from a selfish perspective that is bloody annoying. not to mention that the club has made an effort to link in with the South East area, and now our train lines won't be stopping at Richmond? (not the clubs fault obviously)
 
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I don't know where the women's team will play but it can't be at Punt Road unless they make it fit for spectators.

1. the only food and drink outlets are down the grandstand end.
2. the only decent toilets are inside the grandstand ( don't think the main building is open for this ) , the rest are unhygenic portaloos.
3. if you are down the station end of the ground and want to access points 1 and 2, you need to exit the ground and walk around and re-enter down the other end.
 
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