It is unfortunate that AFL cost cutting comes at expense of women’s game

Earlier this week, the AFL announced a dramatic reshaping of its second-tier men’s competition. The NEAFL will align with Victoria’s state league in season 2021. There has been plenty of buzz around this development, with reports suggesting the AFL has committed to paying associated travel costs for teams in what will be the nation’s premier reserve grade competition.

Meanwhile, female players are still in the dark regarding the future of Victoria’s premier women’s competition. With the announcement of the combined VFL and NEAFL league, female players were expecting a decision on next season’s VFLW competition – but were instead met with the statement “there is still no decision on how second-tier women’s football will look in the future”.

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From the perspective of a female player, this follows the usual narrative that the future of the men’s game is the AFL’s priority, with decisions on women’s football an afterthought.

From a business stand-point, the men’s game currently creates a significant amount of revenue for the code. But with growth in female participation surging rapidly – women and girls now make up a third of all Australian rules football participants – it is easy to see how this audience can lead to greater revenue in the future, if indeed it has not already. The AFLW’s very existence has allowed the sport to venture into new territory and speaks to the hopes and dreams of a new, highly-engaged audience. In the near future sponsorship is expected to be thrown behind women’s teams – and in doing so a new generation of sports fans will be targeted.

It is unfortunate that cost cutting is always at the expense of the women’s game, especially when women and girls are so crucial to the AFL’s growth and participation strategy.

On Monday, the Richmond Football Club announced it will not enter the VFLW competition next season due to financial strains. Every AFL club has taken a financial hit due to Covid-19 and budget cuts have been widespread. Richmond is a powerhouse in Australian sport; the Tigers have been AFL premiership winners in two of the past three seasons and recently boasted over 100,000 members for the third consecutive year. But when a club like Richmond cannot find the finances to field a VFLW team, what precedent does this set for the future of the women’s competition?

In 2018, the VFLW looked to align the pathway between Victoria’s second-tier competition and the AFLW, with clubs buying licences to field a team in the state league.

Previously, community clubs such as the Eastern Devils and St Kilda Sharks formed the VFLW competition, but in the end could not financially compete with AFL clubs and were forced out. Darebin Football Club, backed by Darebin City Council, and Williamstown were the only stand-alone teams that survived the revamp. These community clubs relied on volunteers who lived and breathed footy to ensure the club functioned. Aligning the VFLW with AFLW teams improved the professionalism of the competition and provided a clearer pathway for Victorian talent to land themselves on an AFLW list.

But with news of Richmond’s exit from the VFLW, and potentially more clubs to follow, the VFLW may be forced to bring back community clubs to survive – the very clubs that were financially forced out of the competition a couple of seasons ago. The irony is significant.

For the VFLW’s sake, the hope is that these community clubs, who were left somewhat soured by the competition’s restructure in 2018, will come to the rescue of the league if it comes knocking this time around.

• Rebecca Beeson is a writer and AFLW footballer for the GWS Giants