The prize money for the AFLW competition will almost double, the AFL has announced ahead of Round 1 of the 2023 season.
While last season’s total prize money pool for the women’s competition was $623,922, this year will see $1.1 million up for grabs, split between the league’s top eight teams.
The men’s AFL competition offers the same amount, but split between the league’s top four teams.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the league is proud to be one step closer to gender pay parity.
“We have two of the best sporting competitions in the country,” he said.
“On the eve of the 2023 NAB AFLW season I am pleased to be able to announce equal players prize money for both our elite AFL and AFLW competitions.”
The coveted McClelland Trophy will also undergo a major change this year. Since 1991, the trophy has been awarded to the AFL club that finished in first place on the men’s competition ladder after the round matches.
Starting this year, however, the McClelland Trophy will be a combined prize, given to the best-performed club overall across both the AFL and AFLW competitions. Another $1 million will be awarded with the trophy.
The AFLW season kicks off Friday September 1, the first game between Melbourne and Collingwood at IKON Park in Melbourne.
Calls for closing the gender pay gap in sport are growing louder across the various sporting codes. Over the weekend, the Australian women’s rugby team, the Wallaroos, published a statement on their social media accounts calling out Rugby Australia for the lack of investment in the women’s game.
In the statement, the team compare how the men’s and women’s national teams are treated unequally and the significant disparities in resources, funding and conditions.
“It’s time to acknowledge that we are not promoted equally, even on a free platform,” the statement reads.
“The future of our game hangs in the balance… it’s your move, Rugby Australia.”
The statement came on the eve of the FIFA Women’s World Cup final on Sunday, a historic, record-breaking tournament that sparked a huge increase in interest and advocacy for women’s sport.
At the start of the tournament last month, the Matildas called upon FIFA to balance the prize money awarded to the World Cup winners in the men’s and women’s tournaments.
The total prize money on offer for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was $172 million – three times the amount on offer for the 2019 World Cup, yet only a quarter of the $687 million of the total prize money at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
In July, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the winners of men’s and women’s ICC competitions will receive equal prize money. The international body aimed to reach this milestone by 2030.