As the AFLW prepares to enter its final round of 2023 with all 18 teams competing, General Manager Nicole Livingstone reflects on not only a momentous season but a momentous seven years.
Indeed, when the women’s league kicked off in 2016, no one could have predicted the bearing it would have. Not only in creating new pathways and experiences for female athletes and fans of the game, but in creating true and lasting social impact.
“We’re creating heroes and role models,” says Livingstone simply. “We’re normalising a woman’s role in Australian football, whether it’s on-field or off-field.”
She’s right.
In seven years, we’ve witnessed no shortage of historic firsts. And it’s not just about celebrating the sell-out crowds, sponsorship deals and streaming rights, but the moments of magic in-between which have rewired the way we think about women’s sport and its place in Australia.
Moments like Tayla Harris’s epic right boot, and an iconic image which became the catalyst for a necessary conversation about the place of female athletes and their bodies. In 2019, Harris overcame unprecedented online abuse and sexualised trolling to emerge an advocate for women’s safety and a powerful symbol of resilience and progress.
Or Adelaide champion Erin Philips kissing her wife, Tracy Gahan after winning the AFLW’s inaugural league best-and-fairest award. The image was widely shared across media to represent the modern game and its commitment to inclusion.
Other significant moments have included a push to level the playing field for women and to ensure viable career pathways. Late last year for instance, The AFL launched the Women’s Football Vision outlining its commitment to gender equality. Targets included at least 50 percent female AFLW senior coaching positions by 2030, AFLW players to become the best paid sportswomen in a domestic competition in the country, and equal participation and representation across all levels of community football.
The plan was to work towards “a future where women’s sport continues to be more visible and more valued”, Livingstone said at the time.
But while simply normalising the women’s game remains a central focus for the league, the last seven years have proved how popular the AFLW truly is, with the fanbase rapidly growing each season. Livingstone attributes this to the community and inclusive culture that being a fan of the game offers.
“If you go to a woman’s football game, yeah, the football is taking place, but it’s also about community and about people coming together,” she says. “It’s about little boys standing there watching women play football and being blissfully unaware that this was not available for women and girls until recently. They wouldn’t know that, which is just phenomenal.”
Livingstone believes that something as basic as watching and valuing women’s sport could lead to greater levels of respect for women among future generations of men.
“I see boys turning up to footy matches wearing AFLW guernseys, with AFLW players’ names on their backs. To me, I start to think that will actually change the way that this little boy respects women in the future and normalise the ability for women to be anything that they want to be,” she says.
Still, Livingstone knows that there are plenty of commentators who reject this vision. Ultimately, she believes that much of the negativity stems from a reluctance to acknowledge that the men’s and women’s games “are actually different products”.
“It’s really important for people to understand whilst it is the Australian Football League, men’s and women’s football are actually different products. We have a different number of players on the field, we have a different game time, we have some different rules as well, and importantly, we have a season that is shorter in nature”.
Livingstone adds that while she’s grown “used to the criticism” she believes the tide is turning.
“Over time, I’m hearing less and less of that commentary. When I first started in the role, I heard a lot of commentary around the standard of the game, and whether or not women should even be playing a contact sport, so a lot of that has simmered”, she shares.
As General Manager, Livingstone’s “ambition” –as she describes it– is to show Australians that the two games can seamlessly coexist.
“I think once you get to go to AFLW or get involved and watch AFLW, you’re definitely coming back and you’re definitely on board as a fan,” she notes.
“That’s what I’m hoping this season will do. It actually starts to bring across a lot more of the AFL fans that just want to actually go to the football and see their teams do battle on the ground and hope for a win just like men’s football”.
Women’s Agenda has partnered with AFLW to promote the wider competition and the players making it happen.
The AFLW competition now consists of 18 teams, the same number as the men’s competition with Sydney, Essendon, Port Adelaide, and Hawthorn entering teams for the first time.
As such, the AFLW Finals series will increase from 3 to 4 weeks and will feature the top 8 teams. Season 7 will conclude with the grand final on the weekend of 26 November.
Highlights for this season include Indigenous round (rounds 3 and 4), and Pride round (round 8).