Victorian Women's Football League

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Victorian Women's Football League
Current season or competition:
2009 VWFL season
VWFL logo.png
Victorian Women's Football League
Sport Women's Australian rules football
Inaugural season 1981
No. of teams 8
Country(ies) Australia
Most recent champion(s) Darebin Falcons (2009)
Most championships Darebin Falcons (5)
TV partner(s) [[]]
Official website [2]
The rucks reach for the ball after the umpire (in orange) has balled it up. Taken at the 2005 VWFL Division 1 Grand Final - Melbourne University MUGARS (black and blue) def. Darebin Falcons.
Melbourne University player jostles for best position in a marking contest.
Darebin Falcons Player is wrapped up in a gang tackle by two Melbourne University opponents in the 2006 WVFL senior women's Grand Final. The field umpire (in orange) is about to signal "holding the ball" to penalise Darebin and award Melbourne University a free kick.

The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) is the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 22 clubs and 30 teams from Victoria, Australia across five divisions and a total of over 1,000 players.

The VWFL complies with the Laws of Australian football. The official ball, a Sherrin, used by the VWFL is slightly smaller ball than the official AFL ball, to minimise hand injuries.

Contents

[edit] History

Women's football was organised with the formation of the Victorian Women's Football League in 1981 with four teams competing at open level.

In 1995, Sal Rees caused controversy for applying for the 1995 AFL Draft.[1] The draft was later ammended to disallow women from taking part.

The VWFL grew quickly, increasing dramatically the number of players and participanting teams with a Division 3 added in 2001.

In 2002 VWFL player Debbie Lee made headlines for pushing to play against men in the made-for-television team the Hammerheads. She has commented, "My whole idea with the Hammerheads was to promote women's football. At no point in time did I really think I was going to play against the men, and frankly it wouldn't really have been smart for me to do that. My whole idea was to cause a bit of activity." [2]

An U17 Youth Girls Competition was established by Football Victoria in 2004 primarily to provide a pathway to the VWFL. This was following legal action taken against them in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (following a complaint to the Equal Opportunity Commission) by junior players Penny Cula-Reid, Emily Stayner, and Helen Taylor.

In 2005 the VWFL celebrated its 25th birthday and created a reserves competition for Division 1.

In 2006, the league posted a $6000 loss, however this was turned around in 2007 with a $19000 profit was posted at the end of 2007. 2007 saw five divisions (Premier seniors & reserves, North West, South East & Country) and 27 teams (from 20 clubs) and culminated in an Australian crowd record for women's Australian rules at the 2007 Grand Final held on 19 August at the Preston City Oval in Melbourne. Two finals matches were also held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first time.

The work done by the VWFL Media Manager was instrumental in increasing media coverage across the competition. A significant partnership was negotiated with the Leader News group and weekly coverage was captured across the Melbourne Metropolitan area. Events like the participation of two VWFL players Shannon McFerran and Daisy Pearce in the EJ Whitten Legends game also helped lift the profile of the league. [3]

[edit] Media Coverage

In 2009 VWFL media coverage was captured across a range of mediums including; Print: Herald Sun, leader, Star news & Fairfax TV: Channel 7 program Sunrise, Channel 31 Radio: ABC 774am, 3AW 693 am, SEN 1116am


[edit] Clubs

Premier Division

North West Division

South East Division

[edit] Facts and figures

[edit] Premiers: Division One

2009 Darebin Falcons
2008 Darebin Falcons
2007 Darebin Falcons
2006 Darebin Falcons
2005 Melbourne University Mugars
2004 St Albans Spurs
2003 Melbourne University Mugars
2002 Melbourne University Mugars
2001 Parkside Magpies
2000 Parkside Magpies
1999 St Kilda City Sharks
1998 St Kilda City Sharks
1997 Albion Cats
1996 Fairfield Falcons
1995 Ballarat Lions
1994 Northcote Park Scorpions
1993 East Brunswick Scorpions
1992 Ballarat Lions
1991 East Brunswick Scorpions
1990 Ballarat Eagles
1989 Parkville Scorpions
1988 Parkville Scorpions
1987 Parkville Scorpions
1986 Gladstone Park 'Burras
1985 Aberfeldie Scorpions
1984 Aberfeldie Scorpions
1983 Hallam Cobras
1982 Broadmeadows Scorpions
1981 Broadmeadows Scorpions

[edit] Premiers: Premier Reserves

2009 Darebin Falcons
2008 East Burwood
2007 Darebin Falcons
2006 St Kilda Sharks
2005 Melbourne Uni Mugars

[edit] Premiers: North West Conference

2009 Sunbury Lions
2008 Heidelberg Tigers
2007 Hadfield Hawks
2006 Diamond Creek Demons

[edit] Premiers: South East Conference

2009 Scoresby Magpies
2008 Scoresby Magpies
2007 Eastern Lions
2006 Berwick Wickers

[edit] Premiers: Country Conference

2007 Melton Centrals
2006 Geelong Cheetahz

[edit] Premiers: Division Two

2005 Lalor Bloods
2004 St Kilda Sharks
2003 Melbourne University Mugars
2002 East Geelong Eagles
2001 Hadfield Hawks
2000 North Heidelberg Bulldogs
1997 St Kilda Sharks

[edit] Premiers: Division Three

2005 Diamond Creek Demons
2004 Berwick Wickers
2003 Surrey Park Panthers
2002 Mordialloc Redbacks
2001 Ferntree Gully Kangaroos

[edit] VWFL Life Members

2009 Leesa Catto
2009 Bron McGorlick
2008 Kerryn Stephen
2006 Chyloe Kurdas
2005 Di Smith
2004 Belinda Bowey
2003 Sally Rees, Rohenna Young
2002 Debbie Lee, Kerry Saunders
2001 Nicole Graves
2000 Lisa Hardeman (Who the premier div best on ground medal is named after)
1999 Ann Rulton (who the Volunteer Award is named after)
1998 Julie Allen
1997 Dianne Vaux
1996 Bernadette Marantelli
1995 Coral White
1990 Jan Wilson, Janet Graham
1983 Helen Lambert (who the Premier div Best and Fairest is named after - she is also the founding President of the League)

[edit] Top 10 Most Games Played (as at end of 2004)

195 Sally Rees (Darebin Falcons)
184 Di Smith (Darebin Falcons)
179 Kerry Saunders (Darebin Falcons)
177 Andrea Dalgleish (Melbourne Uni Mugars)
168 Di Vaux (Parkside Magpies)
166 Debbie Lee (St Albans Spurs)
163 Peta Searle (Darebin Falcons)
161 Belinda Bowey (St Kilda Sharks)
153 Nicole Graves (Darebin Falcons)
144 Kerri Piner (St Albans Spurs)

[edit] 2004 All Australian Team Members

Coach: Greg Seton-Lonsdale (ACT)

[edit] Victoria

Lauren Bazeley
Moana Hope
Meg Hutchins
Debbie Lee (captain)
Shannon McFerran
Lesley Ann McGannon
Liz Skinner

[edit] ACT

Toni Alexandrow
Emily Diprose
Alana Lowes
Alison Smith

[edit] NSW

Stephanie Foster (voted Best & Fairest by the umpires)
Jemma Stills
Kerry Taylor
Megan Webster

[edit] NT

Shannon Byrne
Natasha Medbury

[edit] SA

Kris Britt
Lauren Ebsary
Sheron Ford

[edit] Australian Defence Force

Emma Hender
Kelly McFarlane

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Women in a league of their own - realfooty.com.au
  3. ^ McFerran to join the greats

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Places where Women's Australian rules football is played
Australia -
Women's Football Australia
Oceania
New Zealand | Papua New Guinea
Asia
Japan
America
United States | Canada | Argentina
Europe
England
Africa
South Africa
v • d • e
Australian rules football in Victoria, Australia
Representative side
Governing Bodies
AFL Victoria (Metropolitan) · Victorian Country Football League (Country)
Professional Clubs (AFL)
Statewide Leagues
Metropolitan Leagues
Regional Leagues
Women's Leagues
Victorian Women's Football League · AFL Victoria Youth Girls Competition
Principal Venues
 
Clubs in the Victorian Women's Football League
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Women%27s_Football_League"