St Kilda applies for a Womens Football team( now 2020)

[Moods]

On skills. As most girls have only just taken the game up in terms of actually playing it it is no wonder that skills are awful. It takes time. Very few can master a sport in only a year or two. Just look at internationals who are gifted athletes who can fail to become ok.

It takes time.

However I do agree that women''s football will mainly be a participation sport.' BUT there is nothing wrong with this.

Aussie crowds topday basically just follow the top tier of any sport. Look at Sheffield Shield Cricket for example. Two men and a dog. Big Bash goes ok as there is no real BigBash International Cricket on in Australia on a regular basis. So a short season BigBash goes ok.


So yes I think that women's football will mainly be participation. But do not underrate the importance of having a women'' team on the long-term viability of StKFC. Women are over 50% of the potential supporters and so with a large chunk of girls now playing the game there will be some aspirational thoughts going on, and with a StKFC team you will then see potential supporters drift off to other clubs.

StKFC most definitely needs a women's team IMO.

Good post. Agree with a lot of it. I'm still unsure as to whether we need a team but can see the reasons behind getting one. I'm just concerned that once the AFL pulls the rug and says that clubs will have to finance their own teams we could struggle. At the moment the AFL is paying for everything but surely that won't continue. We are more vulnerable than most with extra costs as we have a smaller support base and it's a battle every year to make a profit.

[ausfatcat]

Anyone have figures on the cost of running a AFLW team and expected income? esp considering it's free entry ect

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

The fact we're still a couple of years off may work to our advantage. The talent pool is shallow and more crucially, underdeveloped. I understand why the AFL went a bit early with the whole concept, but it will take at least 3-4 years for the playing lists, talent pools and rules to sort themselves out. There are a lot of athletes out there who haven't even decided to play AFLW yet. Depth, skills and fitness will all improve over time, as will numbers participating.
I agree with others that the grounds should be reduced in size, or they could return to 18 a side on the ground at once. More interchange players may also provide relief. The competition is here to stay and we should embrace it. Appealing to half the population makes sense on all sorts of levels.

I just can't work out why Carlton was given a licence ahead of us, or half a dozen others for that matter. Mike Fitzpatrick? Did you have anything to do with that, I wonder? The Carlscum never change their spots.

[MickThomas]

The fact we're still a couple of years off may work to our advantage. The talent pool is shallow and more crucially, underdeveloped. I understand why the AFL went a bit early with the whole concept, but it will take at least 3-4 years for the playing lists, talent pools and rules to sort themselves out. There are a lot of athletes out there who haven't even decided to play AFLW yet. Depth, skills and fitness will all improve over time, as will numbers participating.
I agree with others that the grounds should be reduced in size, or they could return to 18 a side on the ground at once. More interchange players may also provide relief. The competition is here to stay and we should embrace it. Appealing to half the population makes sense on all sorts of levels.

I just can't work out why Carlton was given a licence ahead of us, or half a dozen others for that matter. Mike Fitzpatrick? Did you have anything to do with that, I wonder? The Carlscum never change their spots.

Someone said that Saints have access to a large potential pool in the Bayside area, so you're correct that our entry in 2020 will work to our advantage,
in that a lot of ladies in our catchment area have a goal to work towards, and our club can put infrastructure in place,
to get ladies into the league.
I remember that blonde Olympic Javelin thrower who converted to AFL recently- she's the one who dislocated a shoulder in either London or Rio during a throw-
unfortunately she copped a bad knee injury playing footy.

I have had first-hand knowledge of a certain elite sport, the sport will not be named as it generated a great deal of hate mail from some uninformed posters on here...
In this sport, I knew a number of highly talented ladies, some of them were in the State team, and one got a nice pro contract in the USA for 12 months.
The talent pathway for this sport for ladies is underfunded (as in most sports) and the ones I trained with were incredibly dedicated and motivated,
and it's always been harder for them than the men.
In fact, the national body has recently announced a cessation in funding for the ladies' national team, but a very generous benefactor
has stepped in and committed to bankroll them..

My long-winded rant has a purpose.
For our club to field an attractive and competitive W team, they need a lot of funding from AFL and Federal Gov.
Saints don't have the resources of the Injectors or the Filth.
they need a quality structure to identify, nurture and develop the ladies as well as strong links to suburban clubs.
The Saints AFLW team will be the tip of the iceberg- they need to nurture all the clubs below them, and have great admin staff in place.

It won't be easy

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

You're right about the funding, MT. We'll need help from the Death Star and whoever is in government then. What a great opportunity for the AFL and us. If our mantra of Port Melbourne to Portsea rings true, then we're talking about the biggest single population demographic of any team. Coupled with the fact that participant rates in this region for women's football are the highest in the state, I can't believe we don't have a licence already. The real strength of AFLW will come from grass roots participation. That's where we are well placed. Unless the AFL duds us and splits the region up for others to develop and then plunder, al a Hawthorn with the peninsula in the 70's.

[saintbrat]

Paul Amy‏ @PaulAmy375

AFL Vic not far away from announcing new licences for VFL Women’s. A Saints Peninsula team tipped to play some games at Frankston Park.