Six pioneering women have been selected as finalists for the 2012 Football Woman of the Year (FWOTY) award. The winner will be announced at the Grand Final Comedy Debate on Thursday 27 September at Crown Palladium.

The finalists are:

Cheryl Cates - President of the South Australian Women’s Football League (SAWFL)
Jo Del Prete – Advisory role to the West Australian Football Commission
Belinda Duarte - AFL’s SportsReady Indigenous Program and Director of Korin Gamadji Institute
Peta Searle - Port Melbourne Football Club Assistant Coach
Suki Hobson - Strength Scientist at the Essendon Football Club
Diana Taylor – First woman on the VFL Tribunal and President of the Western Region Football League.

Level 3 coaches Peta Searle and Nicole Graves have been selected in the 2012 Women’s High Performance Academy which will be conducted in Melbourne this week.

The seven-day high performance camp coincides with Women’s Round - Round 17 of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season. The Academy involves 50 participants including coaches, players, an umpire, strength and conditioning coaches and talent and coaching managers and aims to enhance football and coaching skills.
 

The Western Australian Women’s Football League, currently the second strongest women’s league in Australia after Victoria, recently held the second ever ‘Yorga’s Koodjal Kadadjiny’ or ‘Women’s Two Way Learning’ match to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the WAWFL and the rising talent of both indigenous and non indigenous female players in the state.

As well as the cultural and sporting significance, the match is also a tribute game for two indigenous female footballers: Sharon Woods and Elizabeth ‘Lil’ Kickett, who unfortunately has since passed away from breast cancer.

This years Yorga Match featured the Indigenous All Stars playing against the WAWFL All Stars. The winning team, the Indigenous All Stars, received the Lil Kickett Memorial Shield for defeating the WAWFL All Stars by a convincing 14.12 (96) to 2.3 (15).
 

The AFL today announced the Grand Final of the 2012 FOXTEL Cup – the state-league based knockout competition that was introduced last season – would be played between Claremont and Werribee at Patersons Stadium in WA on Thursday August 2, at 7.35pm local time.

 

Claremont was runner-up in the inaugural competition in 2011, losing last year’s final to Williamstown, and won its way through to the grand final again with victories over West Adelaide, Mt Gravatt and Port Melbourne. Werribee, which qualified for inclusion in the competition for the first time this year, won its place in the final with successes against Burnie, West Perth and Morningside.

This week the AFL will celebrate the official AFL Women’s Round. The Round acknowledges the valuable contribution of women to Australia’s Game and focuses on recognising and developing female leadership across all levels of the Australian football industry, from community to the elite.

A range of activities will take place during the week, headlined by the AFL Women’s Industry Luncheon on Friday July 20 and culminating in several match day events across the weekend. Nominations for the Essendon Football Club Woman of the Year Award will also be named at the AFL Women’s lunch.

The Under 16 Championships concluded today.  Yesterday Western Australia clinched the Division one title.  Today Queensland won to take home the Division two title.  In Division three the winner was WA North-West in a great sign of strength for that state and the opening up of further development in the remote communities in that part of Australia.

The international bragging rights were on the line in the final match of the championships and it was the South Pacific team coming out on top to win by 46 points.  Some consolation for the World XVIII however with Hugh Curnow (who plays with the Northern Knights in the TAC Cup) being awarded the inaugural Mark Browning Medal for the Division three best and fairest.

Full results below. 

For those that missed the video for the multicultural round last week it can be seen below via Youtube.

The World XVIII and South Pacific teams have arrived in Sydney over the past few days and completed training sessions and warm up matches.   The 2012 NAB AFL Under-16 Championships will commence in Sydney tomorrow, Saturday, July 7.

The seven-day carnival has been expanded to 12 teams with the inclusion of the AFL’s Indigenous Youth side, the Flying Boomerangs, and the Western Australia North-West team.