The pay dispute between the AFL, the AFL players and the AFL Players' Association (AFLPA) has now continued past the AFL's latest deadline.  Anyone interested in the saga will have followed it in other media but there is one particularly relevant point to supporters of international footy.

The AFL and AFL clubs are not-for-profit organisations.  They do not build up large profits and divide it amongst shareholders or club owners.  The primary areas money is directed is to paying the players, running the clubs, running the League, and Game Development.  Any one area extracting a bigger share of the pie means squeezing one of the other areas.

The AFLPA has sought a significant increase and, eventually, the AFL has offered a major increase including better retirement payments and better conditions for rookies, on top of the overall pay rises.  The AFLPA has knocked it back again.

The AFL has already said that they are now squeezing the clubs and threatening other areas.  The connection that concerns in particular is Game Development.  It's this author's belief that significant improvements in international support are dependent on the Game Development department continuing to expand.  When the AFLPA has said it is not a war between them and the clubs, there are other areas, then surely they mean Game Development.

In my opinion the current standoff threatens some of the good work done across Australia and internationally in the last decade and could severely damage what might be to come.

The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) Premier Division is the top level of senior women’s football in Australia, and has been in existence since 1981. The Premier Division Grand Final was on August 27th, unfortunately clashing with the Men’s Division 1 Grand Final of the International Cup.

Whilst Ireland made history at the MCG, across town at Coburg City Oval, football history was also being made as VU St Albans Spurs broke the Darebin Falcons’ undefeated premierships record of 5 years to become the new WVFL champions, winning 16.6(102) to 3.5(23).

The day started with the Grand Final of the VWFL Premier Reserves Division between the reserves teams fielded by the same two clubs, Darebin and VU St Albans, but proved not to be prophetic with Darebin Falcons winning 6.12(48) to 3.4(22). After this spectacular curtain raiser, the main event, the VWFL Premiers Division Grand Final, was started by Western Bulldogs’ board member Sue Alberti, after whom the Premiership cup is named, who tossed the coin.

The massive crowd also included other AFL identities, including Cameron Schwab, David Nietz, Chris Connolly and Karen Hayes from Melbourne Football Club, AFL Club sponsor of the VWFL, and the game was also filmed by The Local Footy Show. There was also coverage of the game on Chanel 10 and ABC News.

Press release from the AFL Players Association

AFL Players have come together to send a strong message to fans and the broader community that racism – on or off the field – is unacceptable.

With the message, Our team is made up of many colours. Wear them with pride, not prejudice,  the campaign encourages footy fans to celebrate and respect the diversity of people playing football at all levels.

The campaign features players from a diverse range of backgrounds, including Matthew Stokes, James Frawley, Aaron Davey, Setanta O’hAilpin, Nathan Grima, Raphael Clarke and Shaun Burgoyne.

As expected Williamstown Seagulls have claimed the inaugural Foxtel Cup.

The strong VFL side travelled to Perth to take on Claremont at Paterson's Stadium and encountered a spirited fight, with the locals just 5 points down at 3/4 time.  But Williamstown took control in the final quarter, kicking three unanswered goals for a comfortable 21 point win.

Although the Foxtel Cup is a made for TV tournament it would've been nice to have the game played in front of more than the 1405 people who turned up to watch the tournament's finale.  Perhaps it will grow in status in the coming years.

Claremont        1.2   2.2   5.5   5.8 (38)
Williamstown    2.1   4.3   6.4   9.5 (59)
 
GOALS
Claremont: Wilkes 2, Weedon, Bradshaw, C Jones
Williamstown: Howard 2, Roughead 2, Djerrkura 2, Hooper, Barlow, Tutt
 
BEST
Claremont: Mitchell, Foster, Weedon, B Jones, Stevenson, Swift
Williamstown: Jolley, Roughead, Wallis, Howard, Djerrkura, Panos

The AFL today announced it had finalised the fixture for round 24 of the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership season, which had been left as a floating round when the fixture was announced late last year.

The schedule of games will be as follows (local time in each case):

Friday September 2

Collingwood v Geelong Cats at the MCG, 7.40pm (Channel 7)

 Saturday September 3

Gold Coast Suns v Hawthorn at Metricon Stadium, 1.10pm (Fox Sports)

Western Bulldogs v Fremantle at Etihad Stadium, 2.10pm (Network Ten)

Sydney Swans v Brisbane Lions at the SCG, 4.10pm (Fox Sports)

Carlton v St Kilda at the MCG, 7.10pm (Network Ten)

West Coast v Adelaide Crows at Patersons Stadium, 5.10pm (Fox Sports)

Sunday September 4

Port Adelaide v Melbourne at Adelaide Oval, 2.40pm (Channel 7)

Richmond v North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, 4.40pm (Fox Sports)

The target date set for the launch of an AFL backed national televised Women’s Australian Football League is 2020.

The date was originally set at 2013, with four to eight planned women’s teams set to become part of existing AFL teams, but after considering the amount of groundwork needed to organise it, and protests from Gold Coast and GWS that they would not have time to submit their bids in full, this was withdrawn. However, the AFL’s Female Football Development Manager, Jan Cooper, suggests that steps towards creating the competition need to be taken much earlier, with a trial run still possible in 2013.

The ultimate aim is to have an exciting product with skilled girls entertaining stadium goers and television audiences. In order to produce the talent level required, proper football pathways for women in every state need to be put in place years earlier, and the numbers of female coaches and umpires also needs to increase to support this. But there still has to be a viable competition structure for those left behind. There is a real possibility that without proper planning, existing local women’s leagues and clubs will face difficulties or even be forced to fold if they lose too many of their best players.

The Grand Finalists for the 2011 Foxtel Cup have been decided.

VFL powerhouse Williamstown Seagulls has smashed East Perth at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne to cruise into the final round, winning by 71 points. WAFL 2010 runners-up Claremont eased past SANFL strugglers Port Magpies by 16 points at Patersons Stadium in Perth.

The final will be played Saturday 6th August at Patersons Stadium but on form it looks like Williamstown will be far too strong for the home side.

Semi-final results

Williamstown 6.4 10.5 13.5 16.7 (103)
East Perth 0.2 1.3 2.7 4.8 (32)

Claremont 5.3 6.4 10.4 11.7 (73)

Port Adelaide 0.2 2.3 5.6 8.9 (57)



Stephen Alomes is an Associate Professor at Deakin University, with particular interest in sport and culture.  Below is an article published in J. Senyard & P. Burke eds, Behind the Game, Maribyrnong Press, 2008.  It looks at the role women have played in Australian football since its inception, both on and off the field.  Although a weighty academic article it is a thorough lead in to an upcoming article by Tobietta Rhyman about the future of women's footy.

Since Australian Football’s beginnings women have always been involved in the game. This gender difference distinguishes it from other forms of football:  the traditional all-male crowds at many English and European soccer matches, and the massive male predominance at rugby league and rugby union matches. At the same time, women have been on the margins, outside the sacred turf found inside the boundary line, or not allowed into the inner sanctum of the male clubrooms. 

The following is a press release from the Western Bulldogs

The Western Bulldogs are pleased to announce Integrated as our new Multicultural Partner in the lead up to this weekend’s inaugural AFL Multicultural Round.  The first of its kind in the AFL, this new partnership confirms the Western Bulldogs as the ‘Community Club’ of the league.

Two community focused organisations, the Western Bulldogs and Integrated share a commitment and a passion to provide opportunities for people from a diverse range of backgrounds to be included in our community.  The new association will support the Bulldogs to build on the Club’s ground breaking work with multicultural communities in Melbourne’s West.

“The Western Bulldogs Football Club is passionate about community development and view AFL Football as a tool we can use to help improve the lives of thousands of children and adults throughout the Western Region of Melbourne,” Simon Garlick Western Bulldog’s Chief Executive said today.