Media Coverage in the AFLW
After another dreadful performance from Collingwood in 2016’s AFL season, we yet again missed out on the top 8. I was almost ready to rip up my membership, I’d had enough of our uninspiring performance. But just after the 2016 AFL Grand Final, it was announced that a women’s only league was to be created called AFLW. Now at the time I was all for it, I had no real idea of what to expect, but I was interested nevertheless. So Round 1 of the 2017 AFLW season arrived and I watched the first game for about 5 minutes and then turned it off. It just wasn’t enjoyable or appealing to me. The ladies were making too many errors and it looked like the league itself was extremely underdeveloped. But looking back on those days now, I was so close-minded about the AFLW. I thought that women’s football leagues around Australia were very underdeveloped and it reflected in the professional AFLW games. But who’s fault was it that these games weren’t up to my standards? It really got me questioning myself and I thought that it may be due to the women’s leagues across Australia being in their infancy, but boy was I wrong.
Without any knowledge about the grassroots footy programs for women, I soon discovered that women’s football has actually been played for almost 100 years.
It came as a shock when I found this out because I had no idea. Personally, I just thought the AFLW league and it’s respective state leagues were all new and underdeveloped, which they are, but it’s not their fault. Due to the lack of media coverage and news women’s AFL has and continues to receive, it has ultimately hindered their talent pool, development as a league and the general hype they attract.
If we take it back to 1961 when the AFL was still an amateur league called the Victorian Football League (VFL). Games, news and interviews were all televised and broadcasted over the radio which helped fuel the dramatic increase in VFL/AFL’s popularity and profitability. After WW2, Australian consumers began buying televisions which also helped televised VFL games become more common. During this time, the women’s amateur football leagues were also playing out but weren’t receiving any coverage or attention. This is due to the society at the time when women were feeling marginalised and were made to feel insignificant.
People just didn’t want to give women a chance at sport as there was and continues to be an overall lack of respect for female athletes. Due to VFL’s extensive media coverage it received in the ’60s and up until this day, in 1990 it became recognised as a professional sport now known as the AFL. With media coverage, it builds hype around a team, a cult following and consequently, an increase in ticket sales and profitability. Unfortunately, the women’s leagues similar to that of the VFL in the ’60s, just didn’t receive any media attention at the time which has resulted in their league looking a tad ‘amateur.’ This is because of the lack of money the league generated which no doubt affected player development programs, grassroots footy programs and the overall hype and profitability of the league.
So as the AFLW is now being televised, their league should be improving right? And the answer to that is yes, it has and it will continue to grow. From a personal standpoint, I’ve really seen an improvement in skill level and hype the teams create, all due to their games and league now being televised. The insane turnout of 53,000 people to Adelaide Oval for the 2019 AFLW Grand Final is just a sniff of what’s to come with this league.
Media coverage is a powerful thing in sport, and it ultimately shapes how successful a league can be. It’s just disappointing that the women’s leagues weren’t given the same coverage as the VFL back in the ’60s, because who knows where the league would be at as we speak.
