History will be made on Saturday, June 17 when the first ever Women's AFL match will be played on the North Coast.
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This ground breaking match will be between a composite North Coast team and the Ballina Bombers Women's team at Ellem Oval, Grafton. The North Coast team will comprise the local trail blazers who have been involved in the recent come and try activities and have been training regularly ever since.
The Bombers will be travelling down with their Men's team who take on the Grafton Tigers in Cross Conference, with the Women's match acting as a curtain raiser. First bounce will be at 12:50pm.
Paul Taylor, AFL North Coast Operations Co-ordinator, said that the staging of this historic match reflects the growth in interest in female football.
“AFL Women's captured a lot of people's imagination and really helped build interest locally,” Paul said.
“We had over 20 Women take part in the come and try days, together with some of our older Youth Girls, and staging this match is the next step in the progression towards having club based teams playing in a North Coast competition.
“There are still opportunities for more Women to get involved either in the game at Grafton on 17 June, or in matches in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour in the coming months. Anyone interested in joining in and being part of a growing movement should contact our office on 6659 6000.”
The advent of Women's AFL builds upon the success of the Youth Girls competition that was introduced this season. What started as a four team competition already looks highly likely to expand to either five or six teams in 2018, and with over 120 girls now registered and playing competitive footy, there's a production line that will ensure Youth Girls and Women's footy go from strength to strength.
Mr Taylor said that not only is there a growing player base, there's also a strong pathway developing.
“Georgia Breward and Lilly Doyle have both represented NSW/ACT at National Championships whilst still living on the North Coast,” Paul said.
“It won't be long before we get a second North Coast player joining Nikki Wallace in the AFLW as our Girls and Women's competitions get stronger.”
The Women's match between North Coast and Ballina Bombers is on Saturday 17 June at Ellem Oval, Grafton from 12.50pm. For further information about female footy please contact the AFL Northern NSW office on 6659 6000.
