TWELVE clubs from the Victoria Women’s Football League will play in the Northern Football League’s Northpark Women’s competition in 2017.
Victoria’s female football pathway will have a new look in 2017 with a host of new women’s competitions to be established in local leagues across the state, as outlined in a statement released by AFL Victoria today.
The community league competitions will replace the current Victoria Women’s Football League competition, providing a more localised structure for clubs into the future.
The VWFL’s 47 clubs and 60 teams will be integrated into neighbouring community league structures, with a further 80 clubs registering an interest to join their local women’s competition in 2017.
Only the Victorian Football League Women’s (VFL Women’s) – the state’s premier women’s football competition – will continue to be managed by AFL Victoria.
The NFL structure will be divisional and will consist of existing North West based teams as well as the addition of a number of new NFL teams.
Existing teams who will be a part of the divisional NFL structure include Bendigo, Chirnside Park, Darebin, Deer Park, Diamond Creek, Kew, La Trobe Uni, Melbourne Uni 1, Pascoe Vale, South Morang, VU Western Spurs and Whitehorse.
The NFL has also received expressions of interest from Bundoora, Epping, Laurimar, Montmorency, Watsonia, West Preston-Lakeside and Whittlesea, who will all look to compete in the NFL women’s competition in 2017.
NFL chief executive Peter McDougall said the establishment of the Northpark Women’s competition was a natural progression.
“The introduction of the NFL women’s competitions is a natural progression after re-structuring our junior competitions in 2016,” he said.
“As well as managing the senior women’s competition, the NFL will also look to conduct an under-10 girls competition along with the existing under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 competitions.
“This structure will allow females, like males, to play football with one club from Auskick right through to seniors.”
AFL Victoria CEO Steven Reaper said the extraordinary growth in women’s football across all levels in the state has allowed community leagues to launch their own female competitions.
“Since 2014 we have experienced a growth of 100 new female teams each season which is an indication of the sheer enormity behind Australia’s fastest growing sport,” he said.
“It’s fantastic to see both regional and metropolitan community leagues embrace women’s football with many already establishing Youth Girls divisions in their region.
“Localised resources will now also help further develop the game in each region which will add further support and focus to women’s football.”
After consultation with community leagues, clubs have embraced the new competition structure with 10 leagues to manage women’s football competitions in 2017, including all six metropolitan community leagues.
“When AFL Victoria took over the management and governance of the VWFL, it was always intended that when the competition had outgrown the resources needed to properly manage all divisions from head office, clubs would transition back into community leagues, not dissimilar to the evolution of the Youth Girls competitions from AFL Victoria to local level,” Reaper said.
“We are delighted with the positive response from community leagues, with some local clubs already looking to have senior men’s and women’s teams in the one competition.
“This new structure will provide a number of benefits to clubs, including better access to umpires and localised resources which will also help with fixturing and ground allocation.
“The VWFL has a rich and important history in the development of female football. The VWFL and all involved have played a major role in developing women’s football and have assisted in realising the long held dream of a national women’s competition.
“While it is an end of an era, this is the next step in the evolution of women’s football in the state, which is an exciting time for all involved.”
AFL Victoria will continue to work closely with community football leagues over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition of the new competition structure.
All enquiries about the 2017 Northpark Women’s season should be directed to NFL Football Operations Manager Simon Devine 
sdevine@nfl.org.au or (03) 9435 8228.
