THE growth in female involvement in Australian Rules football has been explosive since the commencement of the AFLW competition in 2017.
The most obvious impact at local community level has been the huge increase in female players, however we have also seen more females involved in all aspects of the EDFL: coaches, umpires, team managers, club Boards/Committees, and the various other volunteer roles at clubs.
As with significant growth in any industry or competition, we are seeing associated issues and challenges.
In our competition, the growth in female football participation (combined with a continued growth in the number of male teams playing), is causing pressures at both club and EDFL levels.
One of the major challenges is having enough ovals accessible and the necessary unisex change rooms for players and umpires to accommodate all of our football matches and training requirements.
Every EDFL club l have spoken with has some form of facility upgrade planned.
Some projects are currently under construction, others are at the planning approval stage, and some clubs are undertaking the initial scoping and design.
These infrastructure projects are a great reminder of the wide and important range of stakeholders our competition has.
For example, EDFL clubs are based in five Local Government Areas being Cities of Brimbank, Hume, Melton, Moonee Valley, and Moreland.
These local governments are very important supporters of the EDFL and clubs, providing assistance with our ovals, resources and infrastructure.
The AFL and AFL Victoria also provide assistance to the EDFL and our clubs with infrastructure.
In 2017 AFL Victoria managed and funded audits of every AFL football facility in Victoria to understand the current conditions and rated these against the standards they have set.
AFL Victoria also interact with all Local Government Area Councils across the state in relation to improvements with ovals and infrastructure.
There are a number of possible grants/funding options accessible by clubs to assist with these projects.
For example, this year, both state major political parties have announced funding programs to assist clubs and community sport.
The EDFL has and will continue to share information on this funding with our clubs, and we look forward to working with our stakeholders (clubs, Government at all levels, AFL Victoria) to generate improvements in ovals and facilities for our competition.
Good luck for the weekend.
