AFL sees huge increase in girls signing up to play – [well done the girls/ladies]

It could be due to the popularity of the AFL Women’s competition or because they’ve finally found a way to move out of the backyard and into a club, but there has been an unprecedented surge in the number of girls and women playing AFL this winter.

For the first time, every one of the nine WA Football League clubs will field a colts, reserves and league women’s team this year.

The WA Football Commission’s female football coordinator Allana Dickie said the number of secondary schools fielding girls’ teams had grown by 44 per cent this year.

While final figures on the number of female footballers enrolled to play at community clubs were not yet available, Ms Dickie said many clubs were fielding new girls’ teams.

This would come off the back of big growth in WA in recent years, from fewer than 5,000 female footballers in 2012 to more than 70,000 last year.

“There’s definitely been a very big influx of interest,” she said.

“To have 16 new secondary teams jump on board, that to me is alarm bells that there’s been an impact on the back of this AFL Women’s comp.”

Source: Women’s AFL sees huge increase in girls signing up to play in WA – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)