girl teams

[swan_17]

I recently tried to join my local Aussie Rules team, but being female, that wasn't allowed.... and I couldn't play down or anything... I mean you would think as a promotion aspect here in Sydney they would allow females to play or is it my imagination. I even tried writing to the AFL, with no response....can anybody help me with this...
girls teams in Sydney, etc.

[floppinab]

Depends a lot on how old you are Swan_17.

Not sure what the exact Auskick Rules are but I would gather than if you are under 12 you should be able to play for a team around that age group.

The Sydney Womens Football League

http://www.swafl.org/

will take girls 15 and over. I know the girls at Wests would love some new blood.

So if you are between 12 and 15 you are stuffed!!!!!! but either side of those and you should be OK.

[Phil Doyle]

On the topic of women's footy. Tom Balchin at CSU in Bathurst has a women's team and they are keen to play a game. If anyone knows a women's team that would like to play against Bathurst then email Tom at [email protected]

(no poor taste jokes about the Doggies now Mase)

Women's footy is a great thing. the more ways that people can get involved with the actual game the better it is for football.

[Sid]

We have a female team at our uni (UNSW), which means there must be a competition here with teams in other areas of sydney. I also know a girl who told me about a mixed team at macquarie uni or something. I reckon contact one of these unis and they'll tell u stuff.

I definitely reckon you have a good chance.
I assume ur 17 right?

[Richo]

There are about six senior womens' teams in Sydney - the website link is somewhere above.

I seem to remember the Dubbo Demons putting together a womens' team to take on someone from Sydney as well.

[swan_17]

Yeh I'm to old for the Auskick program. I was hoping to start up a girls team in my local area..but it hasn't gotten very far...

[j s]

On the subject of women's footy this is an extract from Jared Crouch's email to Optus customers....

One very interesting fact that I guess I have been aware of but has really been brought to my attention this last week is the number of girls that are playing Aussie rules. I think they number about 30% of all kids aged under 12 that participate in the Auskick, the modified version of AFL for the younger children. It has been brought to my attention one because of the large number of young girls at our clinic at the weekend but also because Lewis Roberts-Thomson and I attended the fundraising Film night for the NSW women's AFL side last week. We were asked to present jumpers and give a motivating speech. They are currently in Darwin competing in the nationals. I can report that they have had one victory against the NT so far so hopefully our motivational talk is having some effect. Victoria is the team to beat. Our NSW girls were runners up to the Vics last year so lets hope they can go one better this year.

Lewis and I were inspired by the passion these girls showed for the great game and amazed at the high level of skill that was shown the video. Best of luck Girls do us Proud!!!

[swan_17]

Thanks everyone for your replies, i'll take them on board and try explore it futher.

[Sid]

I find this hard to believe that you cant find a team. Whereabouts do u live? That must have something to do with it.

[swansrock4eva]

Not really that hard to believe sid.
After they exit the Auskick comp, girls are left in the lurch for a couple of reasons - the first being that not that many actually go on with it because they find other pursuits - all sports suffer this problem with girls from abt 12yrs. This means that in most areas there is no point in running a comp for the "in between" years. Once they get to uni, quite a few girls are introduced to footy either for the first time or again, simply because it is a part of uni life to have some sport pushed at you!

Apart from that, WA i think it is, faced problems a few years ago because they tried to implement a blanket ban on girls playing footy from 12-15/16years because at that stage, playing with the rapidly developing boys meant that there was a grave risk of injury to girls' "nether bits" (the internal and upper ones) during marking on the chest and in the abdomen region - guys don't tend to have such a problem because when was the last time they took a mark between their thighs? Plus, there were a few cases of sexual harrassment due to frisky guys copping feels during tackles etc. The attempt to place the ban failed iirc, but it basucally became a "play at your own risk" sort of thing everywhere, and very few girls could keep up with the guys, so junior girls football beyond auskick really had no legs to go on with.

Pretty sucky for those who want to play, but sadly, it looks like it may stay that way for a while to come yet.

[Richo]

There's laws in place that state you can't play mixed-gender contact sports over the age of 12.

Boys and girls can play footy together up until this age, and after that they can play all-girls footy, but mixed footy is out.

Generally, no one would care much if you flaunt this rule, but it is litigation hell for club and everyone involved if anyone gets hurt.

[cos789]

Girls under 13 can't be descriminated against on a gender basis .
If there is no separate body for girls over 12 then the male organisation has the right to make a ruling as they see fit .In WA they saw fit to bar girls over 12 .The WA Women's league is suffering due to lack of newcomers being scared away by the physically more mature women .The schoolgirls comp is expanding every year and if there was a colts comp this would harness the growing interest .

[swan_17]

Did anyone else hear about those girls in Victoria who were suing the AFL for not letting them play?

[aflconvert]

Yes I heard about that case an the girls won at least for now
But suing isnt the solution to the problem its really the cause

Years ago if somebody got hurt in a game that was it ; the injured player accepted it as bad luck/nobody's fault . Nowadays
its always someone else's fault and "lets sue"

So officials just wont risk doing something that 's not covered by insurance

On a more positve note . swan17, I think the womens comp will get s bit more steam in years ahead. 30 yeras ago (showing my age now) when I played soccer there were only 8 womens teams between the harbour bridge and the central coast ...When we told school/work mates we played soccer we got raised eyebrows and strange comments . Now there must be 100's of teams . it just takes a while

Good luck