Victorian Women's Football League


The Victorian Women's Football League was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria, Australia across seven divisions and a total of over 1,000 players.
The VWFL complied with the laws of Australian football. The official ball, a Sherrin, used by the VWFL was a custom made size 4.5 ball.

History

The Victorian Women's Football League was formed in 1981 with four teams competing at open level.
In 1995, Sal Rees caused controversy for applying for the 1995 AFL Draft. The nomination was voided, and the draft rules were amended by the AFL to prevent a repeat of this incident.
The VWFL grew quickly, increasing dramatically the number of players and participating teams with a Division 3 added in 2001.
In 2002 VWFL player Debbie Lee made headlines for pushing to play against men in the made-for-television team the Hammerheads. She has commented, "My whole idea with the Hammerheads was to promote women's football. At no point in time did I really think I was going to play against the men, and frankly it wouldn't really have been smart for me to do that. My whole idea was to cause a bit of activity."
An U17 Youth Girls Competition was established by Football Victoria in 2004 primarily to provide a pathway to the VWFL. This was following legal action taken against them in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by junior players Penny Cula-Reid, Emily Stayner, and Helen Taylor.
In May 2004 the first VWFL game was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG with the Melbourne Uni MUGARS defeating St Albans SPURS on Mothers day. A second game was played at the G later in the same year featuring Melbourne Uni MUGARS against the St Kilda SHARKS reserves teams.

In 2005 the VWFL celebrated its 25th birthday and created a reserves competition for Division 1.
In 2006, the league posted a $6000 loss, however this was turned around in 2007 with a $19000 profit was posted at the end of 2007. 2007 saw five divisions and 27 teams and culminated in an Australian crowd record for women's Australian rules at the 2007 Grand Final held on 19 August at the Preston City Oval in Melbourne. Two finals matches were also held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first time.
The work done by the VWFL Media Manager Leesa Catto was instrumental in increasing media coverage across the competition. A significant partnership was negotiated with the Leader News group and weekly coverage was captured across the Melbourne Metropolitan area. Events like the participation of two VWFL players Shannon McFerran and Daisy Pearce in the E. J. Whitten Legends Game also helped lift the profile of the league.
The VFLW integrated into AFL Victoria in 2013. At the end of the 2016 season, it was announced that the forty-seven clubs and sixty teams of the VFLW would join ten Victorian community leagues in 2017, along with additional clubs and teams from a further eighty clubs that had expressed interest in joining women's Australian football competitions. AFL Victoria would retain management of the ten-team VFL Women's league, with the remainder of the expected 150 teams to play in regional leagues.

Media coverage

In 2010 VWFL media coverage was captured across a range of mediums including;
;Print: Herald Sun, The Age, Leader, Star news & Fairfax Community Network
;TV: Sunrise, Channel 31
;Radio: 774 ABC Melbourne, 3AW, SEN 1116

Clubs

Premier Division
ClubNicknameLocationCoachCaptain
Cranbourne WFCEaglesCranbourne, VictoriaKris SmithAshleigh Fennell
Darebin Women's Sports ClubFalconsPreston, VictoriaJane LangeDaisy Pearce
Diamond Creek WFCCreekersPlenty, VictoriaTanya HetheringtonSteph Chiocci
Eastern WFCDevilsMulgrave, VictoriaBrendan MajorJess Foster and Meg Hutchins
GeelongMagpiesGeelong, VictoriaSteve JannsenShannon Knox and Jaime Woollett
KnoxFalconsWantirna, VictoriaClint MartinMelissa Kuys
Melbourne UniversityMugarsParkville, VictoriaAndrew JagoAlicia Eva, Ellie Blackburn, Elyce Hay, Emma Kearney, Kaitlyn Ashmore, Madeline Keryk and Catherine O'Bryan
SeafordTigerettesSeaford, VictoriaBrett AlexanderKim Ebb and Jessica Boyd
St Kilda WFCSharksSt Kilda, VictoriaShaun SmithPenny Cula-Reid
VU WesternSpursSt Albans, VictoriaMatt RussellBree White

Division 1
Division 2
Division 3
Division 4
East Division
West Division

Division One/Premier Division

Premier Reserves

Premiers: North West Conference

2012 Bendigo
2011 La Trobe Uni
2010 Sunbury Lions
2009 Sunbury Lions
2008 Heidelberg Tigers
2007 Hadfield Hawks
2006 Diamond Creek Demons

Premiers: South East Conference

2012 Hallam Hawks
2011 Hallam Hawks
2010 South Mornington Tigerettes
2009 Scoresby Magpies
2008 Scoresby Magpies
2007 Yarra Valley Cougars
2007 Eastern Lions
2006 Berwick Wickers

Premiers: Country Conference

2007 Melton Centrals
2006 Geelong Cheetahz

Premiers: Division Two

2005 Lalor Bloods
2004 St Kilda Sharks
2003 Melbourne University Mugars
2002 East Geelong Eagles
2001 Hadfield Hawks
2000 North Heidelberg Bulldogs
1997 St Kilda Sharks

Premiers: Division Three

2006 Yarra Valley Cougars
2005 Yarra Valley Cougars
2005 Diamond Creek Demons
2004 Berwick Wickers
2003 Surrey Park Panthers
2002 Mordialloc Redbacks
2001 Ferntree Gully Kangaroos

VWFL Life Members

2009 Leesa Catto

2009 Bron McGorlick

2008 Kerryn Stephen

2006 Chyloe Kurdas

2005 Di Smith

2004 Belinda Bowey

2003 Sally Rees, Rohenna Young

2002 Debbie Lee, Kerry Saunders

2001 Nicole Graves

2000 Lisa Hardeman

1999 Ann Rulton

1998 Julie Allen

1997 Dianne Vaux

1996 Bernadette Marantelli

1995 Coral White

1990 Jan Wilson, Janet Graham

1983 Helen Lambert

250 Games (as at end of 2011)

Debbie Lee

Kerry Saunders

Belinda Bowey