Girls football in the Wimmera has got another boost with a new round robin competition to be played across the Western District this year.
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AFL Wimmera football development manager Jason Muldoon said publicity for women’s football was booming with the launch of AFLW, the first national women’s league in the game.
He said timing was right to get the new league going.
The competition will include teams from Ararat and Stawell as well as Horsham, Portland, Hamilton and Warrnambool and take place over a six-week season, starting in May.
Matches will be played on Friday night and Sunday to minimise impact on other sports and leagues. Teams are open for girls aged between 13-18.
Muldoon said Ararat Storm’s success in the Ballarat Football League youth girls was a catalyst in implementing the competition.
“We were probably at the point where we physically needed to do something and set some dates,” Muldoon said.
“Ararat Storm have been the leaders in the competition and certainly prompted this expansion but we need to ensure we don’t undermine the Storm and what they have done in the Ballarat league.”
Teams will be required to have a minimum of 15 girls to be eligible, with at least nine players per game.
Muldoon said the size of the Storm squad should assist the Wimmera teams to field the required numbers.
“We are pretty confident we have enough girls to field these teams, I do not see numbers being an issue at all,” Muldoon said.
“Ideally we would love to have five or six teams scattered across the Wimmera in the next three years and have our own competition but we have to start somewhere.
“We will look back and say this was an important period of time that we established this competition.”
