Inside story of how Adelaide was told it could not sustain a women’s team in new national comp and now stands on the cusp of a second flag in three years
Adelaide was initially told by the AFL that it did not have the corporate support or talent base for women’s football to support a team in the inaugural AFLW competition. How wrong they were.
Reece Homfray
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Adelaide was initially told by the AFL that it did not have the corporate support or talent base for women’s football to support a team in the inaugural AFLW competition.
The Crows begged to differ and now stand on the cusp of a second premiership in three years.
As Adelaide prepares to host Carlton in an historic AFLW grand final at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, chief executive Andrew Fagan has detailed how the club refused to take no for an answer and fought to secure a licence for the first year of the league in 2017.
“From the outset we were one of the loudest and most passionate voices in advocating for a national women’s league and that was about a commitment to gender diversity and ensuring boys and girls have the ability to play the game they love at the highest level,” Fagan said.
“As soon as it became clear that this was genuinely on the agenda it was discussed immediately at our football club, at executive and board level, and there was a unanimous decision to aggressively pursue entry in the first year.”
The Crows formed a committee and contacted the AFL to ensure South Australia would be represented in the start-up league.
“And the feedback early was that was unlikely,” Fagan said.
“They didn’t believe we had the sufficient talent nor corporate dollars to support the team or the competition - they were the knocks on a team in SA.
“They were thinking of starting with a smaller number of teams as a national comp, knowing women’s footy had been strong in Victoria and WA, but the participation numbers and talent they saw in SA they believed to be probably not sufficient to sustain a team competitively in the early years.”
Adelaide did not agree and sought to convince the AFL otherwise.
“Firstly we campaigned actively to say we thought it would be a massive fail if a national competition was launched without a proud AFL state like South Australia being represented,” Fagan said.
“Secondly we established a partnership with AFLNT and presented that to the AFL as a model that could provide a pathway for aspiring athletes in the Northern Territory and help grow the game there, and also provide us with access to more talent that would make us competitive and address that issue.
“Thirdly we quickly secured commitments from a range of backers, and we had the likes of Workskill, Toyota, Thomas Foods International, BHP, the Northern Territory and South Australian Governments.
“And from that point I think the AFL recognised this was an opportunity that had to be seized. We obviously went through the bid process but our tender was compelling and we deserved representation.
“And in that first year across the vast majority of metrics - be it profitability of the team, attendances at games, broadcast numbers or results, we were able to deliver.”
The next step was to build the list and one name was on top of the whiteboard at West Lakes - Erin Phillips.
Phillips had already committed to playing women’s football with Port Adelaide but with the Crows in the box seat to secure the SA licence, they swooped.
“We had some discussions internally and Phil Harper actually made the first phone call,” Fagan said.
“We got her number and knew about her passion to play, and she would be a good chance to want to play for a South Australian team.
“Phil gave her a buzz, I followed it up and she was immediately interested. She was overseas at the time with the WNBA so most of the conversations were over the phone but she very quickly declared her interest and she has clearly established herself as one of the greats of the competition and one of Australia’s greatest multi-sport athletes.”
The Crows won the flag in the first year in 2017, missed the finals in 2018 while struggling with injuries, but have hit back in 2019 and are favourites to beat Carlton on Sunday.
Average home crowds are 8500 in Adelaide this season and the club has 1200 women’s members at $60 each who are paying to simply support the team given entry to games is free anyway.
Sponsorship has also grown and coach Matthew Clarke joked at the season launch in January he’s earned the nickname ‘NASCAR’ at the club because his polo shirt is covered with logos.
Fagan said Adelaide was stepping into the unknown in the first year of the competition and he could not be prouder of the team.
“In the inaugural year our team like every other was unsure about where you might sit in the pecking order, as would naturally be the case when you haven’t seen anyone else play,” he said.
“But we were confident we had really strong systems and structures in place at the footy club - a men’s program that has been consistently competitive and with the people we had put in place.
“From that point it was about building on that each year, and last year we were challenged with some injuries to some of our key players and in a short competition we let a couple of games slip and that’s all it takes to miss out.
“Where as this year we certainly had our best players on the park all year and we have to give significant credit to every player who’s pulled on the jumper, and they’ve been extraordinarily well coached by Doc Clarke and the girls have really taken to not just him but his assistants as well.
“I was at a function at the JLT Series game against the Giants and Alan McConnell spoke and he suggested our team was the best-coached in terms of clearly understood structure and systems and that was real credit to hear that from another coach.”
The success of the Crows’ women’s team has also been reflected in the growth of women’s footy in SA.
Figures provided by the State Government show the number of girls registered with Auskick in SA doubled from 1000 to over 2000 from 2015 to 2018.
“What I’m super excited about is the 60,000 who are now playing, those 12 and 13-year-olds, how good are they going to be now they have a defined pathway and more significant development pathways in place,” Fagan said.
“Right across the board it’s been extraordinary and remarks I’ve heard with reference to our team and the competition, there’s been a clear improvement in the quality of play.
“And as we’ve said throughout, you just need to sit back, don’t be quick to judge and give the pathway a chance to work.
“And in attendances at our home games and right across the country, not just in the numbers but the people who are attending, 50 per cent are those who aren’t regular attendees to AFL games.
“It’s a new audience, families, kids, who might not get the chance to see the Crows play.”
Fagan said hosting a grand final at Adelaide Oval was icing on the cake of another successful season.
“Regardless of the result on the weekend it’s great that the game will be showcased in Adelaide, as it was last week at Adelaide Oval too,” he said.
“Hopefully it’s a vision and access point for young girls who also want to be able to play the game that they love.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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