Australian Football Hall of Fame: Rule change to fast-track eligibility of women’s football trailblazers

The AFLW’s trailblazers could be fast-tracked into the AFL Hall of Fame after the league revealed a key change to its eligibility criteria.

VWFL playing legend Debbie Lee, who now works for Melbourne Football Club in a community development role and has a four-month-old son Mack. Picture- Nicole Cleary

A rule tweak will allow the pioneers of women’s football to filter into the Australian Football Hall of Fame earlier than expected, with female players now eligible to be inducted just one year into retirement.

The rules of the hall of fame state that players are only eligible to be added to the roll call of greats once they have been retired for at least five games but AFL chairman and hall of fame selection committee chair Richard Goyder revealed the rules have been altered for females.

Allowing women to enter the hall after just one year of retirement opens the doors for superstars of the early years of the AFLW such as Daisy Pearce or Erin Phillips to enter immediately.

Daisy Pearce after winning the 2022 AFLW Grand Final with Melbourne. Picture: Albert Perez/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Erin Phillips has been one of the trailblazers of AFLW. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The AFLW began in 2017 and the first generation of star players are only recently beginning to filter out of the competition.

Just one female player — pioneer Debbie Lee — currently sits in the hall of fame.

There were 227 males inducted as “players” before Tuesday night’s ceremony.

“The hall of fame includes just one woman, Debbie Lee, who is here tonight and made such an incredible contribution to the game of football,” Goyder told the room at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

“But in future years the great female players who built the AFLW will start to be inducted here as they continue to inspire both young girls and young boys to play the game.”