The Tackle: AFLW must be left untouched amid economic crisis, coach says postponing season would be an act of stupidity
Job cuts have cruelled the men’s competition, and some are questioning whether the AFLW should cop similar measures. Carlton coach Daniel Harford has a message for those pointing a finger at AFLW.
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They are “The Untouchables” and so they should be in this time of crisis.
We are talking about female footballers and the pioneering AFLW competition.
They have quietly popped into conversations over the past seven days after (mostly) men’s jobs were shredded in the men’s game.
Hundreds of employees, in fact, made up of former players and coaches, veteran staffers and modern-play experts.
All gone after the excitement of the June 11 restart announcement was confronted by the widespread staff losses.
“It’s been more than gut-wrenching, it’s been semi soul-destroying,” as Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge put it.
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There’s a ton of questions about the future of the men’s game. And, for a few days, there were questions about the women’s game, too.
Bluntly, why was the men’s game and its people being pulverised while the women’s game, for which the AFL committed $20 million for the 2020 season, seemed to have escaped the same savagery?
Why was that, they said, when the women don’t bring in the money (which is rubbish)?
Why didn’t the AFL postpone the 2021 AFLW season for one year as football tried to save itself from this crisis.
After all, $20 million could be used to save a lot of men’s jobs in the men’s game.
The conversations were murmurings more than agenda items on Q&A — but the AFL did hear them. And as sure as day follows night, after so many in the men’s system lost their jobs the women’s game will come under continuing scrutiny from the AFLW agitators.
The AFL might yet announce budget cuts in its women’s program. The topic had not been discussed yet, an AFL source said.
But make no mistake, when AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said “We are going in with 14 teams and coming out with 14 teams” it was declaration in stone.
The AFL does not deserve plaudits for its position, according to Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford, because women’s footy is as important as the men’s game.
“I’m not sure the AFL should be applauded for it,” Harford said.
“It’s the most obvious decision they have got in front of them at the moment and that’s to continue with AFLW.
“We are in a business at the moment which is contracting, and AFLW, while I don’t know the full financials from clubland or from the AFL, is a growth market.
“Women playing footy, girls playing footy, is the growth area for the game, so why that would even be part of the conversation in a contracting business market, to try to eliminate a growth market … it makes no sense to me.
“This is a matter of course that AFLW is the best thing for the business.
“To postpone AFLW would be one of the stupidest things the competition could do.
“The female market is a significant part of the future of the game in terms of participation, growth and financial investment.”
For those pointing a finger at AFLW — and those who might be tempted to do so in the coming months — Harford has a message.
“It’s a horrible thing that has happened to lot of good people in football, but that’s the economy we’re in and hopefully one day they can get back in,” he said.
“But don’t use the women as the source of your anger or the vehicle of your frustration. Don’t use the women and girls, that’s not fair.”
The AFL is not about to postpone the AFLW to save money because A) it would be a silly business decision and B) it would be a PR debacle.
It’s a misconception that women’s football generates no income, and the free entry discussion is equally ludicrous.
Clubs range from making small profits to losing as much as $300,000 from their women’s programs.
On the flip side, women’s football has helped generate multimillion-dollar investments from government, not least the Ikon Park development and Brisbane’s new $70 million stadium and training facility at Springfield.
“The investment being made is on the back of women playing footy, and if you want to put down the $20 million a year from the AFL, well, the federal government has given out hundreds of millions to upgrade facilities across the nation because girls are playing footy, which everyone benefits from,” Harford said.
“It’s so small-minded and narrow-minded that conversation, it drives me bananas.”
The women’s game is booming so much that females now make up 34 per cent of AFL participation.
The 2019 census data revealed a record AFL participation rate of 1,716,276. Of that, the female participation was 586,422 — a rise of almost 11 per cent, and the number of female football teams grew 16 per cent to 2609.
The growth in expansion areas in western Sydney and southeast Queensland is most pleasing.
So, when men pot the women’s game or, in this instance, suggest that the AFLW competition be postponed, the realisation has to be that female footy is one of the true winners in an expanding game.
“I was one of those people before I got involved, I didn’t know anything about it, and I know I’m emotionally invested (now), but it’s the chance for everyone in the country — be they three years old or 55 years old — every single person has the chance to play Australian rules football,” Harford said.
“How could that possibly be a bad thing?
“Men have had the platform to themselves for so long, effectively, and there’s an element of the population that is threatened by the women having a portion of it, and that’s OK, because change is scary for a lot of people.
“There’s no reason to be scared. Women’s footy has rounded me as a person. I’m not a crusader by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s just right.
“It’s very interesting what it’s done to me as a human, I must admit.”
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