By Michael Gleeson and Peter Ryan
The AFLW season will be brought forward to begin in August this year, opening in the pre-finals bye of the men’s competition.
Club sources said the AFL Commission informed the club chief executives in a meeting on Wednesday that it had given provisional approval for the change to the timing of the AFLW season.
On the move: The AFLW season will start in August.Credit: Getty Images
The decision was contingent on the approval of all clubs, and in particular on the approval of the four new clubs to the competition next season, that they would be able to be ready to join the league in August.
The season will run until the end of November or the first week of December, straddling the spring racing carnival but ending before it runs into competition with Test cricket.
A vote on Tasmania’s bid for a team to join the AFL will be made in August. The clubs were told that the AFL Commission will make the decision based on the case put by the Tasmanian bid and then it will be put to the club presidents to vote.
Like other AFL Commission decisions it would require a two-thirds majority to overturn. Some clubs were surprised as they believed they would receive a recommendation from the commission, but the decision would be taken by a vote of club presidents, though what actually happened effectively amounts to the same thing.
AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder confirmed an increase of $8 million in funding for community football in Victoria and NSW out of recognition of the impact COVID-19 lockdowns have had on community football in those two states in particular.
While the league offered sympathies to those in flood-affected regions of NSW and Queensland it was waiting until the acute phase had passed and a clearer picture was available of where it could help before committing assistance.
Goyder said the league was hopeful of breaking the attendance record in round one, notwithstanding 50 per cent capacity limits for games in WA.
He said the league had taken a “living with COVID” approach and it was determined that games would go ahead as scheduled.
A West Australian, Goyder had recently taken the decision to leave the state and relocate to Victoria out of frustration with constant border closures and lockdown restrictions in WA.
He said he was confident that games in WA would not be affected this year.
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