By Samantha Lane
UNOFFICIALLY, it is women's week in the AFL.
It's unofficial only because the AFL has ditched themed rounds, erasing what had been a reminder to dip its lid to the game's female constituents.
Leila Gurruwiwi (left) and Shelley Ware, who will be part of an all-female panel on The Marngrook Footy Show this week.Credit: Paul Rovere
Behind the scenes, however, the women's movement in footy is mobilised this week.
Yesterday in Federation Square, some of the game's most influential women gathered at an AFL lunch. Tomorrow night, at the MCG before the Western Bulldogs play Melbourne, an enormous pink lady - the motif of Breast Cancer Network Australia - will be formed by 14,000 people, the majority women, to raise awareness and funds.
But perhaps the most meaningful demonstration of women claiming centre stage in a domain where men still have most of the powerful and highly paid positions, will take place at 8.30 tonight in a small television studio in Burwood.
There, history will be made when five Aboriginal women, marshalled by 22-year-old trail-blazer Leila Gurruwiwi, talk footy on TV.
''It's good to see AFL from a woman's perspective. And not just from one woman, but five women,'' Gurruwiwi said between preparing her hosting scripts for The Marngrook Footy Show.
Her observation prompted this from Shelley Ware, one of Gurruwiwi's co-panellists: ''And not just five women. Five Aboriginal women.''
By contrast, the big daddy of footy shows, Channel Nine's The Footy Show, has introduced a regular female presence this season, though the woman now entrusted with voice-over duties is heard but not seen.
The Marngrook Footy Show, now in its fourth season, has an audience of about 400,000 a week but is yet to find a home on commercial television. That is the goal of the program's executive producer Grant Hansen, who said this week that Channel Seven might have been wiser to enlist his troops rather than investing in failed experiment The Bounce.
Joining Gurruwiwi and Ware tonight is Kylie Farmer, the first cousin of football legend Graham ''Polly'' Farmer, Sandy Greenwood and Emily Fien.
In the second hour, the quintet will be replaced by regular anchorman Hansen, Alan Thorpe and former AFL players Chris Johnson, Ronnie Burns and Gilbert McAdam.
The show has always provided a space for discussion on Aboriginal footy. Tonight, the footy show that is already the most progressive on television will take it to a new level.
Marngrook Footy Show, Channel 31, Thursdays, 7.30-9.30pm.