Women's League

[Navy Maven]

Let me start with saying i am 100% behind the club and its new venture.....and the AFL for that matter.

Now, let me play devils advocate a bit here in answering a question with a question.
re bold paragraphs...
Is it not a case of simple economics - supply and demand?

Could it be that suburban men, and obviously AFL players get paid to play because it is financially viable to do so. That is, people are willing to pay to watch blokes run around in the suburban leagues.....at least in terms of inflated bar prices at a minimum. So in order to grow that 'business', paying for better players is the way to go. Both in goodwill, and immediate financial revenue.

In regards to womens sport, i think it is more about a lack of audience, rather than a lack of skill as to why women don't get paid (more/at all).

No, even clubs that that had the money to pay players through sponsorship and food and drinks etc, have been prohibited to do so. But even for the clubs who struggle, it's that old adage 'you have to spend money to make money'. The investment in facilities for women's sport is ridiculous in comparison to men. The amount of footy grounds that don't even have change room facilities to cater for women is crazy. Also there's the fact that women's clubs who share facilities with a men's club, often get relegated to training and playing at times that aren't entirely convenient because the men get first priority.

The commitment and sacrifice that a lot of women make to play footy is (in my opinion) a lot greater than guys at the same level, yet the women get rewarded far less. For example, in both the clubs that I played for, we shared an oval with men's teams. That meant that we trainined on Wenesdays and Fridays because the guys got the oval on Tuesday and Thursday. Our games are on Sunday's because the blokes have Saturday games. This means if you want to play footy and you're female, you better be prepared to give up your entire weekend to footy and say goodbye to a social life for 6 months every year. Can't really do much on Friday nights because you have training, can't do much Saturday nights because you've got a game the next day. Can't really go out after the game if you don't live near your ground because there aren't any appropriate shower facilities to clean up after the game.

I know it sounds trivial, but these factors prohibit a lot of young women from fully committing to a sport, which means the pool is even less than what it could be.