Essendon Football Club is playing a central role to support women’s football by hosting over 80 of the state’s best female footballers at the True Value Solar Centre as part of AFL Victoria’s Women’s Academy training program.
The program was launched last month with players from across the state engaging in a nine-month program involving training and skills testing at AFL venues.
Essendon Football Club CEO, Xavier Campbell, confirmed the Club planned to bid for an AFL licence in 2017.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to field a women’s team in an AFL competition and will be doing everything we can to obtain a licence ahead of the 2017 inaugural season,” Campbell said.
“The introduction of a women’s team aligns with the Club’s strategic objectives. We are committed to supporting women’s participation at a grass roots community level but also at an elite level when it comes to establishing career pathways.”
The Club is working with local leagues to build on the great work already happening to identify key talent and offering the use of facilities and access to coaching resources to help fast track the concept for the future.
“The Club has the facilities, operational capacity, and commercial and financial model to ensure the introduction of a women’s team can be a sustainable and successful part of our organisation and we are really excited to be part of such a great initiative.”
The Bombers Head of Community, Michelle Murray, is also the Academy’s Assistant Program Manager.
“The Academy is a fantastic innovation for the future of women’s football,” Murray said.
“Young women will now have a career pathway for football and with the prospect of a professional league in the future, the game will continue to grow exponentially.”
AFL Victoria hopes this is the first step towards preparing players for a future national competition by bringing together individuals from a wide range of backgrounds to pursue their aspirations of playing elite Australian Football.
Essendon Football Club will host another training session next week and again in March 2016.
