Women's football is rapidly gaining traction in Australia as the AFL looks towards a national home and away competition in the next few years. It can't happen soon enough for the legion of girls and women who play regularly and love it.

By PATRICK EVANS and MELISSA BRUSH

The Australian Football League’s ambition to introduce a national all female competition by 2020 has been boosted by the success of the second annual Women’s Exhibition Match last weekend at Etihad Stadium.

Buoyed by the support for the first AFL sanctioned all female game in 2013, the country's most talented female footballers represented Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs in a precursor to the regular Demons and Dogs clash.

Melbourne proved too strong for the second year running, overcoming the Bulldogs by 46 points in slippery conditions. Demon Chelsea Randall was judged the most valuable player, racking up 23 disposals, 14 marks and two goals.

Women's football is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, with a recent explosion in the number of girls teams that provide competition for those aged about 14 to 18, between Auskick and senior ranks.

A youth girls national championship was introduced four years ago, and now includes eight representative teams, including Vic Metro and Vic Country, and the AFL now runs a Women's High Performance Academy.

At senior level too, the sport has never been more popular. The Victorian Women's Football League has grown to 32 clubs with 56 teams competing across five divisions, seeing an increase of more than 220 per cent since 2005.

Last Sunday's match showcased the best female players in the land, as selected in the second AFL Women’s Draft on May 19 at Etihad Stadium.

According to South Metro Junior Football League director of umpiring Bernadette Vaux, there is a wealth of available talent.

“We have got incredible talent among our girls, and I think they bring a lot to the game so there is no reason why we don’t have every opportunity for a national comp,” Vaux says.

It is this bounty of gifted female footballers that is forming a strong case for a nationwide televised women’s league. The AFL has envisioned the competition to be implemented by 2020, preferably with current AFL clubs adopting permanent female affiliate teams. All current clubs have applied for licences to form women's teams.

Vaux considers this an achievable goal. However, she believes that the football development of young girls should replicate that of their male counterparts in order to build a strong network of players.

“I think in order for that to happen we need to have organic growth for the girl’s competition. It needs to start at the Auskick level where girls get the enjoyment of and they start to develop the skills boys have been doing for so many years.”

Former Victorian player and International Rules representative Lauren Tesoriero claims that the AFL must support the transition from youth competition to open age football.

“We need to keep working with junior teams. We need to make sure junior players continue to play in senior football, as well as pathways like the TAC Cup,” says Tesoriero.

Despite representing both state and country, Tesoriero did not have the opportunity to play in either of the exhibition matches that have taken place. However, some of her teammates have, including the No. 1 pick in the inaugural women’s draft and current Victorian captain Daisy Pearce.

Tesoriero is adamant that the most important aspect of these matches is that it gives the public a chance to see the high standard of female Australian rules football.

“The big thing is exposure, these girls are real athletes and super talented. This opportunity gives them a chance to put our great game on show,” says Tesoriero.

Exciting as it may be witnessing the nation’s best players battling it out at Etihad Stadium, it is at the grassroots level that women’s football requires considerable work.

AFL Victoria Female Development Officer Chyloe Kurdas is confident that a national women's league is well within reach but believes there are smaller goals that need to be accomplished first.

“In order to get there we need to make sure we have a really strong community participation base. We want to try and get towards 250,000 and have a complete female pathway from Auskick right the way through to senior football,” says Kurdas.

The key to achieving this pathway is through continued monitoring of girls football with the correct resources, similar to that attributed to young men trying to become AFL players.

“Invest in quality coaching and in club development processes so that those women and girls that are in the system are actually developing to their potential and then they’ll filter up into a high performance program that will have a national component to it,” says Kurdas.

AFL community Kicks for Chicks has described women’s football as the fastest growing segment of the sport.

Richard Amon, coach of an East Malvern Youth Girls football team, says the growth has been quite enormous, and female football has now become a legitimate avenue.

Currently, national representative women’s championships are held biennially but the AFL hopes they will soon become annual.

Mr Amon said that the move towards a yearly national competition is important because it gives kids just starting out something to strive for. In Victoria, women can play in the open age Victorian Women’s Football League, which the AFL now manages.

Last year, Victoria claimed its twelfth straight Division 1 National Women’s Championship win.

It is unclear if the teams in a national women’s competition would be affiliated with current AFL clubs, though it is expected. Tesoriero believes mimicking the AFL system precisely wouldn’t be plausible.

“It’s a fast developing sport but the numbers aren’t quite up to the level as male participation. I would think starting with an eight team fixture would be suitable, as the sport is dominated by Victoria and Western Australia, they would definitely need two teams each,” says Tesoriero.

Regardless of whether the competition meets the current 2020 deadline, there is little doubt that women’s football is on the rise, with no signs of slowing down.