Wimmera's new female football league behind rise in footy memberships
On a still autumn day in Victoria's Wimmera region, two groups of women walk from a football field, exhausted and a little bruised, but with big smiles on their faces.
Their footy boots and jerseys are splattered with mud.
And even though just 11 points decided the game, every player felt like a winner because they knew they had just made history.
These women and girls know they are part of something big and new, bringing a women's Aussie rules football league to town for the first time.
Like many parts of rural Australia, the population of the Wimmera-Mallee region has declined in recent decades.
So too has participation in community sport, with four local football-netball clubs merging and one club folding completely since 2022.
The inaugural Wimmera female football competition is a league of three senior and three junior clubs played over nine rounds.
Its first-ever seniors match was a clash between two existing clubs, the Minyip-Murtoa Burras and Laharum Demons.
Laharum co-captain Jess Cannane said being able to play the sport she loved closer to home was a game changer.
"We've always had to travel two-and-a-half hours to play some footy down in Warrnambool, so to be able to play at home, where we're all born and bred, is fantastic," she said.
"We're now seeing pathways where girls can just play footy, they don't have to drop out at under 14s when they used to at Auskick."
Cannane's co-captain and fellow midfielder Ruby Manson hopes it's the start of something big.
"It is a big ask of parents of young people to be driving hours and hours, putting a whole Sunday in, especially if they're playing netball and things like that.
"Hopefully, this is the beginning of what is going to be a really long history of women's footy in this area."
Many players in the competition have never played competitive football before.
Until now, the nearest female football competition was the Western Victorian Female Football League of which Horsham and Stawell clubs were members.
But most of the sides in that league are based several hours' drive to the south.
Laharum Demons coach Rodney Hogan said he was "proud" of his club for taking part in the first season.
"For me, winning's down the bottom of the list, or well down the list, as far as our priorities [are concerned].
"It's more about personal development, skill development, all that sort of stuff, and teaching footy."
The Wimmera Football League was founded in 1937 and has produced numerous notable VFL/AFL players, including Tim Watson, Adam Goodes and Seb Ross.
Several prominent AFLW players, including Maggie Caris, have also grown up in the area but had to move elsewhere to play football.
It has a list of nine clubs, but league chair Peter Ballagh said memberships had already swelled as a result of the new competition.
"The feedback from the clubs that are involved is that the memberships and supporter bases have grown considerably because of the women's competition," he said.
"They've had some major sponsors jump on board as well, so it's been a win-win for everybody."
Mr Ballagh said the establishment of the women's competition was 12 months ahead of schedule.
"We thought this might happen in 2026, but the support from the clubs and the local community has been amazing."
He said three more clubs in the Wimmera league were now working on launching female teams next year.
Essendon AFLW player Alex Morcom is originally from the Wimmera town of Warracknabeal and tossed the coin for the inaugural match in the new women's competition earlier this month.
"It's been an amazing game … it was really competitive, and they looked like they were having a lot of fun," she said.
Morcom said she was glad the local women and girls were getting an opportunity she never had.
"It's just incredible to see women's AFL being played in the area," she said.
"It hasn't always been a thing, and it's obviously taken a few people to get it all running."
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