How do you solve a problem like the AFLW?
At the close of this year's inaugural AFLW season, everyone was pretty darn happy with how the eight weeks had unfolded. The competition was exciting, the crowds were enthralled and the sales of hair-ribbons skyrocketed to an all-time high. But now the AFL is struggling to find room for season two in what is already looking to be a jam-packed sporting calendar. And although solving this issue may seem purely logistical, the outcome could very well establish how we view this brave new competition for years to come. Is the AFLW truly A League of it's Own made up of Game Changers, Pioneers and other catchy slogans that look great on a Kellogg's box? Or does the AFLW risk being shunted into the same category as say, AFLX? A category that has far more in common with the toys we find at the bottom of said cereal boxes: fun for a while, but ultimately little more than a novelty?
As league CEO Gill McLachlan articulated in a recent press conference, the AFL would like to give the women's league "clean air" and schedule the 2018 AFLW season so that the Grand Final falls in the bye-weekend between the end of the JLT series, and the first round of the men's home and away season. In making sure AFLW finishes before AFLXY, we can gather that any overlapping with the men's game - a notion that is completely unavoidable long term - is something the AFL would like to dodge for 2018.
But here's the rub. In order to do this, the AFLW season would have to start on the Australia Day weekend, which - as McLachlan has already acknowledged - wouldn't work for several reasons. First of all, you're not allowed to change anything about the Australia Day weekend or else Malcolm Turnbull gets stroppy and starts taking privileges away. Secondly, a large chunk of the population goes away on the Australia Day weekend. Because nothing illustrates how much you want to celebrate the place you live and the community in which you reside than getting the hell away from it. And finally, anyone who does stick around will probably be spending those days doing what we all love to do best over the weekend of January the 26th: not watching any Aussies play in the Australian Open Finals. Let's face it, our men's team will be too busy being injured. And any female contenders will have to come face to face with a post-baby Serena Williams, who is expected not only to win next year, but to do so whilst breastfeeding at the same time (because winning an Open title while pregnant clearly a bit too easy for her).
As if all of that wasn't complicated enough, McLachlan has also said that he's hoping to roll out AFLX during this same congested period and, if current trends are anything to go by, the Inaugural James Hird Completely Unnecessary Celebration Round the week after. I understand that scheduling issues can be a nightmare; as far as my personal trainer is concerned, I've been busy since November. 2010. And I'm also sympathetic that the women's league has lost its point man, Simon Lethlean, at AFL house (Ironically because he was focusing far too closely on the ladies). But things shouldn't be this hard.
As it stands, the women's league is in dangerous gimmick territory. It's all exhibition matches, experimenting with the rules, no-charge-entry and "we're just grateful to be here". For the first season of the game, this was not only expected, but genuinely felt appropriate. But moving forward, the narrative has to change. We must establish the firm message that Women's Football isn't just welcome in the off-season or in bye-rounds, but can successfully stand alongside the men's game and survive. And yes, I do acknowledge that the AFLW is still in its infancy. But the issue here is about perception. And if world politics have taught me anything lately, it's that it's best to try and correct a problem with perception right from the beginning. Because once you allow incorrect ideas and beliefs to manifest, they can become awfully hard to fix.
That being said, let's just say for a second that we absolutely had to enforce this "clean air" thing and ensure that W not overlap with the XY. If that were that case, I could think of one solution that hasn't been discussed yet, and would solve the problems right away. Actually, two if we included the use of a TARDIS. But given time travel technology is yet to be AFL-sanctioned; why not just shorten the men's season by two rounds? The men's season is too long and the women's season is too short. Freudian as that may be, I fear it is the truth.
I mean I feel like I've aged 50 years since this home and away season began and my attention span has been well and truly tested. Bring on finals already! And if you're not going to do it for me, Gill, or for the women who make the AFLW such a momentous sporting movement??? do it for Nathan Buckley. End it. He's like the Krusty-burglar being throttled by Homer Simpson, and I think I speak for us all when I wail into the night sky, "Stop, stop! He's already dead!"
So there you have it. We have less than six months until the second season of Women's AFL will be up and running.
We can either spend that period trying to figure out how to cram eight weeks of sport into February, or we accept that women can play before, after, or at the exact same time as men, and that's OK. W may come before X and Y in the alphabet, but it doesn't have to in sport.
