In 2010 the Australian Football League @afl commissioned a report into the state of women's football around the country.
Along with findings concerning grassroots and junior football, the report recommended the AFL Commission begin working toward the establishment of a national women's league.
@aflwomens (AFLW) - Australia's national Australian Rules Football League for female players - was finally established in 2016, and the first season of the league began in February 2017 with 8 teams, expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, and will expand to 14 teams in the 2020 season.
Females 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏿♀️🙋🏼♀️ now make up close to a third of a record number of Australian football participants, and recent figures show a 14.2 per cent spike in female participation was a major driver in the 6.5 per cent growth of the game to a total of 1,649,178 players in 2018 (with 530,166 of them female players).
Onwards and upwards!
(And sideways, as per this amazingly athletic leap by Erin Wardrop @stgeorgeafc 🙌🏽🤸🏻♂️)
@aflwomens