The region’s governing body, AFL Goulburn Murray, has instituted a dedicated under-14 girls’ competition for 2025, adding to the GM Women’s and Girls’ leagues already on offer.
“There was a big gap from Auskick and Superkick straight into our under-18s, so we were losing those girls aged 11 to14 to other sports,” Goulburn Murray Women’s and Girls’ operations manager Sammy Heron said.
“Those girls are eager to play footy and not all of them want to play with the boys, so to give them an opportunity to have an all-girls’ (competition) is fantastic for our region.
“A lot of other regions already have that in place, so I think in the years to come it’s going to be huge for our region.”
The competition will be held over eight rounds and will then conclude with a finals game, alongside the women’s and youth girls’ grand finals on August 10.
The league’s first game was played on Wednesday night at Moama Recreation Reserve.
Currently, 50 girls have signed up, split into four balanced teams based on initial assessment.
Purple played against Black on Wednesday night, while Friday will see Pink and Green take the field for the first time.
Due to the 12-a-side format, the under-14s is played on a smaller field, but Heron hopes league numbers will progress in future years to allow full-field encounters, and a traditional club system like in the women’s and youth girls’.
The majority of games will be played in Moama, with a handful to take place in Kialla.
One of the key factors holding 11- to 14-year-old girls out of youth footy was the significant age gap to the other girls in the under-18 competition, particularly as the women’s game has continued to develop.
Kate Christie, a long-time umpire in the region and the current coach of Moama’s youth girls side, said she wasn’t willing to let her daughter suit up in the youth girls’ competition, a concern shared by many parents.
“My main concern for the 14s is that women’s football, and the youth girls’ football, has developed extremely quickly,” she said.
“The play, the knowledge and the development of these girls has progressed from pretty much an Auskick, under-12 standard where all these older girls are just learning the craft.
“All of a sudden you’ve got all these Pios players who have followed through the program, they’ve got bigger, and they’re still staying in the system.
“There’s nowhere for these little ones to develop and grow, where those girls who have been in that system for ages have all had the opportunity to grow and not be intimidated or get hurt over those couple of years when it started.
“Now parents are coming down (saying) there’s no way I’d put my young girl in that.”
Christie was also a key force in getting the league off the ground, umpiring the opening game on Wednesday night.
Heron acknowledges that the institution of the league may have negative short-term impacts on the youth girls’ and mixed junior grades, where these players will be migrating from, but says she is looking at the long-term future of women’s footy.
“I’m looking two or three years down the track and hopefully then we have a stronger under-18s competition,” she said.
“It might not be right now, but if we can develop these girls ready for under-18s that’s our biggest main goal.
“I understand the concerns, but that’s not our aim this year.
“We’re trying to get the girls who aren’t in football, playing footy and developing.”
Registrations for the under-14 girls’ competition will remain open for the first four weeks of games, with interested girls encouraged to jump on board.
9°C