Sport
19 December, 2024
WFNL establishes women's football sub committee, set for local competition
Five clubs have expressed interest for a 2025 competition.
The Wimmera region is set to have a dedicated women's football league in 2025.
This comes after the Wimmera Football Netball League announced the formation of its dedicated female football sub-committee at its annual general meeting in November.
WFNL vice-charmain Bart Turgoose said he was thrilled to see it come to life.
"It's something that's been spoken about for a long time," he said.
"I've been on the board now for three years, and I've heard about it quite a bit in those three years.
"At the end of the day, we do want to see this be a really big success, and obviously bring everyone together."
The five clubs that have expressed interest are former Western Victoria Female Football League's Ararat Storm, Horsham Demons, Laharum, Minyip Murtoa and Warrack Eagles.
The initial plan is to have a senior women's and under 14.5 divisions.
"We think that's a really good start, but we're totally open for people to come forward," Mr Turgoose said.
Mr Turgoose believes the interest from the Horsham District Football Netball League club could encourage clubs from other leagues to join in the future.
"The idea is it's a collaborative approach that if clubs from other leagues do want to [join the women's competition] we aren't going to say no to them," he said.
"We want to be a very open process. So if there are any people you know with ideas, want to put a team forward or want to play, there's still plenty of opportunity for that to happen."
Before the establishment of the sub-committee and subsequent competition, local footballers had to endure significant travel to play in the WVFFL or South Australia's Limestone Coast Female Football League.
"Now that there's a localised competition, hopefully, we have a big interest in it and have a few people come along and want to be a part of it," Mr Turgoose said.
"There's so much benefit in it for the women that want to play footy, and it's so good for them to be able to get out and kick a footy.
"We absolutely encourage it as much as we can if people want to jump on board."