New Women's Team

Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Sturt joins SANFL Statewide Super Women’s League

The SA Football Commission has today announced that Sturt Football Club has been awarded the sixth licence to participate in the SANFL Statewide Super Women’s League competition in 2018.

The announcement follows a detailed submission process to identify the sixth team for the expanded competition.

SANFL General Manager Football Adam Kelly said the expansion of the competition with the two additional teams – South Adelaide and Sturt – meant more women can play at SANFL Statewide Super Women’s League level.

“SANFL is committed to the continued growth of football opportunities for females in South Australia and providing for the aspiration of those with the talent required to progress to SANFL Women’s and the AFLW level,” Adam said.

“2017 was an outstanding success and was reflective of the enormous growth in females playing the game across South Australia. The decision to expand to six teams with a longer season represents an important evolution for the competition and provides two more of our clubs with the desired opportunity to field women’s teams.”

The original four teams – Norwood, North Adelaide, Glenelg and West Adelaide – will be joined by South Adelaide and Sturt with the competition set to kick off in February 2018.

With the growth in teams, the new season will be extended from six to 10 minor round games with each club to play the other twice, along with a two-week finals series. Further exciting announcements around the competition will be made in the coming week.

“We are very pleased to be in the position to be able to extend the competition and grateful to Statewide Super for their continued support which has been instrumental in supporting the growing of the game for females in our State,” Adam said.

Key SANFL female participation statistics from 2017:
• Female Club registrations across the State have increased by 35.07% to 3732
• Female players in SANFL Juniors are now 1,443, an increase of 154%
• Girls teams in SANFL Juniors have grown from 16 to 62
• One in eight players in SANFL Juniors is female, while one in six kids in Auskick are female with participation growing 30% YTD, up to 1397
• 10 SANFL Women’s State representatives were drafted by the Adelaide Football Club in the inaugural AFLW season.
• Two SANFL Women’s State representatives were named in the AFL Women’s All Australian Team