Only one AFL club is interested in starting their own women’s team, despite a push by the league to create a nationally televised women’s competition in just six years.
Melbourne Demons and Western Bulldogs already field women's teams in an annual football match, which the AFL is planning to expand into a national competition by 2020.
Fairfax Media asked the 16 remaining clubs about their intentions, with only Adelaide confirming it has plans to create a women’s team in the near future.
Hawthorn, Geelong, Carlton and GWS stated there were no plans to create a women’s team, while several clubs, including Essendon and Collingwood, did not respond to the request for comment.
Adelaide chief executive Steven Trigg said the move was a "logical step" forward, given that half of its members are female. He said work was under way to create the framework for such a team.
"We have our AFL team and for the first time an SANFL side this year, and it makes sense to also have a women’s team at some stage. The more people we can have playing our great game, the better."
Despite the poor response from most clubs, several are actively involved in women’s football but at more junior levels.
North Melbourne has partnered with Melbourne University Women’s Football Club, which trains at Arden Street weekly and helps run the club’s girls’ football academy and local Auskick.
Fremantle operates the junior and women’s teams that play in the Freo Dockers Cup in Western Australia.
"We are proud of our involvement with the Freo Dockers Cup, which this year will see almost 100 teams of girls and young women from schools across Western Australia playing the game," Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich said.
Port Adelaide previously had its own team play in the South Australian Women’s Football League, but due to budget constraints was unable to field a squad this season. CEO Keith Thomas hopes to have an team in division one and an under 18s side for the 2015 season.
"The Port Adelaide Football Club would be very supportive of a national women’s competition as long as all parties could make it work financially," he said.
The women’s game is slowly moving towards the creation of a nationally televised women’s league, which the AFL hopes to have established by 2020. As part of those plans, the AFL has sanctioned an official women’s game for the past two years as a curtain-raiser to when Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs play.
This year’s game was played in front of more than 5000 spectators at Etihad Stadium and streamed live online.
The Melbourne Demons have been at the forefront of supporting the women’s game and have been a major partner of the Victorian Women’s Football League for the past four years. The Dees also support South Metro Junior Football League under 10s, under 12s, under 14s and youth girls competitions.
An AFL spokesman said the support of clubs was vital in developing the women’s game.
AFL general manager, people, customer and community, Dorothy Hisgrove, said the lack of interest from clubs came as "absolutely no surprise".
She said the emphasis now was on growing the player talent, which has typically come from Victoria but is slowly growing in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
Women and girls are leading the charge in the growth of the game, with player participation boosted by almost 80 per cent in the past three years. Figures from AFL Victoria reveal between 2009 and 2013, the number of girl or women-only competitions throughout Victoria has tripled and the number of girl or women-only teams has jumped by almost 350 per cent.
