Rohan Connolly considers the introduction of the AFLW competition to be a landmark moment for Australian rules football, branding sceptics of the women’s game as 'dinosaurs'.
The AFLW’s debut round has been a resounding success, with sell-out attendances, including an incredible 25,000 fans at Ikon Park on Friday night to see Carlton and Collingwood square off in the competition’s inaugural match, occurring throughout the weekend.
Mammoth TV audiences have also tuned it, with the AFLW’s opening fixtures already becoming the most watched women’s sport in Australian TV history outside of the Olympic Games.
Connolly says that the popularity the new competition has garnered in such a short period of time is outstanding, and paves the way for the women’s football to flourish in local leagues both at senior and junior level.
He believes that such a turn in popularity of young girls playing the game could be the most significant change the sport has seen in years.
“Women who haven’t previously been interested in Australian football, because they’ve felt ostracised by the macho culture surrounding it, suddenly feel included,” Connolly said on SEN SportSENtral.
“What a lot of sceptics don’t realise is how big a shot in the arm this could be for the whole sport. You’ve suddenly got half the population now who aren’t automatically excluded from the dream of playing the sport at an elite level by virtue of their gender.
“At a time when there’s constant concerns about interest and participation in the game at grassroots level, surely that’s going to tap into a potentially huge market.
“You’d be pretty silly now if you ran a local footy club and didn’t offer girls and women a chance to play in their own team rather than just passively support - making the sandwiches for the blokes.”
The Fairfax Media journalist then lashed out at the sceptics of the new competition, calling their concerns over the quality of football on display so far as misguided.
He expects that the standard of games will quickly improve as the sport continues to evolve.
“Blokes slagging it off, whingeing about the quality of football. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Were they really expecting AFL standard?” said Connolly.
“Apart from the obvious physical differences between men and women, these girls are part-timers, most of whom have never been given opportunity of decent facilities and coaching until the last few months.
“Let’s see how quickly skill levels and game sense improve with the benefit of that. I’m tipping it will happen pretty quickly.”
Connolly says that no one is forcing the critics of the women’s game to partake in it, and that their hopes for the competition’s failure will eventually amount to nothing.
“To those who will remain sceptical, I’ll give you a little tip. No one’s holding you down and making you watch it or read about it,” he said.
“You haven’t lost anything, it’s not impinging on your dose of the men’s game. You just have more football to watch, which most of us would say is a good thing.
“I think there is a small percentage of dinosaurs out there who are going to complain regardless, for whatever reason. Maybe they feel threatened by women’s success. Maybe they’re resentful of it. Maybe they’re just sad and inadequate.
“But their barracking for the failure of the concept in the end isn’t going to amount to much. This has struck a real chord and I think the ripples of that are going to continue to grow.”