As the fourth season of the AFLW approaches, you could be forgiven for feeling a familiar sense of deja vu. Not, as one might imagine, the anticipation of a new season, new players and new teams. Instead, there is a feeling dripping with frustration and disappointment as, yet again, the AFL and the players’ union fail to match the dedication and passion demonstrated by the players.
In a move that seems entirely in keeping with the short history of the AFLW, a group of players, reportedly including some of the game’s biggest names, have engaged the services of a law firm. The players are dissatisfied with the AFLPA’s handling of the negotiations with the AFL around the new collective agreement. Chief among their concerns is the length of the season with players keen for a 13-round fixture instead of the AFL’s controversial conference system.
Senior associate at Maurice Blackburn, Jacinta Lewin, said the players felt pressured to accept an unfair deal, one that they knew few details about. In an extraordinary statement, Lewin said players had been told that unless they commit to the new deal they may not have the opportunity to play in 2020. Commit to the deal or else.
In the middle of this sits the AFLPA. The association is the representative body for players, women and men. It claims players are “key stakeholders” (they are) and thus “deserve to continue to have their voices heard on all issues pertaining to themselves and the game” (they do).
How well the voices of the women of the AFLW are heard, however, is suspect, given they are granted only one seat on the board of the AFLPA. Melbourne’s Meg Downie has that spot. One spot for a rapidly growing and evolving competition with unique challenges seems inadequate at best and negligent at worst. Hopefully Downie has a loud voice.
The space allocated to the AFLW on the AFLPA board is not unlike the space offered for the competition: narrow, limited in scope and out of step with what the competition and the women playing in it deserve.
The association may claim they are dedicating ample resources to the women’s game, but actions speak louder than words. From the outside looking in, the AFLPA has consistently failed to advocate in a manner that would match the dedication and commitment of the players. Their push for players to agree to the conditions of the new agreement despite their reservations and concerns suggests that they are more concerned with signing off on the deal and moving on than addressing the very real issues facing the women of the AFLW.
Women’s football champion, Susan Alberti, has suggested the AFLW needs its own association, one dedicated to them and their unique challenges. It’s difficult to disagree when the organisation currently tasked with protecting the rights of the players seems more concerned with checking a box on their to-do list.
Later this month, the AFLW draft will be held at the Melbourne Showgrounds. It should be an exciting day. One where long-held dreams, dreams once thought impossible, will come true. It should be a day of joy, a day that further cements the AFLW and its future. But without an agreement for the 2020 season, it may not be any of those things.
For the future of the competition, the AFLW needs – and absolutely deserves – the support of an organisation with its best interests at heart. An organisation that understands the challenges of the women’s game, but also the very real things that make it so special to so many people. An organisation that will fight for the competition, for the women who play in it and for the future it so richly deserves. As it stands, the AFLPA is not that organisation.
