Round one of the AFLW dawned with optimism and fans were delighted as the first games kicked off last week. The pre-Christmas Covid outbreak in NSW looked to have been contained, Victoria and Queensland’s were nothing but minor speed bumps and the air sparkled with the promise of an end to domestic border closures. The games began, there was sadness, followed by rivalry and aggression, score blowouts and celebration. It was everything an opening round of football can hope to deliver.
There are plenty of stories that should have formed the key narrative of round one – the passion of the Collingwood and Carlton match, the dominance of the Crows and Kangaroos, the ongoing woes of the Tigers. Instead it was an off-field development that threw all plans into disarray.
Midway through Sunday the news arrived that a hotel quarantine staff member in Perth had tested positive for Covid-19, sending much of Western Australia into a five-day lockdown. Two teams – the Adelaide Crows and GWS Giants – needed to get out of the state before the lockdown began, with the Giants not scheduled to play their match until later that afternoon. By the evening, both teams were on a chartered flight to Adelaide, where South Australian health authorities ruled they would need to self-isolate for 14 days.
After a tumultuous preseason, the Giants were relieved to be granted an exemption to fly to Sydney on Monday morning. But it has cast a shadow over round two, with the two matches scheduled for Adelaide – GWS-Fremantle and Adelaide-West Coast – postponed and ticket sales for all round-two matches temporarily suspended as the AFL dives back into the classic hits of Covid lexicon – expect to see plenty of talk about “pivoting”, “flexibility” and “adaptability” over the coming days.
All through the winter of last year and the summer so far there have been countless examples of the lengths to which sports administrators will go for live sport to take place. The shutdown of professional sporting leagues in Australia was brief and consigned to the pages of history as all stops were pulled out in order to get the players back on the field, sponsorship dollars rolling in and precious broadcast content on screen for a population with nowhere to be but home.
Unless of course, the sporting competition was populated by women, in which case it could be cut short, moved, condensed, all played in one location or postponed until further notice. The AFLW was one of the first to go, when the season was abandoned during a modified finals series, with no premier crowned.
We’re on the way back to Sydney! We’ll follow NSW Government health advice and hope to have a full update on training and games very soon. pic.twitter.com/RyqyRkwZdD
— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) February 1, 2021
The contrast was stark then when the men’s AFL was able to get back under way – navigating border closures, Victoria’s second wave outbreak and reduced crowd capacities with relative ease as the AFL negotiated with governments for exemptions. Knowing the optics it was presenting, the AFL pledged to finish the women’s competition in 2021. “The absolute commitment from the AFL remains to complete the season and award an AFLW premier in 2021,” AFLW boss Nicole Livingstone assured fans prior to the start of the season.
With this promise and the memories fresh of the incredible effort put into keeping the men’s season functioning, all eyes are on the AFL to see how they respond to this latest challenge to the women’s game.
Was the promise made in hope that fewer outbreaks and an impending vaccine rollout would put an end to the need for extraordinary measures? Or were plans already in place to deal with disruptions caused by new outbreaks and sudden border closures? How many resources will be devoted to negotiations with state governments? Will broadcasters and sponsors throw their considerable weight behind the cause to demonstrate their commitment to the competition?
Critics of the AFLW will undoubtedly point to the competition’s lower capacity for income generation compared to its male counterpart, but as we have seen time and again throughout the history of women’s sport, cutting off the investment now will have huge ramifications for its ability to make money and engage fans down the track.
This is unlikely to be the last time the season will be thrown into chaos and the next interruption may have even bigger implications. The way forward from here is uncharted, the map is yet to be drawn, save for a multitude of vast terrains marked ‘here be dragons’. There are risks associated with every path the AFL takes as new hurdles arise. While the financial risks are considerable, the reputational risk could be the greater one should the season be substantially disrupted.
When we look back on the 2021 season in years to come, will we be reminiscing about Chloe Molloy’s kicking game or perhaps Jess Duffin’s incredible return from maternity leave? Or once again lamenting what could have been?
