8/11/2024

MEDIA RELEASE

 Women’s and Girls Charter Signatory

AFL Cairns is delighted to announce it has become a Women’s and Girls Chartered League.

The Women’s and Girls Community Football Charter is a commitment to work towards making Community Football environments welcoming, safe and inclusive for Women & Girls. The Charter provides expectations that Clubs and Leagues will champion women and girls guided by four key principles: opportunity, visibility, access and investment.

In 2024 there were 727 registered Women and Girl participants across Senior and Junior competitions, an increase of just under 10% from season 2023. Whilst our umpire association had 16 registered female umpires making up 16% of registered umpires for season 2024.

Our commitment to female football is as clear as ever with the recent commitment to bring Hawthorn’s AFLW program to Cairns for at least 3 years. Providing opportunities for our female athletes to participate in curtain raiser games (along with other representative opportunities) as well as investing time and effort into developing junior competitions including the addition of U13 female competition in 2025.

In Season 2024 we saw the first ever full female umpire panel umpire the Curtain Raiser Game between the U18 All Stars v Indigenous South Pacific All Star team, a true credit to the dedication of the AFL Cairns Umpires Association to provide a safe and nurturing space to develop female talent.

At AFL Cairns we are committed to continuing to develop and enhance all Women’s and Girls opportunity and the Charter provides the framework and support to continue our growth and expansion of all opportunities for Women and Girls. The commitment to the charter is an opportunity for AFL Cairns and associated clubs to continue to invest in women’s and girls football to provide a safe and supportive environment for all athletes allowing them to flourish and in turn retain and recruit more participants across all of our female pathways including playing, coaching, umpiring and volunteering.

To find out more about the Women’s and Girls Community Football Charter click here.

Information:

Brad Channon

Football Operations Manager

E: brad@aflcairns.com.au

M: 0435 878 620

ENDS