Watcher Reserve
Bloomfield Road, Keysborough 3173
Parkmore first fielded a women’s side in 2004 as part of the
Victorian Women’s Football League established in 1981 with four teams competing
in an open age Competition.
In 2004 at least three new clubs advised the VWFL of their intention to nominate
teams in the competition including Parkmore. Also Parkmore runs junior sides in
the Dandenong & Districts Junior Football League and a male senior side in the
SFL.
The Club is proud of what it has achieved, and looks forward to being an
integral part the new era with the girls now being able to fully be involved in
our great game of Australian Rules Football.
The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) is the oldest and largest Australian Rules Football league for women in the world, made up of clubs from Victoria, Australia. It is an open age Women's Footy competition. It began in 1981 with four teams. Division 3 was added in 2001 and Division 1 Reserves in 2005. In 2004 the League affiliated with Football Victoria. In 2005 there were three divisions (and one reserve division) and 24 teams (from 20 clubs) in total, with over 800 women taking part.
The League adopts the rules of the Australian Football League with few alterations. The official ball used by the League is slightly smaller ball than the official AFL ball, to minimise hand injuries.
Related competitions that take part throughout the season include the Vic Country vs Vic Metro match, the women's National Championships and the picking of an All Australian Team. In 2004 the Country vs Metro match was an exhibition match played as a curtain raiser to an AFL match at Optus Oval. The winners in 2004 were Vic Metro, evening the score to 2003's inaugural match won by the Vic Country side. The National Championships is a competition between state sides in which Victoria inevitably humiliates everyone else. In 2005 Victoria entered an under 19s side, which to the surprise of the competition did so well it lost the grand final to Victoria proper.
The League President for 2005 is Debbie Lee, who has been involved with the executive since the late 1990s. In 2002 she made headlines for pushing to play against men in the made-for-television team the Hammerheads. She has commented, "My whole idea with the Hammerheads was to promote women's football. At no point in time did I really think I was going to play against the men, and frankly it wouldn't really have been smart for me to do that. My whole idea was to cause a bit of activity.
Play By The Rules is a great help web site on issues about the sporting clubs responsibilities
A U17 Youth Girls Competition was established by Football Victoria in 2004. This was following legal action taken against them in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (following a complaint to the Equal Opportunity Commission) by Penny Cula-Reid, Emily Stayner, and Helen Taylor. The three schoolgirls were banned from playing in junior leagues, with fears of expensive insurance liability in case of injury and "medical reasons" being cited by Football Victoria (i.e. the physical differences between the bodies of boys and girls). The court found in favour of the girls in February 2004. In response to the ruling, the U17 Youth Girls Competition began in May, with 122 girls participating.
Play By The Rules is a great help web site on issues about the sporting clubs responsibilities