AFL Tasmania
The AFL’s new Parliamentary Friends of Football Kicked of today with a female football inspired event at Parliament House in Hobart.
Premier and group Patron, Will Hodgman MP and Co convenors, Elise Archer MP, Madeleine Ogilvie MP and Jim Wilkinson MLC welcomed members of parliament and the football community to discuss female football directions nationally and in Tasmania.
Head of Female Football, Josh Vanderloo presented the AFL’s female strategy including the direction of the recently launched AFL W national competition which will feature four Tasmanians in its inaugural year – Jessica Wuetschner and Brit Gibson to Brisbane Lions, Ellyse Gamble to Western Bulldogs and Emma Humphries to Melbourne.
Discussions centred around AFL Tasmania’s 3 year plan for female football, including more all girls auskick centres state-wide, growing participation in schools both on the field and in the classroom, and strengthening junior and youth girls competitions. A new, revamped premier women’s competition was also discussed.
Tasmanian Football Council general manager, Jackson Hills said “We were really pleased with the first event. It was great to see so many members of parliament in attendance, especially to discuss such an important topic for our sport. The Parliamentary Friends of Football allows us to increase our communication with politicians and through them their local communities”.
Co convenors, Elise Archer, Madeleine Ogilvie (Southern Football League President) and Jim Wilkinson pledged to continue to support Tasmanian football, and to work with AFL Tasmania to identify gaps in community facilities in order to improve the environment for female participants and for families.
AFL Tasmania will, in conjunction with local and state government, community football leagues and clubs, be conducting a state-wide facilities audit in 2017 and developing a state-wide blueprint for football facilities which will be presented to the Tasmanian Government in the first half of 2017.
The parliamentary friends group will now focus on its next event scheduled for March 2017, which will discuss the Next Generation of AFL in Tasmanian Schools.