Women’s footy leads the way as female participation increases by 78 per cent in NSW and the ACT off the back of the GIANTS’ involvement in the inaugural AFL Women’s season.
The GIANTS are the only elite female team in the state and territory and while overall participation grew 8.2 per cent, it was the female space that saw the biggest increase.
30 new teams competed in the first under-12s competition for girls in 2017 and it set to be followed up by another new under-10s competition next year, off the back of the success of the first AFLW season.
In 2017, the total number of female participation across all levels of Australian Football increased by 22 per cent to 463,364. Female participation now reflects 30 per cent of all participation and has seen 1,690 female teams created in 2017, an increase of 76 per cent from 2016.
The AFL announced today that participation across all levels of Australian Football have reached a record high of 1,547,915 in a year
Overall participation in AFL competitions and programs across the GIANTS’ region grew 7.3 per cent in 2017 to over 250,000 participants making the AFL community in NSW and the ACT Australia’s third largest participation base in the country behind Victoria and Western Australia.
AFL NSW/ACT CEO Sam Graham said he was delighted with the continued growth of AFL across the region.
“I’m really excited about the fantastic growth of AFL across our region in 2017, especially in our key segments of Auskick, Club and female football,” Graham said.
“Our growth in Club football is the highest of any state in Australia driven by skyrocketing participation in our youth girls and female competitions. It’s fantastic to now offer a complete pathway from NAB AFL Auskick right through to the elite AFLW competition for women.”
NAB AFL Auskick growth remains steady with over 66,000 Auskickers taking the field this year representing a 9.3 per cent increase on 2016 with Western Sydney seeing double digit growth in the AFL’s marquee kids participatory offering.
Overall participation in AFL competitions and programs nationwide grew to an impressive 1.55M participants across the country in 2017.
Key AFL NSW/ACT participation statistics for 2017:
• 8.2% growth in Club football in NSW/ACT – the highest growth rate in the country
• 78% growth in Female Club football participation
• 30.4% growth in AFL 9’s participation
• 7.3% overall participation growth to 254,812 participants (vs. 237,549 in 2016)
• 9.3% growth in NAB AFL Auskick
