Western Bulldogs vice-president Susan Alberti says the club will make a strong case to the AFL commission for inclusion in the new eight-team AFL women’s national league competition.
“It would surprise no one … that I am pushing strongly at my own club to have a team based at the Whitten Oval and wearing the mighty red, white and blue,” she said.
“I have no doubt, in 2017, the national competition will be a success, with media companies broadcasting the game and spectators flocking to venues and inspiring the next generation of young female footballers, who will finally have a national elite league to compete in.”
The Bulldogs played an active role in the promotion of women in football long before the national women’s competition became reality.
The club has built a membership that is more than 50 per cent female. It currently has three female directors, down from four last season after the retirement of Gaye Hamilton.
“That’s more than any other club in the AFL,” Alberti said.
The Bulldogs and Melbourne Football Club have staged women’s exhibition matches at the MCG and Etihad Stadium for the past three years. The club also supports the Victorian Women’s Football League with a development academy at Whitten Oval.
Alberti, 68, has been a lifelong Bulldogs’ fan, part of the club’s cheer squad as a junior.
“I guess I’m one of the only directors in the AFL who has come from the cheer squad,” she said with a chuckle.
“To see this evolution of women’s football, I can’t tell you how happy and how proud I am for the women involved in AFL, and also for the men, too, for supporting this.”
