The “daughters of the west” have triumphed spectacularly in front of a vocal crowd to mark the arrival of women’s AFL on prime-time television.
A bumper crowd of 6365 football fans packed Whitten Oval in Footscray on Saturday night to watch the Western Bulldogs slay the Melbourne Demons 14.6 (90) to 7.9 (51).
The All-Stars women’s exhibition match, which was broadcast live by Channel Seven, attracted an average of 746,000 viewers nationally and peaked at 1.05 million viewers.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the “thrilling” figures showed a growing interest in the women’s game.
“The crowd at Whitten Oval and the TV viewers watched a fast, skilful and ferocious brand of football. The women provided a great taste of what’s to come when their national league begins in 2017.”
The men’s team will be hoping to match the women’s result when the Bulldogs travel west for a do-or-die elimination final against the West Coast Eagles on Thursday night.
