Girls’ academy eyes growth

A women’s Great Southern football competition in 2018 may be a step closer, with players in Albany honing their skills with some expert coaches over the past month.

Monday nights at North Albany Football Club this month have been awash with about 40 aspiring women footballers as female participation in the game contin-ues to grow. WA Football Co-mmission female football co-ordinator Shelley McLennan said after the last academy session next Monday, a few matches would be held with the hope of an exhibi-tion match during a round of the GSFL.

“The idea is this will promote girls’ football, so eventually next year we would like to have a GSFLW, similar to the AFLW that has run this year,” she said.

“Effectively, when the AFLW runs again next year, we would like to have a similar competition in Albany aligned with the GSFL teams.”

Ms McLennan said if the number of participants allowed, organisers would like to have four teams, each aligned with the current Albany-based GSFL teams.

“We have enough girls for around three teams, so the idea is this year we will keep promoting and gather more interest,” she said.

The academy is free of charge and open to women in high school or older and of all skill levels.

For more information and to register, look for GreatSouthern YouthGirls on Facebook.