It’s AFLW, not WAFL, because WAFL is taken by the WA Football League (also known as ‘Waffle’, a term Steph’s father used to loathe).

Behind the fold: this week in AFL, including our personal highlights, and why everyone is hating on Eddie (short answer: because he’s awful. long answer: because we deserve better).

Also please welcome to the inaugural use of the sports category (rather than just the tag — Steph will go through and recategorise old posts as appropriate shortly).

Team No Award attended Bulldogs v Dockers at Whitten Oval on Saturday afternoon (44 v 12). Stephanie was going to attend Carlton v Collingwood (46 v 11) at Ikon but was bumping in an art show that finished late.

Word has it that Crows v Giants (48 v 12) was amaaaazing. We have no opinions to offer on Dees v Lions (10 v 25).

Liz’s summary of her first ever AFL match:

• Maaaaybe the Bulldogs need a new song, just saying.
• “Queens of the West” scans!
• It seemed like Bulldogs had inferior tactics but better ball skills than Freo and that’s what it came down to, but what do I know about AFL?
• Why so few female refs?
• JUST TAKE YOUR SEAT AND STAY THERE, AND STOP PUSHING PAST PEOPLE TO GET IN AND OUT, MY GOD, IF YOU NEED THAT MUCH BEER, BUY IT BEFORE THE MATCH STARTS!
• That was great, more football please.
• Just say no to bike tubes that straight up disintegrate, but, on the other hand, at least it happened at Whitten Oval and not, say, out near Coode Island.
• Let the record show that Stephanie owes me money for chips and the change from my wine.
• I’m new to football and can’t really comment on the quality of the game, but I followed the r/AFL subreddit thread, and was rather pleased at how that mostly-male community, on a notoriously toxic platform, was really cool and non-douchey about women’s AFL. Including their insistence that, while Freo did not play a great game, the women’s team was maybe a bit better than the men’s.
• If I knew the rules of AFL, I would RIGHT THIS MINUTE be writing f/f AFL romance.
• I guess I could learn the rules.
• I can’t believe Channel 7 hasn’t given us a schmoopy prime time drama about a fictional AFLW team, starring some fresh-faced starlets we haven’t heard of yet and a minor Hemsworth, with a soundtrack featuring Jessica Mauboy. What a missed opportunity for #synergy!

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So if you’re new to observing the ins and outs of AFL, you might know that Eddie McGuire, president of the Collingwood Football Club, is a dickhead. But you might not know why everyone’s ragging him out this weekend.

So Collingwood played in the FIRST EVER women’s AFL match on Friday arvo. What a banner game! What an exciting opportunity for the club, and for Aussie women! How excellent!

Eddie, club president of Collingwood, was in Adelaide, hosting the men’s boxing. The dickhead.

This is especially egregious, not only because it demonstrates his toxic personality, but because last year he hosted a conversation threatening to drown a (female) footy commentator, and also remember those years and years where he hosted the Footy Show which was a cesspool of sexism and racism? Of course you do.

‘Eddie Everywhere’ McGuire missing from Collingwood’s historic AFLW debut

How did other (male) club presidents celebrate this inaugural weekend?

Look, it’s quite traditional if you’re not a Collingwood supporter to rag on Collingwood. But this is more than that. As a supporter of women in sports, you should feel free to boo Eddie McGuire not because he’s president of Collingwood, but because he’s president of Collingwood and gave priority to male boxers over the women of his own team.

Rumour has it that this was in part because the fixtures changed and he had already committed to hosting the boxing. That’s fine! But you didn’t see him getting out in front of it, did you? Didn’t see him at the launch on Wednesday, didn’t see him supporting his team from afar if he couldn’t be there at Ikon. And it’s because he’s always put the women of AFL – supporters and players – second.

Our sportswomen – and we – deserve better than the “support” he gives us.

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Steph’s weekend observations (Please note Steph is a veteran of attending AFL games and so her notes are briefer than Liz’s):

• It’s SO UNFAIR that the Dockers have to travel every second week! They deserve better!
• Truly the winner was football.
• Whitten Oval is very pleasant.
• Susan, First Lady of Football, is a delight and deserved the standing ovation she received when she  arrived to sit in the outer (rather than in the corporate boxes).
• I need a plushie in Freo colours, and a plushie in Swans colours.
• Rumour has it that the beer ran out at Ikon at half time.
• Loo queue conversations can be very interesting.
• Always remember to take cash to the football.

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Round 2: Liz and Steph will be attending Bulldogs v Crows at Whitten on Friday. Please note that Steph has no particular preference to the Bulldogs, that’s just the most convenient to her schedule this week.

Thinking of all the girls who were told “No.”

So great is the interest in the AFLW that games are having to move to larger venues.

Underestimation Locks Women Out. Open The Gates, AFL — Or Women Will Rip Them Down.