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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-04-03 Daily Xml
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Motions

AFL National Women's League

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (16:45): I move:

That this council—

1. Congratulates the Adelaide Crows on winning the 2019 AFLW grand final;

2. Congratulates Erin Phillips on winning the AFLW grand final best on ground medal;

3. Acknowledges the important role the AFLW competition has had in growing grassroots participation in women’s football and providing role models for the next generation of AFLW players; and

4. Recognises that the crowd of over 53,000 is the biggest ever attendance at a women’s sporting game in Australian history and the fifth largest crowd at an AFL game at the Adelaide Oval.

I speak to the motion as a proud South Australian and a fanatical Crows supporter. This year, the Crows side started their 2019 campaign with a different direction and with a new coach, former Crows player, Matthew Clarke. It was a new era for the team, which had won the inaugural season but was not able to repeat their efforts the year after. Season 2019 was the bounce back to form that the players and supporters had hoped and worked hard for. It was pleasing to watch a Crows team realise their hard work and win their second premiership in only the third year of the competition.

The game itself was a fantastic spectacle. The record AFLW crowd witnessed a display of skill, endeavour and flair in a heated contest between the Adelaide Crows and Carlton. Thankfully, it was the South Australian team that triumphed. The crowd does deserve recognition in its own right. It was a spectacular sight to see 53,000 people pack into the Adelaide Oval and cheer on the Crows as they claimed their second flag. The attendance was not only the single largest for an AFLW match but the fifth largest ever for an AFL game at the Adelaide Oval. A crowd this size shows that the state is right behind both the Crows women and future growth in the game.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the role in this fabulous victory of two players who unfortunately suffered pretty bad knee injuries, Chloe Scheer and Erin Phillips. Chloe played a big role in the win, wowing the crowd with a high-flying mark. The victory would not have been possible without our talented and passionate co-captain, Erin Phillips. Her best on ground performance was crucial to the win and has been seen consistently throughout the season. Despite her injury, Erin attended the W Awards last night and won her second league best and fairest—an admirable achievement in the short existence of the competition.

To allow the Crows and football fans in this state to build on the result over the weekend, we must foster growth at a grassroots level. Women's football has become one of the fastest growing sports in this state. Within our local clubs, we now have over 100 registered female teams, a fantastic achievement and a sign of popularity of the game, given there were only a handful of teams a couple of years ago. A take-up as widespread as this requires the right infrastructure in place in order to retain these budding young AFLW hopefuls.

The Marshall Liberal government is committed to providing improved infrastructure to South Australian sporting clubs, to enable the further growth of women's sport. That is why we outlined a new government grant program last year, which focuses on the development of female and family friendly shared-use sporting facilities for football, cricket and netball. This grant aims to ensure the development of sustainable, inclusive, functional and fit-for-purpose active, recreation and sporting facilities that will meet the current and future needs of the South Australian community.

Funding for grassroots women's football from the Marshall Liberal government does not end with a facilities grant. Announced in December last year, we committed $275,000 towards sponsorship of the AFLW Crows team. From these funds, we have enabled the Adelaide Football Club to develop programs and pathways for young women to access the sport across South Australia.

I am also pleased to see that funding for the new Crows training facility from the federal budget, handed down overnight, will include a high-performance facility for the AFLW premiers and a talent identification academy for female athletes. It is my hope that these facilities will enable our girls to remain ahead of the pack for years to come.

Once again, I would like to say congratulations to the Crows women; coach Matthew Clarke; assistant coaches Peter Caven, Andrew McLeod, Tim Weatherald and Narelle Smith; and in fact, the whole club. Never forget: footballers win kicks, teams win games, clubs win premierships. Here is to a repeat next season. I commend the motion to the chamber.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (16:50): SA-Best warmly endorses the motion by the Hon. Terry Stephens. In three short years, what the Adelaide Football Club and the AFL Women's have achieved is remarkable. The Crows girls deserve every accolade, along with their coach, Matthew Clarke, and his supporting staff. The brand of football they have played this season has been breathtaking. They are part-timers with regular jobs who are paid far less than their male counterparts in relative terms.

AFLW is an elite competition, which continues to grow, paving the way for many more women to participate in a game that not too long ago was essentially closed to women. I still remember the days when narrow-minded sections of the sporting community did not even want girls playing in mixed teams. I remember a story I did for Channel 7 about how a heartbroken young girl's dreams of continuing to play football were taken away from her because the rules said girls could not continue to compete after reaching a certain age. She had a roomful of trophies, many of them won against boys her age.

A shining example of a woman bursting through the glass ceiling of a male-dominated sport is the Crows superstar and co-captain, Erin Phillips. Elite sporting genes run through her blood. Her father, Greg Phillips, was a brilliant footballer with Port Adelaide and Collingwood and the South Australian State of Origin team. Don't we miss that competition! I saw Erin play junior footy a few times with and against boys when one of my sons played in the same competition in the Port Adelaide area. She was simply outstanding.

It was a cruel blow that the rules stipulated that girls could not continue playing in a mixed team when they reached 15 because of the physical nature of the sport that slight-framed girls would encounter. I am sure she would have more than held her own. But you could tell her future was assured in elite sport whatever she chose to play. I heard Erin say today on radio how much she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps and how, when she was born, Greg was ribbed by teammates that all his kids were girls and he did not have a son to continue in the Phillips tradition. Erin said:

Dad, I know you are watching, and Mum. I hope I have made you proud, and you can stick it up those people who said it to you.

Greg, a big uncompromising man with a gentle nature, nicknamed Kutchie, was also on radio and admitted shedding a tear or two when he heard that.

It is all irrelevant now because Erin has achieved what many men could not and her dad could not be any prouder. She has won an Olympic silver medal, representing her country in basketball. She has played in the top tier of the Women's NBA in the United States. She has won two best and fairest awards in the AFLW, two best on ground in grand finals awards and two most valuable player awards. She was twice made an All Australian. She has been the leading goalkicker. She has won the goal of the year and on it goes. Her champion data stats would make many blokes blush. Erin is also a great ambassador for her state and her country and a top mum of twins, with another on the way with her wife, Tracy Gahan.

I will be writing to the Stadium Management Authority, the SANFL and the South Australian Cricket Association asking them to consider further recognition of the Crows women's achievements, not just for winning two grand finals in the past three years but creating history by winning the first ever AFL premiership played at the ground—something not likely to be done in our lifetime by the AFL men's competition—and doing so before a record-breaking crowd of 53,000 spectators. Even the TV ratings of more than 400,000 viewers on Channel 7 were nothing to be sneezed at, bettering one of the AFL matches.

A stroll around the Adelaide Oval reveals quite a blokey culture, which in some sense you would expect. Famous footballing and cricketing names who have had an association with the Oval adorn stands, various hospitality areas and players' entrances, and there are statues in the plaza dedicated to the legends of footy and cricket. But where do you find areas dedicated to our female sports stars? There is a Hall of Fame area under the western stand, hidden largely from the rest of the crowd, featuring murals of cricketers like Karen Rolton, Shelley Nitschke, Faith Thomas and Joanne Broadbent. There is also the Lyn Fullston Lawns, dedicated to the great South Australian and Australian world champion female test cricket player and coach, and netballer, who died in 2008.

The South Australia Cricket Association wanted to celebrate the history of women's cricket, and rightly so. I believe the SANFL and the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority now need to do the same thing for women's football, which will only grow in stature as a permanent fixture on the AFL landscape. I propose a statue of Erin Phillips, which would also serve as being symbolic of the history-making impact and arrival of elite women's football at the ground, and it should be erected in the plaza area—the first rose among the thorns. The team itself should be honoured in the Oval's sporting Hall of Fame or elsewhere in a place of prominence.

Again, congratulations to the girls, the Adelaide Football Club for their support and management of the team and to the people of Adelaide who made the effort to go to the ground and witness a slice of this state's sporting history that will long be celebrated and feted. I commend the motion to the Legislative Council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.E. Hanson.

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