66-604: Ashton Hill (born 12 October 1995) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for West Coast in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A defender , she had previously played in the West Australian Women's Football League (WAWFL) before signing with West Coast for their first season in the AFLW. She played in the club's inaugural team. Hill first played football for Mater Dei College. In 2014, she began playing for
132-481: A 50-metre penalty on Adelaide co-captain Erin Phillips . The Crows were quick to respond with quick ball movement in the centre square from Foley to Ebony Marinoff to Anne Hatchard , who notched up their first score. A second 50-metre penalty gave Carlton another chance but was rushed through by Adelaide for a behind by Sarah Allan . The Crows were soon back on the attack, with Phillips marking just inside
198-516: A QAFL Women's competition was formed in Brisbane in 2001, Queensland's first women's league after one off matches from as early as the 1970s. The first national junior championships for girls were established in 1992 with the advent of the first AFL Women's National Championship , while junior sides later took part in the first AFL Women's Under 18 Championships in 2008–2010. Women's Australian rules football began to rapidly grow in 2000, with
264-411: A ruckman after Rhiannon Metcalfe was sidelined for an ACL reconstruction and Jasmyn Hewett suffered an ankle injury. Former Opals basketball player Jess Foley was pressed into the ruck role at the last minute. The Crows went on to an impressive season, notching up seven games by an average of 40 points, and finishing on top of Conference A. Their only loss for the season was by a single point in
330-546: A 30-minute match was played on Adelaide Oval between workers of the Charles Moore & Co. factory and the Mirror Shirt and Pyjama Factory. Although the match was not a standalone event, newspapers at the time did refer to it as the main attraction of the day. A moth biplane dropped the game ball to start the match. In 1930, the club captain and secretary Veronica O'Callahan announced that the Charles Moore's club
396-425: A few minutes later. A Carlton turnover saw Allan boot the ball forward to Chloe Scheer , who took a specky over the top of Blues defender Kerryn Harrington . She played on and delivered it to Danielle Ponter for an easy first goal. Soon after though, Scheer went down with a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury , and was out of the game. It did not halt Adelaide, as Ponter marked a delivery from Jones inside
462-520: A game took place at Alberton Oval between Port Adelaide and another club representing Thebarton. Port Adelaide was captained by Eileen Rend. Perth's successful "Shopgirls Premiership" competition continued after the war and through the 1920s and included teams from Brennan's drapery and Foy & Gibson among others. Women's teams were formed at Riverton, South Australia , to play scratch matches in 1920. The first match to be played in Melbourne
528-485: A licences to participate by 13 existing AFL teams, with eight teams awarded licences to participate in the inaugural season with the competition to be known as "AFL Women's" or AFLW for short. The inaugural AFLW match was held at Ikon Park in February 2017 between traditional rivals Carlton and Collingwood and attracted 27,500 fans, however over 2,000 people were locked out due to security concerns. The AFL apologised for
594-414: A match in front of a large crowd at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne. In 1933, a match played between Carlton and Richmond women's teams at Princes Park stadium in Melbourne was incorrectly billed on Sydney company Cinesound Newsreel as the "first women's rugby match"; the teams were composed mostly of female netball and track-and-field athletes eager to try Australian rules. Women's football
660-537: A men's game between North Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions . The AFLW considered a Saturday game, but getting the ground ready for a Port Adelaide game later that afternoon meant that the Grand Final would have to start at 10:30 am (Adelaide time) to have the signage and advertising changed for the men's game, a proposition that was rejected outright by the clubs and Adelaide Oval management. Admission
726-652: A round-robin competition was held at Glenferrie Oval featuring VFL clubs, with South Melbourne, Footscray, Hawthorn and St Kilda competing in an all-female competition. The league competed through the 1950s and was actively promoted by Footscray VFL champions "Mr Football" Ted Whitten and Jack Collins . Regular girls football was also being played in North West Tasmania, with clubs in Ulverstone and Devonport playing in 1946. Tasmanian Football League clubs Launceston and Clarence added women's teams to
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#1732779565250792-470: Is one of the most popular women's football competitions in the world with an average attendance in 2019 of 6,262 a game. The record attendance is 53,034 which was set at the 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final which, prior to the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup , held the record for the most attended fixture in Australian women's sport. Women's Australian rules has also grown rapidly outside of Australia since
858-531: Is significant evidence of a continuity in competition from the end of World War I spanning several Australian states. Both world wars were a great liberator for women; as the men fought in the war, women were often called to perform many tasks typically done by men, including spectator sports. In August 1880, a group gathered at Sandhurst (Bendigo) in Victoria responding to a postcard from signed "Lover of Football" to form an all-ladies football club. The idea
924-476: Is the female-only form of Australian rules football , generally with some modification to the laws of the game . It is played by more than half a million women worldwide and with 119,447 Australian adult and 66,998 youth female participants in 2023 is the second most played code among women and girls in Australia behind soccer . The first Australian rules football matches involving women were organised late in
990-411: The AFL Women's (AFLW) competition in 2019, bringing the total number of teams to ten. The league retained a seven-round home-and-away season. This was achieved by splitting the competition into two conferences, with one of the new teams in each. Each team played four games against their fellow conference members and three "cross-over" matches against teams from the other conference. Conference membership
1056-889: The Ballarat Arch of Victory . The Lucas girls won the match 3 goals 6 (24) to the Khakis 1 goal 2 (8) in front of 7,000 people, then the largest football crowd in Ballarat history. A photograph of the Lucas Girls Football team appears in the Ballarat Star in December 1918. In September 1918 the Australian Red Cross organised a number of fundraising "ladies football" matches including a match at Broken Hill, New South Wales between teams of
1122-671: The Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney time to submit their bids in full. Not content to wait for the AFL, two of its member clubs, the Melbourne Football Club and the Western Bulldogs began organising women's matches against each other. Initially the clubs created representative teams drawn from local players from aligned VWFL clubs. In June 2013, they organised an AFL sanctioned exhibition match held at
1188-553: The St Kilda Cricket Ground . Other high drawing matches were played in Western Australia between Kalgoorlie and Kalgoorlie Railways. In 1922, a Fitzroy female team travelled to Perth and played West Perth in front of 13,500 spectators. The 1923 Richmond ladies football team played against the men's side in Melbourne to raise funds for a junior trip. In 1929, as part of an annual charity day,
1254-659: The West Australian Women's Football League (WAWFL) formed in Perth in 1988 and the South Australian Women's Football League (SAWFL) formed in Adelaide in 1991. The AFL Women's National Championships were inaugurated in 1992. In 2010 the Australian Football League (AFL) assumed control of the sport with the intention of professionalising it and began restructuring competitions around
1320-548: The goal square for her second. A third followed, bringing her to twelve for the season. Tayla Harris attempted to score one against the flow of play, but it was touched on the line by Allan. It fell to Carlton captain Bri Davey to put the Blues' second goal on the scoreboard. Jones had a free kick at goal after the siren that sailed through, and Adelaide took a forty-point lead into the half time break. When play resumed after
1386-555: The 19th century, but for several decades it occurred mostly in the form of scratch matches , charity matches and one-off exhibition games . The first all-female matches began early in the 20th century, and regular competition first emerged after World War II . State-based leagues emerged between the 1980s and 2000s: the first was the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) formed in Melbourne in 1981, with others including
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#17327795652501452-478: The 2000s. The Women's International Cup has been run since 2011. Players to represent their country and be recruited at AFLW level include Laura Duryea , Clara Fitzpatrick (Ireland) and Kendra Heil (Canada). The game's governing body, the AFL Commission , has been criticised for its lack of acknowledgement of the history of women's football, taking credit only for the virtually overnight "revolution" of
1518-666: The 27th Battalion and Artillery as well as several in South Australia including Morphett Vale took on Coo-ee, as well as matches involving the factory of Charles Moore and Co. Perhaps the highest profile match was between North Adelaide iand South Adelaide at the Jubilee Oval in Adelaide on the 21st. In South Australia, an early example of Women's football was a Port Adelaide Women's team in November, 1918 where
1584-405: The 50-metre arc. Her kick fell short, but Irish recruit Ailish Considine put it through for a second goal. A third soon followed with Eloise Jones passing the ball to Hannah Martin for a goal from point-blank range. An attempt at the other end by Sarah Hosking resulted only in a behind, and yet another 50-metre penalty gave the Blues an opportunity on the siren, but the ball fell well short of
1650-539: The AFLW Players' Association's Most Valuable Player award, which she had also previously won in 2017. On 2 April, she was awarded the AFLW best and fairest award for second time, having previously won it in 2017, and was named the captain of the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team . Her Adelaide co-captain Chelsea Randall was named the vice captain, and Hatchard, Thompson and Marinoff were also part of
1716-593: The AFLW also broke women's football attendance records in all states and territories except South Australia, including Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory where no teams were based. The inaugural Grand Final held on the Gold Coast set a new record for the women's game in Queensland with an attendance of 15,610. Following the AFLW season, the first State of Origin match in
1782-435: The AFLW while making only passing reference to its origins and development. While the Australian Football League has, in fact, played some role in the development of women's football in Australia, especially from the 2010s, it operated for 120 years without any official female teams, and was one of the last sporting competitions in the country to affiliate with a women's league. Overall public support for women's football in
1848-539: The Australian Football League (AFL) took over operations of Women's Football Australia and conducted a review of the organisation of its national organisation. This led to speculation that the AFL was investigating a national women's competition. Soon after, details of intentions emerged with the AFL slating a commencement in 2013 with four to eight teams. However the AFL would later miss this targe, postponing it until 2020 to allow its expansion clubs
1914-438: The Australian game passionately since the mid-19th century, accounting for approximately 50% of spectators at matches, a uniquely high figure among football codes. As early as 1862 women publicly questioned why they would not be able to play. Women's soccer became popular in the 1920s, and while documented mentions of football matches are often difficult to differentiate as to whether they were played under Australian rules, there
1980-484: The Carlton defenders, who were caught too far out from goal, and a goal resulted. A couple of minutes later, Phillips earned a free kick from a high tackle by Sarah Hosking. One accurate kick later, and Phillips had ten goals for the season, and Adelaide, five for the match. A mark by Renee Forth off a delivery from Deni Varnhagen nearly made it six, but she missed, scoring only a behind. The next opportunity came
2046-702: The Federal Khaki Clothing Factory "Khaki girls" team (playing in khaki and white) travelled to Ballarat to play the Ballarat Eleanor Lucas's lingerie factory "Lucas girls" team (playing in pink and white and coached by Charlie Clymo ) at City Oval in Ballarat, Victoria in August which was, according to reports, a highly physical contest in front of a "huge crowd" and the even was met with substantial fanfare. The match funded
Ashton Hill - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-611: The Joondalup Falcons in the WAWFL reserves, winning the competition's best and fairest in her first two seasons. She captained the side to the 2016 premiership and finished runner-up in the best and fairest. In 2017, the Joondalup Falcons merged into the West Perth Falcons and Hill was voted to become West Perth's inaugural senior women's captain by her teammates. She remained captain for one more season, winning
2178-582: The Melbourne Cricket Ground which attracted 7,500 spectators, then a record. The two teams competed annually over the next three years for the Hampson-Hardeman Cup. In women's Australian rules football in 2015, 163 new teams were formed, and a total of 284,501 players took part in organised games. In 2016 the AFL began a series of exhibition matches as double headers with men's matches. That same year it opened bidding for
2244-488: The Williamstown Chronicle. Costume football matches were popular from the late 1870s as a form of outdoor fancy dress theatre amusement mixing opera, comedy and pantomime. While early events were poorly documented, accounts from the time were over the top and gaudy affairs. However such matches provided a gateway for female participation and over time these there were more and more documented accounts of
2310-446: The club's best and fairest in the same year, before switching to East Fremantle for 2019, where she played in a premiership. Hill was part of West Coast's female academy during her early career. In August 2019, Hill signed to West Coast ahead of its inaugural AFLW season. She debuted in the opening round of the season as part of West Coast's inaugural AFLW side, but ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament dodging an opponent during
2376-482: The code for almost a decade, attracting 9,400 to Docklands Stadium to watch Victoria women's team take on the Allies . 2019 AFL Women%27s Grand Final The 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held at Adelaide Oval on 31 March 2019 to determine the premiers of the league's third season . Admission was free to the general public, and the match between Adelaide and Carlton
2442-495: The competition in 1947. Matches were also being played in the Wimmera - Mallee region of Victoria in towns such as Hopetoun , Lascelles and Camperdown . By 1947, the Adelaide women's competition had grown to seven teams. In 1953, a South Fremantle women's side took on and defeated Boans Limited at Perth Oval. In 1954, girls' football matches were held at Cobram. In 1959, a Victorian squad composed of Footscray players
2508-443: The country to support an Australian national league, AFL Women's (AFLW), that commenced its inaugural season in 2017. By 2022 all 18 AFL clubs had begun fielding women's teams. The AFLW attracts a large audience of more than one million attendees and over two million viewers, and has managed to maintain its high levels of interest despite moving to primarily ticketed and subscription broadcasting models in 2021. The AFLW competition
2574-493: The earliest all-female teams which included Nellie Stewart , Florence Maude Young , Jennie Lee , Violet Varley and Flora Graupner. Played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground the match attracted one of the largest crowds ever seen to the ground and was declared a draw and the media lauded the performance of the female team: "the ladies, in fact, carried all before them". A repeat female vs male match
2640-456: The final siren sounded. Phillips's injury cast a pall over the Crows' win. "It's an ACL," she confirmed, "something I have done before in my other leg. This was supposed to be the good leg." Despite only playing for three-quarters, Phillips, who had 18 disposals and two goals, was named best on ground , as she had been when Adelaide previously won the flag in 2017. The following night she won
2706-483: The first round match against the Western Bulldogs , when they kicked an inaccurate 1.11. Carlton got off to a slow start, losing to North Melbourne in round one and then Adelaide in round two, before winning five of the last six games to finish on top of Conference B. In their preliminary final, the Crows conducted a 66-point demolition of Geelong before a home crowd of 13,429 at the Adelaide Oval , not allowing
Ashton Hill - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-400: The goal line. At quarter time, Carlton felt they were dominating everywhere but on the scoreboard, but this feeling would soon pass. The second quarter opened with an Adelaide goal. An overhead mark in the centre by Jones was handed off to Phillips, who booted it forward to the advantage of Stevie-Lee Thompson , who marked it and sprinted towards the goal line. Thompson proved too fast for
2838-415: The ground. The crowd gave her a standing ovation, and even the Carlton players looked upset. In the final quarter, the players had less to show for their efforts. Foley missed a shot from 35 metres out, scoring only a behind, as did Chloe Dalton at the other end. Hosking was awarded a free kick after being crunched in a tackle by Foley, but missed everything. A final effort by the Crows could not score before
2904-468: The highest women's sports crowd in Australian history was surpassed in March 2020 by the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Final , but as of 2020 retains the record for highest crowd at a women's football match. Teams were announced on 29 March 2019. Both clubs had unchanged lineups from the preliminary finals the week before: The Blues started well, with Madison Prespakis scoring an early first goal off
2970-524: The image down, resulting in a chorus of outrage. In the preliminary final, Harris went on to demonstrate her kicking style, slotting Carlton's first goal from 45 metres out. The Blues went on to win by 36 points, setting up a grand final clash with Adelaide. As the highest-ranked team across the two conferences, Adelaide won the right to host the grand final. The match was scheduled for Sunday, 31 March 2019 at Adelaide Oval, which AFLW Chief Executive Nicole Livingstone conceding this timeslot would clash with
3036-555: The inclusion of female characters. In 1887 one of the earliest accounts of numerous "young ladies" participating was held in Ballarat, at the Eastern Oval in front of a huge crowd of 6,000. In 1892, a Bendigo woman was charged with nuisance for kicking a football in the street. In 1894, a high profile costume match was played to raise funds for the Australian Dramatic and Musical Association which featured one of
3102-405: The league's home of Melbourne has also lagged behind the rest of the country to an extent. Codified in 1859, Australian football had been played by men for almost half a century before the first all-women's football matches were played: exceptions to this included charity matches, such as patriotic fundraisers, which occasionally featured women players. Despite this, women have nonetheless followed
3168-405: The lock out which turned away fans stating that it had underestimated demand, expecting just 12,000 people. Despite this, the league later ruled out hosting women's matches at Docklands Stadium or the code's spiritual home Melbourne Cricket Ground deeming them to be too large for the women's game. As such, this was to remain a long standing record attendance for Victoria. During its debut season
3234-452: The long break, Harris started in the ruck, possibly in an attempt to get her into the game. This backfired, as she immediately collided with Davey, and went off clutching her knee. Thompson also hobbled off the ground, with an ankle injury. Both would return, but not for some time. Phillips marked a pass from Forth 40 metres out, and had her second goal of the match. Soon after, Phillips went down, clutching her knee, and had to be stretchered off
3300-614: The number of registered teams increasing by a phenomenal 450%. In 2006 the Australian Services and the ADF conducted a national development camps for female players to form a services league. In June 2007, the organisers of the E. J. Whitten Legends Game included, for the first time, female participants - Daisy Pearce and Shannon McFerran , both of the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) - enabling them to play against former men's AFL players. This significantly raised
3366-527: The profile of women's football in Victoria, with some of the former AFL players being outplayed by the female players. It became one of the few high-profile mixed-gender exhibition matches featuring high-profile women's players. The first full international game was held between the USA Freedom and Team Canada in Vancouver on Saturday 4 August 2007 in front of a crowd of almost 2,500. In 2010,
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#17327795652503432-412: The second quarter and was ruled out injured for the rest of the season. In June 2022, after playing a full season following her injury limiting her to one appearance in two seasons, Hill retired to focus on work and family. Women%27s Australian rules football Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL ),
3498-601: The squad, as were Carlton's Prespakis, Harrington and Gabriella Pound . The game was broadcast live on Channel Seven , Fox Footy , womens.afl and the AFLW Official App. ARIA Award winner Amy Shark performed songs from her debut album Love Monster . She said that the Tayla Harris photo incident made her more determined to perform, saying that "[J]ust being a female in music, I'll do anything I can to help highlight any other woman trying to make it in
3564-761: The team that finished second in Conference B and vice versa. The winners of these matches then played in the AFL Women's Grand Final. After winning the 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final , the Adelaide Crows finished a disappointing fifth in 2018. The Carlton Blues, which were also expected to perform well in 2018, did much worse, ultimately battling Fremantle for the wooden spoon – and getting it. In 2019, both Adelaide and Carlton had new coaches – Matthew Clarke and Daniel Harford respectively. The Crows retained much of their team from 2017 and 2018, but lacked
3630-569: The top of Conference B, also hosted the preliminary finals. This was seen as disadvantaging Fremantle, which had won two more games than Carlton, and had a far better percentage (141.2 per cent compared with 99.6 per cent). In the lead up to the preliminary final, an image of Carlton's star forward Tayla Harris demonstrating her on-field athleticism that was posted online by the Seven Network came under attack by misogynist internet trolls . Rather than suppressing their comments, Seven took
3696-439: The visitors to score until late in the final quarter. In an answer to critics of the women's game that complained about it being low scoring, the Crows outscored nine of the men's teams that weekend (including their own men's team, as well as reigning premiers West Coast ), despite the fact that AFLW only plays 15-minute quarters (instead of 20), and has less time on . The conference system ensured that Carlton, which finished at
3762-476: The years, women's football was rarely organised until the formation of the Victorian Women's Football League in 1981, with four teams competing at open level. With the West Australian Women's Football League 's formation in 1988, followed by that of the South Australian Women's Football League in 1991, there were competitions in the three major states in the sport. A women's competition in Sydney began in 1999 and
3828-453: Was based on the final ladder positions of the 2018 season. As it turned out, the competition was unbalanced, with Conference A teams winning 14 of the 16 cross-over matches. The finals series was expanded to include preliminary finals for the first time. The two teams that finished the highest in each conference at the end of the home-and-away season qualified for the preliminary finals, with the team that finished highest in Conference A playing
3894-701: Was being increasingly organised in northern Tasmania in the 1940s with the formation of several dedicated clubs and matches in Launceston. Archives also show a charity women's match occurred on Bassendean Oval in Perth, Western Australia, 27 August 1944. It is unknown whether the game had been played continuously in the state. Another match in 1944 was held in June at Memorial Oval Port Pirie, South Australia . Calls were made for big VFL clubs, including reigning premiers Essendon, to field women's sides in 1947. That year
3960-548: Was considered a novelty at the time, and did not proceed, though generated some attention across regional Victoria. In 1886, a local paper reported that a group of women in Williamstown were seen playing kick-to-kick . In the same year a call for a ladies football club affiliated with the North Williamstown Football Club suggesting a hybrid match against a women's lacrosse club was made in
4026-435: Was contested before a crowd of 53,034 – which at that time was the record for a stand-alone women's sporting event in Australia. It was won by Adelaide, 10.3 (63) to 2.6 (18), and Adelaide claimed its second premiership in three years. Its co-captain Erin Phillips was voted best on ground, despite suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in the third quarter. Two new teams, Geelong and North Melbourne , joined
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#17327795652504092-624: Was defeated by a Tasmanian team. In 1967, a charity match was played in Regent's Park in London , between Aussie Girls and Wild Colonial Girls as a curtain raiser to a promotional men's match. In 1970 in Brisbane, Queensland, the Sherwood and Western Districts clubs began an annual women's competition which continued until 1985. The Mt Gravatt Football Club also had a dedicated women's team from 1973. Beyond this and occasional matches over
4158-451: Was free to the general public, and the AFL hoped for a crowd of around 25,000. In the event, the crowd of 53,034 was the largest ever for an AFLW match, the fifth highest ever at Adelaide Oval, and a record for a stand-alone women's sporting event in Australia, surpassing a record set in 1920. Extra seating was hurriedly opened in the upper grandstands. The unanticipated large crowd put the city's public transport under strain. Its record as
4224-525: Was going into recess, claiming that the game is "too rough" to become popular with girls in Adelaide. Nevertheless, Port Adelaide Magpies reformed a women's team for the following year to play against a team from Queenstown. In August 1930, a charity match was organised in Perth on what is now the WACA Ground . In 1931, women protested against all-female matches being organised for Melbourne. That year, Oakleigh and Carnegie Football girls' clubs staged
4290-581: Was in 1921. According to the AFL Record, following World War I , a match in Melbourne was held to show that women could play what had previously been seen to be a man's sport. The first women's match attracted a large crowd and interest. The umpire wore a skirt. In 1921, a women's team in St Kilda organised a game with the women wearing kits donated by the St Kilda men's club and shorts rather than dresses. A team regularly practiced on Saturday mornings at
4356-668: Was played at the Theatrical Carnival at the Royal Exhibition Building in 1895. Women's role on the Home front during World War I saw the organisation of the earliest recorded all-women's matches. Records exist of a football side in Perth , Western Australia made up of department store staff playing as Foy & Gibson 's as early as 1915. Some of the first organised matches were played on Perth Oval , including one on 14 October 1917. In Victoria
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