Why is there no River Murray Women’s Football League?

This story is now free to read. Help Murray Bridge News tell more stories like this by subscribing today.

For young footballer Avah Thiele, the sky is the limit.

The Murray Bridge midfielder has just finished a dominant first season with Mount Barker in the Hills Football League, captaining her under-14s side to a grand final and being named among the competition’s best and fairest players in her grade.

She has performed well when given a chance to play up in the under-17s, usually in a back pocket; and has trained with girls from around the state at a West Adelaide Football Club centre of excellence.

She previously served as the first female captain in the history of the Jervois Football Club, where even some of the younger boys looked to her as a role model.

Being drafted into the AFLW, the national women’s competition, is her dream.

“I don’t care what club I play for, just to be in the league (is my end goal),” she said.

Avah is one of a number of Murraylands footballers playing in women’s leagues elsewhere, alongside the likes of Mount Barker’s Charlie Ireland and Amiah Kartinyeri; Nairne’s Anna Cole; Onkaparinga’s Helayna and Alex White and Tilly-Rose Gordon; and Tanunda’s Charlie Deer and Ruby Jarrad.

A handful of local players have found success at the highest levels, too.

Peake’s Abbie Ballard played 28 matches with Adelaide in the AFLW, her sister Ruby played in the SANFLW with West Adelaide, and Murray Bridge-based paramedic Sophie Li – originally from the city – won a premiership with the Crows in 2019.

But getting there is a hard journey for girls and their families.

Avah has training and competition six days a week between her football, netball and pedal prix commitments, each of which is in a different town.

One of the reasons for the heavy travel schedule: almost a decade after women’s football burst into the mainstream public consciousness, there is still no women’s competition in the Murraylands.

Why hasn’t women’s footy caught on in our region?

Under statewide rules for community football in South Australia, only girls under the age of 14 are allowed to play in mixed-gender competitions.

Starting in the year they turn 14, girls must play in female-only competitions.

There are at least 10 such competitions in South Australia, including affiliates of most of the serious leagues: the SANFL, Hills, Great Southern, Southern, Riverland, and Barossa Light and Gawler.

But the River Murray league has never had a women’s competition.

The region’s only women’s footy club, the Murraylands Swans, had a challenging existence right from its establishment in 2018, struggling to find a permanent home and playing entire seasons away in the Hills before finally disbanding in 2023.

SANFL game development coordinator Nick Dillon said there remained a need to grow the game at a junior level before aiming for a senior club competition.

About 30 girls had attended a clinic at Mannum this Tuesday, and a junior program run by the RMFL’s clubs a couple of years ago had been “really well received”.

But there was still a way to go.

“We’re still trying to build a base so we can grow the game from the bottom up,” he said.

“Rather than having the clubs run a competition (right away), if we can take the burden off them and build a strong group of players, we can say ‘there’s a pathway’ – then we can have a women’s competition.”

The problem of building a critical mass of players was not unique to the River Murray, he said.

Every region had its own challenges.

One question was how to handle the close-knit relationship between the RMFL and River Murray Netball Association, whose clubs all compete in both competitions.

“We’ve got to be able to work with netball,” Mr Dillon said.

“The last thing you want to do is take girls away from netball.

“But we hope other girls who might not be playing might like to try (football).”

Avah’s mum, Jess McKeown, wondered if it was easier for women’s football to take off in regions like the Adelaide Hills, where football and netball competitions weren’t connected.

Existing clubs and sports already had enough trouble recruiting volunteers, too, without one more being added to the mix.

For now, Mr Dillon invited girls born from 2014-21 to head out to Mannum Football Club over the next three Tuesday nights and give footy a go.

Each participant will get a modified Auskick or Superkick pack, which typically includes your own footy and some team goodies.

The cost of participation is $55, which can be reduced with an SA sports voucher.

Auskick sessions, for girls born from 2019-21, will be held at 4.15pm; and Superkick sessions, for girls born from 2014-18, at 5.15pm.

Support women’s footy, young star says

Still, women’s footy was well worth supporting, Avah said.

It had a better vibe than men’s footy, she reckoned – the atmosphere was supportive, inclusive and welcoming, friends were easy to make and “everyone gets around you”.

The disparity in talent between teams, or between girls who played shoulder to shoulder, actually brought everyone together.

She would love to see a women’s club or competition in the Murraylands someday.

She hoped everyone would get out and volunteer or watch.

“If I was in the AFLW, I’d come out here every chance I could get (to) run clinics and one-on-one sessions so I could get more girls involved, because right now there’s not much girls playing,” she said.

“I just really want to emphasise (the importance of) everyone staying at the footy and watching others and supporting them – that’s what’s really important.

“Remember where you came from.”

• Register to come and try footy: For girls’ Auskick, visit www.playhq.com; for girls’ Superkick, visit www.playhq.com.
• More information: Contact Jade Eades on 0409 733 108 or at jadeeades@icloud.com.