Eliza Reilly: Decision to scrap WAFLW reserves well intentioned but poorly timed amid female footy explosion

Pitting WAFLW clubs against the West Australian Football Commission makes for good reading. But not even a thesis can comprehensively divulge the depth of discussion, disagreement and debate wrapped up in this latest row. To anyone who’s missed the raging WAFLW war gripping the female football community this week, the crux of the issue is this. On Thursday night last week, WAFLW clubs were told a decision had been made to scrap the reserves competition. Chaos ensued. Opinions have been divided and barbs have been traded, but ultimately, the decision is yet to be ratified by the WAFLW board, giving clubs hope and time to fight to the recommendation before it goes to a vote. So polarising is the issue that even within the four walls of clubs you can find differing opinions. MORE WAFLW NEWS: Usually when it comes to elite sport, I would be far from well placed to comment. But in the past year, I’ve had a foot in both camps. Hopeful yet very optimistic, I started training with Claremont’s WAFLW team late last year and into 2021. Professional was my first and lasting impression. The warm-up was extensive, skills were pinpoint, the entire training session was planned down to the minute with different blocks intent on honing different skills, and just when you thought you’d done enough running, you’d be sent out into the middle for a dreaded conditioning block. I didn’t quite manage to escape pre-season running when I trudged back to the Perth Football League but I quickly concluded there was a reason WAFLW is considered semi-professional and amateur football is not. For the sake of being welcomed back next season, amateur football is definitely on the rise. Kicking off with 16 teams in 2018, the competition has now grown to 52 this season, including nine A-Grade sides. The standard is quickly rising. One person even mentioned to me recently they’d rather watch an A-Grade game than a WAFLW reserves match which gave my unskilled ego a welcome boost. But girls who want to pursue high-level football do so for a reason. They want to put themselves through two-kilometre time trials, strength programs, and 50-metre sprints at 30 second intervals. Most amateurs don’t share that same desire because they want to play football for fun, not aim for AFLW. Mix those two camps together and you’re met with the same sort of flavourful yet frightening cocktail the bartender hands you after slurring ‘surprise me.’ It’s a tough decision to make and one that was ultimately made with the best interests of female football at heart. But with participation numbers skyrocketing and the standard consistently improving, I fear that the issues the proposed hiatus intends to solve should be left to iron themselves out rather than forcibly corrected. As it stands, the top tier of talent is elite, the next isn’t too far behind and while there’s a gap to the next calibre, the incoming generation will quickly fill it. Some clubs anticipate around 15 Rogers Cup players to make the jump into senior programs next year and even more the year after. . Some will be talented enough to push for league selection but others will need more time – and possibly a new home. The impetuous should be on clubs to pour time and effort into their reserves program if they wish to reap the benefits and if they don’t got it right, provide a framework that can help them improve. Or see if clubs are willing to independently decide to do away with their reserves side until the depth of talent exists to support it once more. Emotion is a powerful thing and the outpouring of it should tell you the scale of people impacted by this pending decision. And it’s not just one-sided. Don’t forget those who vehemently believe it’s the right decision for right now and are committed to reinstating the league once talent pathways are stronger. Ultimately, I completely understand and accept how this decision was reached and the wrongs those with the best interest of female football at heart were trying to right. Albeit for a few who successfully make the transition, the reserves competition as a pathway isn’t strong enough and it’s stopping us from reaching the same exceptional standard as the VFLW. I agree the talent pool isn’t currently strong enough to support two senior WAFLW competitions. But it will be pretty soon. Fundamentally, the decision and justification is probably right - otherwise the football operations team wouldn’t have reached it. The delivery is where they faltered, clubs feeling as though there was no transparency or consultation which would’ve made the decision easier to stomach. But ultimately the timing, at the base of a female football revolution, is the wrong time to be making a decision of this magnitude. It could very well prove easier to remove something than revive it in two to three years time. If you’re building Rome, would you tear down a wall and hope you can rebuild it stronger? Or would you trust the accepted processes and pathway you’ve followed to reach this point and have confidence in that pillar to weather the test of time?