Dreams will be realised and memories made for two special groups of young women this evening, with the first-ever Central Victorian FL Under 14 Girls Grand Final at night, under lights at the Swan Hill Recreation Reserve.
Tyntynder, who have been undefeated through the five home-and-away games, will fight it out against Birchip-Watchem – after the Bulls secured their place in the decider last Friday night when they beat Swan Hill by 44-points.
The young Doggies will go in as favourites to take home the inaugural Grand Final, after defeating Birchip-Watchem back in round three of the competition. Despite having nine more scoring shots, Tyntynder secured the victory by just 14 points in a highly competitive game of football – with another absorbing contest expected tonight, according to AFL Victoria Participation Co-Ordinator David Alderuccio, who spoke with The Guardian in the lead-up to the big game.
“It’s going to be a massive occasion – the first night Grand Final, under lights at our region’s premier venue and with two teams showcasing what has become a fantastic concept and opportunity for our region’s young women to be involved in a sporting pursuit that until now hasn’t been available to them,” Alderuccio said.
“We’d love to see as many people as possible down there tonight supporting female football, having a look and creating some atmosphere, because the competition has grown not only in terms of participants, but also with more and more exposure and people watching it – which is great for not only our region but women’s football in general.”
The night will kick off at 5.30pm, with Sea Lake-Nandaly against Warra Blues, while Swan Hill will meet Woorinen with both games to be played as curtain raisers to the Grand Final on the Showgrounds.
The Grand Final will then take place from 6.50pm, with presentations for best on ground medals and encouragement awards for all six teams to follow the alcohol-free event.
While tonight will see the culmination of a lot of hard work, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on what has been an extraordinary first season according to Alderuccio – with the girls proving women’s football is not only here to stay, but destined for bigger things to come.
“To be honest, it’s a bit overwhelming the success of this first season – never in our wildest dreams did we think it would go as well as it has,” Alderuccio said.
“There’s obviously been some areas we can improve on, as with all things, but probably the biggest aspect that has pleased me the most has been the buy-in of all the clubs.”
“The ones that have had the opportunity to host matches have taken their own initiative in terms of embracing and celebrating it and that’s been done in a number of different ways – Tyntynder have hosted a night game, Swan Hill are doing the same with the Grand Final, Birchip-Watchem and Sea Lake-Nandaly have embraced having new people come to their clubs from the Central Murray and then Woorinen and Kerang had massive celebrations of women’s football.”
“The important thing is now we’ve set the benchmark, we need to keep working on it and we need to keep improving it – there’ll come a time when we will need to expand it, but for now we just want to keep growing it and keep providing girls with opportunities to play footy.”
And while the competition will reach its conclusion tonight, it won’t be the last time these young women get the opportunity to kick the Sherrin around this year, with plans in the works to involve some AFLW workshops and specialised coaching later in the season.
“We’re hoping to run some sessions with some AFLW coaches and or players and really work with the girls and help with their development – it’s important to try and engage with the girls to get involved in footy, especially off the back of the AFLW season which will kick off in August,” Alderuccio said.
CENTRAL VICTORIA FL – GIRLS UNDER 14 COMPETITION
ROUND 5 RESULTS
SEA LAKE-NANDALY 6.4.40
WARRA BLUES 0.0.0
GOALS – SEA LAKE-NANDALY – Dayna McKenzie 8, Prue O’Sullivan 5, Aurora Day 3, Maggie O’Connor 2, Phoebe Bailey, Braidy Ellis, Remi Pickering 1.
WARRA BLUES – N/A
BEST – SEA LAKE-NANDALY – Dayna McKenzie, Tyler Arnett, Prue OSullivan, Phoebe Bailey, Maggie O’Connor
WARRA BLUES – Reagan Good, Isabella Wise, Makenna Thompson, Keira Wise, Natalie Spark
SWAN HILL 1.2.8
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM 7.10.52
GOALS – SWAN HILL – Lana Brooks 1.
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM – Mineva Cotton 2, Kiarah Brown, Eva Coffey, Sassia Coffey 1.
BEST – SWAN HILL – Not Supplied
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM – Eva Coffey, Lily Humphreys, Sassia Coffey, Sienna Richmond, Kiarah Browne
TYNTYNDER 10.1.61
WOORINEN 1.0.6
GOALS – TYNTYNDER – Lauren Clarke 6, Charli Woodward 2, Charli Conway, Violet Corrie, Hollie Everett, Ella Threadgold 1.
WOORINEN – Milla Stewart 1.
BEST – TYNTYNDER – Lauren Clarke, Hollie Everett, Ruby Butler, Ella Threadgold, Charli Woodward, Charli Conway
WOORINEN – Milla Stewart, Morrissey Murphy, Ellah Dunn, Matilda Patterson, Lillie Hare, Madison McLaughlin
CENTRAL VICTORIA FL – GIRLS UNDER 14 COMPETITION
GRAND FINAL FIXTURE – Friday, June 3Venue – SWAN HILL RECREATION RESERVE (Night)
Sea Lake-Nandaly v Warra Blues @ 5.30pm
Swan Hill v Woorinen @ 5.30pm
Tyntynder v Birchip-Watchem @ 6.50pm
