The inaugural Under 9 girls competition in South East Queensland (SEQ) has been celebrated with a gala night of Friday night footy.
All Brisbane based teams came together at Coorparoo AFC to play their final round of fixtures and celebrate the first ever dedicated U9 girls season.
To cap off a special year, members of the Brisbane Lions AFLW Premiership team were there to check out the action and present all of the players with their very own Lions guernsey.
About 160 girls took to the park to mix it with Emily Bates, Dakota Davidson, Sophie Conway, Shannon Campbell, Bre Koenen, Nat Grider, Jess Wuetschner, Cathy Svarc and Maria Moloney from the Lions who also got involved in the games.
Lions’ mascot Auroara was also there cutting hot laps, along with the AFLW Premiership Cup.
21 teams entered the 2021 girls competition across SEQ, with plans to expand into the Sunshine Coast and other locations next year.
Head of AFL Queensland, Trisha Squires, said the competition was a huge step forward for the growth of the game.
“It’s been a fantastic season of footy for our youngest girls playing competitive footy,” she said.
“The new competition completes the female pathway and complements the progress made in the female game over recent years.
“As well as the 21 U9 girls teams in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, we also had more than 50 girls teams playing in our under 11s competition which is in its second year.
“With huge numbers like this playing, it shows how far the game as come to cater for young girls in such a short space of time.
“Since 2014 there has been significant increase in women and girls playing Aussie Rules across Queensland with 42% of all participants now female.”
Earlier in the year, the Gold Coast based teams had a gala day at Metricon Stadium as the curtain raiser to the Gold Coast SUNS vs St Kilda Round 8 Toyota AFL Premiership clash. See the story here.
