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To mark the launch of 2021 AFLW season, the AFL has launched a promotional campaign video, featuring comments from key figures from the AFL and star players from the AFLW.

Highlighting the expected impact of the season, the video sees AFL Head of Women’s Football, Nicole Livingstone, state “we are excited that footy (is) back, particularly this year after COVID-19 disrupted the 2020 season and left us all wanting more.

“The term unfinished business has been spoken about a lot since then, we are committed to ensuring we complete the 2021 NAB AFLW Season and see it right through to the end when we crown a new premier at our grand final.

“To do that, things might look a little different this year.

“Our priority is to protect the health and wellbeing of the community and also our players and our industry.

“We have already needed to amend our original fixture to help accommodate the various border restrictions that are in place right now.

“We’ve already announced a single ladder for this season, and we’ve introduced ticketing for the first time to assist and allow crowds in attending a COVID-safe environment.

“There may be the need to make more adjustments throughout the NAB AFLW season, and we don’t make these changes lightly and will only do so if it’s needed to protect the safe delivery of the 2021 season, and also the wider community."

AFL Chief Executive, Gillon McLachlan, went on to say “while we have travelled a considerable distance, we still have many goals we want to achieve.”

“In five years we have grown from eight teams now to 14, while more than 600,000 women and girls are playing our game around the country.

“Over the past five years, the community response to AFLW and women playing football has been incredible and one that we are very proud of.

“This weekend, we welcome our 14 teams back on the park.

“All of them are driven to find success, particularly after our 2020 season that was hit hard by the interruptions caused by COVID.

“While faced with an unprecedented community pandemic, we could not declare a premier in 2020, so the lessons learnt through the year have us ready and prepared to ensure we complete the 2021 season.

“It’s a rapidly changing and uncertain world we are still living in, nearly 12 months after we first began to confront the reality of COVID, with terms like ‘flexible’ and ‘agile’ heard too often.

“But the AFL Commission is fully committed to our AFLW teams and players, as you continue to provide both aspiration and inspiration to young girls across the country."

As part of the 2021 AFLW season, the AFL has also introduced paid ticketing for AFLW matches, with limited capacity crowds permitted into venues with COVID-safe protocols.

The AFL also announced several matches from the opening round have achieved sell-out status for ticketing.

Accompanying the AFLW season launch video, AFL Media produced a satirical campaign with a voiceover inspired by the Housekeeping Monthly’s ‘The Good Wife’s Guide’ from 1955, which detailed the way women ‘should’ act and encourages them to aspire to be good housewives and mothers.

With a series of highlights over the last five years of AFLW competition, the campaign provides a strong contrast to the voiceover, something AFL Media head of marketing and content, Julian Dunne, said was brought about by archive vision of women playing Australian Rules football in the 1940s and 1950s.

Dunne added “the campaign rallies our AFLW community, preparing them for the exciting season ahead by illustrating how far women’s sport has come over the years, as well as the incredible athleticism, power and resilience of W players.

“It’s incredible to look back at the vision of women who were pushing the boundaries over seventy years ago by playing football when you consider the ideals of the time.

“Women have been coming together through a shared love of the game for decades, and now five years on, our AFLW community is stronger than ever.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, footy brings people together, giving them a community to connect with.

“From Auskick and community footy to the elite games of AFL and AFLW, footy is part of our fabric, who we are.

“In 2021, we are dedicated to celebrating the connection between our fans and our game.

“Footy is for all of us and that is what we want to communicate through the overarching ‘This is Us’ platform’.”

The 2021 NAB AFLW Season is set to begin tonight with Carlton taking on Collingwood at Melbourne’s Ikon Park.

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