After a public saga lasting more than a year, the women’s football team formerly known as the Kyneton Women’s Football Club has been green-lit to play in the Central Victorian Football League (CVFL) under a new name, the Wedge-Tailed Eagles Football Club. This decision marks a significant moment for the group of more than 30 Victorian women who defected from the Kyneton Football Netball Club in late 2024, citing a “horrible, volatile environment” and leaving them in limbo for the 2025 season.
The announcement comes as women and girls are playing Australian rules football in record numbers. However, alongside this growth are numerous stories of players dropping out and being turned away from the game due to negative experiences at local clubs. This broader issue of inequity and exclusion in sports was brought to light when Kyneton’s story first reached the media.
A National Conversation on Inclusion
Wedge-Tailed Eagles club president Natalie Korinfsky revealed that after their story became public, they received messages from players, coaches, and volunteers across the country sharing similar experiences. “We were contacted by people from clubs across the country — women, men, and gender-diverse people — sharing similar stories of exclusion, inequity, and powerlessness,” Korinfsky stated.
“It felt as though the first article had lifted the lid on something that had existed for a long time but was rarely spoken about openly,” Korinfsky said.
This development follows the release of a new report from Federation University and Victoria University, which conducted interviews with Australian women and girls. The report found that while participation rates for women and girls in traditionally male-dominated sports like football and cricket are increasing, retention rates remain much lower than those for men and boys.
Challenges of Retention and Resources
According to Rochelle Eime, author of the report and professor of sport science at Federation University, the disparity in experiences is a significant issue. “These clubs were traditionally male-only clubs. They were set up by males for males, and there’s some of the older generations who don’t maybe accept that they’re a space and a place and environment for women and girls [now],” Eime explained.
In the Change Our Game State of Play survey, more than a quarter (28 percent) of women who played community sport said they had considered leaving their club due to inequitable treatment.
The report, released in July 2023, further revealed that more than half of the 670 Victorians canvassed reported gendered discrimination in community sport, with 55 percent experiencing or witnessing sexist language and jokes.
Eime noted that while some clubs have made strides in creating inclusive environments, others still struggle with outdated practices. “Sometimes people make decisions just based on their experience and the way it’s always been done, and it’s not necessarily menacing,” she said, highlighting the need for practical changes like adequate facilities for women.
The Fight for Fairness
A common problem across clubs is the uneven allocation of resources, where women’s teams often receive less access to training facilities. A local player from Melbourne, who wished to remain anonymous, shared her experiences of inequity. “When we both trained on the same night, the men got three quarters of the oval and the women got the remaining quarter,” she recounted.
Meanwhile, Sophie Ulcoq, a player at North Brunswick Football Club, expressed frustration with the lack of support from leagues when issues arise. “I wouldn’t even know where to go if I needed to talk to someone about issues,” she said, pointing to problems like late fixture releases and inequitable resourcing.
Building a Better Future
Korinfsky emphasized that the biggest barrier to women’s sport is not participation but governance. “Women and girls are already showing up in record numbers. The barrier is governance; the policies, structures, and cultural assumptions that have not evolved at the same pace as the game itself,” she stated.
“When we turn up to play sport in our communities, we deserve to know the environment is safe, respectful, and equitable. That is not a big demand. It is a basic right,” Korinfsky asserted.
The Kyneton women’s story is emblematic of a larger struggle for equality in sports. “It was about whether women and gender-diverse people truly have the same freedom to build, shape, and control their sporting futures as those who came before them,” Korinfsky concluded.
As the Wedge-Tailed Eagles prepare for their inaugural season in the CVFL, their journey serves as a reminder of the ongoing efforts needed to ensure community sport is genuinely inclusive and equitable for all.
