FFA launch hackathon for Female Football Week to improve participation and engagement


FFA are seeking solutions to increased participation by girls in football. Pic Jono Searle.
TECHNOLOGY is making it increasingly more difficult to engage kids in sport.

Sustained female participation has always been a challenge for sporting codes, but Football Federation Australia is attempting to use the digital age to its advantage.

With Female Football Week starting next Monday, FFA has teamed with Coder Factory Academy and Node Girls Australia to host a digital hackathon.

The event aims to develop digital programs or features for women’s football to improve the football participation experience for girls and their engagement with things like the W-League.

Those taking part become part of the solution and it hopes it will help young girls realise their potential.

FFA see it as a way for girls to have a taste of football through digital means.

“This event is all about empowering girls to realise their potential — and what better way to facilitate that process than through football?” said FFA’s head of community, football development and women’s football Emma Highwood.


Fan engagement with the W-League is one of the issues the hackathon will address.
Highwood said there were similarities between the event and football itself with those taking part in both needing to be able to think of their feet.


They also hoped it would encourage people to look at the sport from a different angle.

“Playing football and participating in this Hackathon share something in common: they both involve high-speed problem solving to achieve an end goal.

“Our goal for this event is to get the participants to think about football in a different way to which they probably have in the past.”

The hackathon will involve sessions of problem solving focused on new digital features or products based on current trends.

Prizes are on offer and entry is free. Men and women can apply to participate, with all working to improve how FFA delivers product to and engage with females.

Applications for the hackathon are open through the FFA website until next Thursday, March 9 and it will held from Friday, March 17 to Sunday March 19 at Coder Factory Academy in Ultimo. Applicants must be over 16.

Seconded. The Pippinu bloke continually bumps this thread after no activity for 48+ hours by posting articles or even just images vaguely related to AFLW. Check back through this thread and you'll see that they've done it like half a dozen bloody times whenever they want to draw this back into "the discussion". Isn't continually bumping an inactive thread without adding meaningful contributions a bannable offence on this forum??? Or like a bog standard rule for internet forums in general???

I wouldn't care if it was common practice across multiple broad topics, but it's most common on threads where AFL is being discussed and it's always like 2-3 users (probably the same bloke too) and this Pippinu fellow is the biggest offender. Even worse is that the AFLW season ended a week ago and it's been continually confirmed and agreed upon by multiple users that the whole point of this thread was "bollocks" (as some other user aptly put it) and there's no real point to keep this discussion alive other than shameless promotional and congratulatory articles about the AFLW, or essentially "hey I'm the better competition" back-and-forth between AFLW and the W-League.

When you are known as one who has contributed articles to 442, perhaps you too will be afforded some privileges in the future.

Someday, mate. Someday...

WAGs cross from sidelines to the forward line to take up footy

April 2, 2017 6:49pmKim Wilson

AFTER years of supporting their partners’ footy careers, Abby Gilmore and Haylea Cooney are switching from the sideline to the forward line.

The two are making their debut in women’s AFL to play for their local Caroline Springs Football Club this season.

And Gilmore, the former long-term partner of Bulldog Jake Stringer, has not ruled out a tilt at the AFLW.

“I wouldn’t say no, a girl can dream,” she said.

Cooney, the wife of retired Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney, is making it her mission to get Gilmore into shape to be drafted.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/melbourne/wags-cross-from-sidelines-to-the-forward-line-to-take-up-footy/news-story/9cd5ccba1435a24e37a2e7f7399d6011

Nice bump - about time this thread is moved into the AFL sub forum.

Ha ha ha I really don't get how a shit stirrer like Mr Football has managed to consistently bump a thread for no reason with stories about women's AFL that have nothing in the slightest to do with Australian football or even the sport in general without having it closed aha it's mental.

If he was posting the stories as new posts they would be removed yet every time the thread gets to page 2 he bumps it up with one. 

It's hilarious and now he is being emboldened, God help us all aha

MF is a douchefarmer no doubt, but what ultimately hurts is the fact Gallop and S.Lowy effectively do half his job for him...

Excellent point. Clearly more relevant there.

So now we have to have a new thread to discuss the effect of AFLW on Soccer from Grassroots to the HAL ?

The VFLW grand final is to be telecast live on 7 (in Vic), and be played at Etihad.

2nd tier women's sport on FTA, who would have thought.

If it's actually about football, sure.

This thread became more of a general AFLW thread.

AFLW was never a threat to the A league, so what else was going to be discussed?

The Age also reports that the:-
. VAFA has started its new adult female comp. with 1500 players (c. 6 weeks ago, it was reported that VAFA clubs had c.1,000 female players).
. Southern Metro Comp. has 1300 jnr. female club players, making it one of Melb.'s biggest.
. AFLW has created an explosion in female AF growth,"putting a huge strain on existing ovals and facilities".
This is causing the VAFA to approach Council to convert an underutilised 9 hole golf course into a 3rd oval, and for it to be a women's AF base- to cater for the burgeoning female football demand.
http://theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/h...elsternwick-park-boosted-20170427-gvtu2f.html

AFLW expansion: Up to eight clubs could bid for spot in 2019 competition

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/womens-afl/aflw-expansion-up-to-eight-clubs-could-bid-for-spot-in-2019-competition-20170604-gwk5ui.html

Up to eight clubs could submit bids for an AFLW licence later this month.

Of the 10 clubs who didn't field a women's team in the first season of the national league, Fairfax Media understands only Sydney and Port Adelaide have ruled themselves out of the race for a team in the expanded competition in 2019.

Time for change guys, don't you think so?

• BRISBANE are in negotiations with the Tasmanian Government to sell a home AFLW game next season. The Lions stand to reap $100,000 from the deal which would see a game shifted from Brendale to York Park in Launceston. The Tasmanian Government sees the deal with Brisbane as a way to increase interest in the women’s competition ahead of the Roos’ potential entry in 2019.

Valkerie Baynes‏ @valkerie_baynes  3m3 minutes agoMoreAFLW star to kick off boxing career this weekend:0 replies1 retweet0 likesReply  Retweet 1

Massive growth in female footy following the inaugural AFL Women's season:


https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/23/a-game-of-their-own-aflw-causing-an-amateur-football-revolution#comments

FOX FOOTY LIVE ✔@FOXFootyLiveWith #AFLW expansion happening in 2019, Women's Footy on Fox looks at Geelong and West Coast's bids for licences.https://www.foxsports.com.au/video/afl/womens-afl/aflw-bids-assessed!629777 …

That's interesting.

I had thought after its first season that the AFLW and 8 clubs were earning sponsorship dollars that weren't too far off what the A-League clubs earn.  This appears to suggest that if it wasn't happening in its first year, it certainly isn't too far off.

It isn't entirely clear how they derive their rankings (it is proprietary), however it extends to profile, recognition, marketability, social factors, etc.  It is certain that getting to number 5 in the first year comes of the back of the AFL, and its willingness to fully put its brand and clout behind the comp, something no other sport has yet done.

I think it definitely makes marketing the clubs and comp much easier next time, now that they have an actual product to point to, and metrics to discuss.

No doubt, especially since the first season was so good regarding sponsorship dollars (made at a time when no one knew how the comp was going to go).  Those sponsorship dollars can only head North.