SANFL Women's League
SANFL Women's League (also known as the SANFLW or the Hostplus SANFL Women's League) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in South Australia.
| Most recent season or competition: 2023 SANFL Women's League season | |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 2017 |
| Administrator | SANFL |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most recent champion(s) | Central District (1st premiership) |
| Most titles | South Adelaide North Adelaide (2 premierships) |
| TV partner(s) | Seven Network (Grand Final only) |
| Official website | www.sanfl.com.au/women |
History
The league was launched in February 2017, initially comprising four clubs from the men's South Australian National Football League (SANFL). The league now features eight teams, and acts as the second primary competition for South Australian female footballers underneath the semi-professional national AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, as well as being one of the three elite leagues in women's Australian rules football (the AFLW, SANFLW and WAFLW).
The SANFLW usually runs from February to May, meaning it partially overlapped with the AFLW season prior to AFLW Season 7, and so has been mostly played by players either not yet drafted by an AFLW club or AFLW listed players not selected for a senior premiership match.
In 2022, the SANFL Commission introduced the SANFL Women's Development League, a seven-week reserves competition providing players from the eight clubs with the opportunity to play at a level beneath the senior competition.[1]
Clubs
The first season comprised four SANFL clubs: Norwood, Glenelg, North Adelaide and West Adelaide.[2] The following year, Sturt and South Adelaide were admitted to the competition, with Woodville-West Torrens and Central District being admitted in 2019.[3]
Neither of the state's two AFL clubs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide, who field reserves teams in the SANFL, field teams in the SANFLW; Adelaide were a foundation club of the AFLW in 2017, while Port Adelaide entered the league in 2022.
| Club | Nickname | Home venue | Est. | First SANFLW season |
SANFLW seasons |
SANFLW premierships |
Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central District | Bulldogs | Elizabeth Oval | 1959 | 2019 | 5 | 1 | 2023 |
| Glenelg | Tigers | Glenelg Oval | 1920 | 2017 | 7 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Adelaide | Roosters | Prospect Oval | 1888 | 2017 | 7 | 2 | 2022 |
| Norwood | Redlegs | Norwood Oval | 1878 | 2017 | 7 | 1 | 2017 |
| South Adelaide | Panthers | Hickinbotham Oval | 1876 | 2018 | 7 | 2 | 2019 |
| Sturt | Double Blues | Unley Oval | 1901 | 2018 | 6 | — | — |
| West Adelaide | Bloods | Richmond Oval | 1892 | 2017 | 7 | — | — |
| Woodville-West Torrens | Eagles | Woodville Oval | 1991 | 2019 | 5 | — | — |
Honours
Premiers
This lists the most recent premiers. For a full list of premiers see List of SANFL Women's League premiers.
- 2023: Central District
Best and Fairest Award
This lists the most recent best and fairest winner. For a full list of winners see SANFL Women's League Best and Fairest Award.
- 2023: Piper Window (Glenelg)
References
- "SANFL to expand elite talent competitions in 2022". SANFL.com.au. 1 September 2021.
- "SANFL launches new women's league for 2017". Adelaide Now. 14 February 2017.
- "2019 Statewide Super Women's League Launch". sanfl.com.au. 1 February 2019.