Another AFLW season has drawn to a close for the team at Women’s Australian Rules Football Radio (WARF Radio).
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the creation of WARF Radio, which has broadcast or co-produced a remarkable 429 games of women’s footy, along with more than 200 episodes of the former Women’s Australian Football Podcast.
What started out in 2014 as a two-man online broadcast has now grown to a team of 41 volunteers, broadcasting AFLW games across five different states, from Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns to North Hobart Oval.
At the conclusion of the Week 10 game between Port Adelaide and the Giants, WARF Radio had covered 55 of a possible 99 matches this regular AFLW season.
All this was done from the actual grounds, with no studio calls.
Not a bad effort for a ‘complimentary broadcaster.’
WARF Radio says one of the biggest challenges it faced was the condensed AFLW fixture, introduced this year.
Whilst the physical and mental impact this had on players was well reported, what we didn’t hear about was the strain it put on WARF Radio’s resources.
“On a number of occasions, some of our volunteer commentators and/or producers would back up three or four nights in a row, including after doing a shift at their normal place of work.”
“Beyond that fatigue factor, it also severely limited the amount of research that could be done prior to each game; the time frame to arrange interviews for our pre-game shows; and the chance to fix any technical problems – the latter resulting in us abandoning the boundary rider role.”
“Despite that, as since 2014, our commitment to the women’s game did not waver.”
WARF Radio proudly reports that the number of games it covered this regular season was double that of any other broadcaster, the next nearest being the ABC.
“As much as we pat ourselves on the back for what we have achieved, we also have to lift our game in an area (where) we have critically slipped – that being giving opportunities to women to enter the Australian football media space, albeit on a volunteer basis.”
WARF Radio says the past ten years – and this season in particular – have not been easy.
“As a brutal example, back in December last year, one of our volunteers had their home broken into while they were away with (amongst other things) our broadcast kits worth a few thousand dollars being stolen.”
“It financially puts us on the back foot to begin this season, with replacement equipment needing to be purchased, along with other gear to be upgraded. It needs to be pointed out that we are not a commercial operation. We have no sponsors or grants, and anything like this (including flying commentators interstate) comes out of the pockets of our volunteers.”
Those who went to air on WARF Radio this AFLW season were:
Victorian based: Brent Sternberg, Sarah Perkins, Ollie Walker-Peel, Katie Lambeski, Toby Hansen, Alyce Collett, Neil Butler, Alyce Tzotzis, Dan Lonergan, Skye Burgess, Damian Watson, Frankie Hocking, Darren Parkin, Nicole Graves, Alex Docherty, Brad Sinclair, Daniel Hill, Callum O’Connor, Cheyne Webster, Michael King, Liam Vertigan, Brendan Rhodes, Tara Murray, Paul Sebastiani and Peter Holden.
South Australian based: Chris Yeend, Daniel Viles, Ashleigh Williamson, Kane Browning, Ross Clayfield and Tyson Lane.
New South Wales based: Kristy Williams and Lisa Roper.
Tasmanian based: Beau Downham.