Celebrating a Decade of Women's Aussie Rules in London
- Gary Brigden
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
To celebrate 10 years of Women's AFL in London, seven teams headed off to Chiswick Rugby Club (home of the West London Wildcats) to take part in a celebratory Women's 9's tournament.
The morning session was to see the group games, with semi finals, play offs and Grand Final taking place in the afternoon.
Group A saw Wandsworth Demons, London Swans and the South East London Giants, whilst Group B consisted of the West London Wildcats, Sussex Swans, Wimbledon Hawks and the Wandsworth Demons.
The opening match saw the London Swans prove far too strong for Wandsworth as they eased to a 39-2 win to get their campaign off to a bright start and in only a three team group they already had one foot in the semi finals.
Group B opened up with pre-tournament favourites the West London Wildcats taking on the Sussex Swans with the Swans making a bright start and taking a lead into half-time, the Wildcats though came roaring back in the second half and eventually picked up a 35-26 win in a thriller In the other game the Demons overcame a much changed Wimbledon Hawks with a number of their players getting their first experience of AFL footy by 29-7 (sidenote - cracking new kit for the Hawks).
The second game in Group A saw the London Swans take on the South East London Giants, and again, inspired by the excellent Emma Lynch the Swans eased to a 53-6 win to put themselves top of the group and into the semi final as group winners.
In Group B the Wildcats took on the Demons and it was another strong performance by the Cats, who eased dominated from the start on the back of playing with the win, and were comfortable in the second half, to pick up a 35-16 win. Over on Pitch B the Sussex Swans again looked good and dominated against a valiant Hawks, recording a 42-3 win.
The final Group A game saw Wandsworth take on the Giants with the winners going through to the semi final and it was Wandsworth who came out on top, with a 45-7 win and runners up spot in the group.
Onto Group B and the Wildcats ended the group stages unbeaten courtesy of a thumping 39-2 win over the Hawks. The Sussex Swans and Demons met in the final game of the group, with the winners taking the runners up spot in the group and a place in the semi final. A tight encounter saw the Swans pick up a narrow 22-19 win, and set up an Swan-off in the semis.
So after the group stages we had the Swans (London and Sussex), the West London Wildcats and Wandsworth (not the Demons bit though) into the semi-finals.
A Hannah Scholar inspired Wildcats holding off the challenge from an excellent Wandsworth team to progress to the final courtesy of a 21-14 win. The second semi saw something of an upset as the Sussex Swans shocked Group A winners London Swans 32-10 to reach the final and setting up a re-match of the opening Group B game and a clash with the Wildcats.
Once again Sussex put in an almighty effort and came close to picking up the trophy, but the Wildcats were too strong and fully deserved their 28-14 win, but the knew they had been in a game.
An added bonus for finalists, with the medals being presented by AFLW Best and Fairest winner from 2020, and current Essendon player Madison Prespakis.
And so ended a fantastic tournament - well organised, and with some outstanding play. A great lead in tournament gearing up for Round 1 starting on 26 April 2025.
Comments