Local women's footy team embraces online media

Local women’s footy team embraces online media

By Rosemary Dryley s1727923

On the 25^th of August 2012, the Premier Grand Final between Darebin & Diamond Creek at Box Hill Oval was watched for the first time, by local and international supporters via the Victorian Women’s Football League’s (VWFL) live stream. 

The live stream of the Grand Final game was originally tested at a previous game on Ustream before they made the move to YouTube. 

Jess Smith, the League’s Operations Manager, says the league introduced the live streaming coverage as they wanted to “help promote Women’s football to a wider audience and for those who may not be able to make it to the games. It’s great getting the game out there to those who may not have seen women at the top level of AFL.” 

Smith said she is proud of the positive support and critical feedback from viewers, “Everyone was very positive about live streaming and in particular the addition of commentary to DVDs/Live stream.”

Commentary for the game between the Darebin Falcons and Diamond Creek ‘the Creekers’ included Daryl & Benny from Channel 31's popular Local Footy Show.

Smith said the change to YouTube was well received by viewers, and said their major annoyance with the coverage on Ustream were the ads. “Ustream had ads that cost money to remove…Ustream charges per viewer hour and we had no idea how many would tune in so we did not want to risk the cost. 

Also, Sportingpulse have an agreement with YouTube so that we can stream for free. YouTube also allows for the footage to be recorded and uploaded,” Smith said. 

The live stream of the Premier Grand Final was pulled together very quickly, despite a few technical difficulties with the internet connection at Box Hill. 

“It was pulled together very quickly. We had some sound issues in the reserves and some technical issues with the internet connection at Box Hill……We always look to improve.” Smith said.

For the first time in 9 years, the undefeated Falcons were defeated by the Creekers. They followed up by taking the premiership which was ‘pretty remarkable.” Smith said. 

The North and South Grand Finals had a total of 669 viewers, Reserves 332 and Premier 302. 

Many industries have slowly made the transition into online media, and the VWFL have embraced it, specifically live streaming, which has gained support from the local community and those overseas.