Women on Football Boards

By Claire Braund
June 2009

Top-flight retail property manager, Kate Grieve, is the first female elected to the board of the Fremantle Football Club in its 15-year history. She ran a savvy campaign in fan club chat rooms and across the club networks to secure 51 per cent of the vote and defeat two male incumbents in November 2008.

Kate is in her late thirties and regarded as a leader in her industry. She manages the large Westfield Carousel complex in Perth and sits on the retail management sub committee of the Property Council of Australia. She has recently taken maternity leave to have her first child. Click here to read about Kate's campaign.

Kate joins 11 other women who sit on the boards of the 16 Australian Football League Clubs across Australia. These dozen women occupy 8.7 per cent of the 138 board seats available. Click here to find out where the women are? (pdf).

Two clubs, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs, have more than one woman on their board. Essendon director, Beverly Knight, was the first female AFL club board member (1993) and is the longest serving director on that board.

While the female representation at director level is still low, it is clear from the AFL websites and general communication that they are working to include women in the game. There is a strong AFL Women’s Round supported by the AFL Commission and state bodies with 78,224 female players.

AFL community development manager Dean Warren has publicly stated that the AFL is committed to carving a path for women in Australian football and was focused on women in leadership positions in 2009. At the launch of the 2009 Women’s National Championships in Perth early in June, Warren said; "The involvement of women and girls in Australian football is critical to the overall growth and development of our game."

Statistics from the Women in Football Report 2009 show that 40% of AFL and club members are female and the game is widely watched and played by women. Adelaide is the only Club where the percentage of female members (57) exceeds the percentage of male members (43). It is one of the few clubs without a woman on its board.

At the governing level, former IAG Group Executive and professional director, Sam Mostyn, was the first woman appointed to the nine-member AFL Commission (2005), while a second woman, Family Court Judge, Linda Dessau, was appointed in 2007. Jill Lindsay is the AFL's football operations officer and next month, Channel 10's Kelli Underwood will become the first woman to call a football game on national television.

All this compares very favourably with the National Rugby League, which has just four female directors on its 14 member-owned clubs. From a total of 110 available board positions this represents just 3.6 per cent. This is further reduced if you take into account the two privately owned clubs (Warriors and Titans) who do not have women on their boards.

The seven-member National Rugby League Board has one woman, Katie Page, an appointment by half-owner News Ltd, which appoints two other directors. The other owner of the NRL, the Australian Rugby League, appoints three directors and CEO, David Gallop also sits on the board.  The ARL has never had a woman on its board and News Corporation has one from 17 directors.

With recent controversies over poor player behaviour, the NRL has called for clubs to provide detailed summaries of their corporate governance procedures and actively promote women onto boards. Chief Executive, David Gallop, has publicly stated that: "The board is strongly of the view that there are a large number of women in corporate life who could add real value to rugby league clubs at a board level as well as in administrative roles.

"It is important going forward that the make-up of boards in some way reflects the fact that almost half the game's fans are women."

In a similar trend to the AFL, the number of female NRL fans is assessed at around 41 per cent of the total fan base (Repucom, 2008). There is an Australian Women’s Rugby League, formed in 1993 by Ian Davies who coached the local North Sydney women’s team. This is affiliated with the Australian Rugby League.

AFL Quick Stats

  • 40% of AFL and club members are female
  • 41% of game day attendees are female
  • 43% of television audience are female
  • 35% of volunteers within local clubs are female
  • 78,224 females are now playing Australian Football
  • 30,524 girls are participating in Auskick
  • 18,986 females are playing in a dedicated female competition

In addition there are 1,497 accredited female coaches and 700+ female umpires across Australia. A female umpire exchange programs and a Female Umpiring Academy were established in 2008.

Profiles of female directors of AFL Clubs

Freemantle

Kate Grieve
Kate Grieve has over 15 years experience in retail property management and is considered to be a leader in the industry. She is Centre Manager - Westfield Carousel and sits on the retail management sub committee of the Property Council of Australia.

In November 2008 Kate was elected to the board of the Fremantle Football Club, the first female director of the club in its 15-year history. Her election followed an online voting process by eligible club members that ran for approximately four weeks.

She has her eyes fixed on the big picture as it applies to a football club – the responsible, results driven management of a consumer business with a variety of external influences. Kate is able to put aside the emotion of the game and make practical observations regarding the performance of the club. These qualities equip Kate well for an administrative role within the sport.

Hawthorn

Janine Allis
Janine became the first female director of Hawthorn Football Club after an invitation to join the board in February 2006. Janine is the founder and CEO of the internationally successful Boost Juice chain. Her flagship juice bar opened in Adelaide in 2000. Janine has a wealth of experiencing in building and maintaining strong business brands.

Melbourne

Karen Hayes
Karen Hayes’ has vast general management and strategic consulting experience in Australasia, Canada, the United States and many European countries, primarily in the financial services and information technology industries. She is the Director Corporate Engagement and Human Capital with UXC Limited, a $700million ASX300 company that provides a market-leading portfolio of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) products and services for medium and large entities in the private and public sectors across Australia and New Zealand.

Karen is a past finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards and  has sat on the Board of  the Breast Cancer Network Australia since its establishment in 1998.

Brisbane Lions

Linda Nash
Linda Nash is a senior commerce and finance executive who became the first woman to hold a position on the Brisbane Lions Board in October 2002.  Linda filled a casual vacancy before being elected to the Lions Board with an overwhelming endorsement by the members in February 2003.  She has since been re-elected in December 2004 and December 2006.

Linda started her business career with the ANZ Bank in Brisbane and enjoyed a stint in Sydney with the Bank of Tokyo. She then spent a number of years with Brisbane-based merchant bank Graham & Company Ltd establishing their secondary mortgage market operations.  Since 1990 Linda has held various positions with Queensland Treasury and the Queensland Treasury Corporation, and is now a senior member of QTC's Major Projects Team.  She holds a Master of Commerce (Finance) Degree and also a Bachelor of Economics.

Collingwood

Sally Capp
Sally Capp has served on the Board since January 2004 and is the first female director in the history of the Collingwood Football Club.

Sally started her working life as a solicitor in commercial law and practiced for ten years, the last four of which were in Perth where she specialised in mergers and acquisitions.  In 2000, Sally established and then floated an ASX-listed investment bank. In January 2004, Sally returned to Melbourne and became a Senior Executive at ANZ Bank working on ANZ Group issues and then as a corporate banker.

Sally is on the University Of Melbourne Faculty Of Economics and Commerce Advisory Board, the Centre for Social Impact, the National Australia Day Council and the Victorian Australia Day Committee. Sally is also a Trustee of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the People and Parks Foundation.

Richmond

Peggy Haines
Peggy Haines joined the board on 12 November 2005 and is a member of the Centenary and Fundraising Sub-Committees. She is a partner at Freehills.

Sydney Swans

Lynn Ralph
Lynn has worked in the private sector (15 years in funds management, including 4 years as CEO of the Investment and Financial Services Association), the not-for-profit sector (6 years as General Manager of Sydney Dance Company) and the public sector (as Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securities Commission 1993–97). In 2002, she founded Cameron Ralph P/L (along with Alan Cameron), a firm which assists boards to improve their performance.

Lynn lectures and writes regularly on corporate governance. She is currently a Director of Babcock & Brown Direct Investment Fund, the Sydney Swans, and The Sydney Institute.  She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, a member of the St James Ethics Centre, and the Rotary Club of Sydney.

Lynn has previously been Chairman of the AMP Foundation, Chairman of the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust, and a Director of NRMA Limited, NRMA Insurance Limited, the Financial Industry Complaints Service, Chunky Move Ltd, the Australian Choreographic Ensemble, and AFL (NSW/ACT) Commission. \

Western Bulldogs

Dr Susan Alberti AO Hon LLD
Appointed 16 December 2004

Gaye Hamilton
Appointed 19 December 2005

Essendon

Jo-Anne Albert
Jo-Anne holds a Bachelor of Business degree and post-graduate qualifications in the financial services sector. She has successfully run a financial advisory practice and is an experienced company director both in corporate and community roles.

Beverley Knight
Beverly Knight was the first female AFL board member and first in Essendon's history. In 2003, she became the first female Life Member of the Essendon Football Club and is the longest serving board member. She is a member of the Football Club Audit Committee, Vice President of the Melton Country Club, member of the Essendon Women's Network and a director of AFL SportsReady (1995 - 2007).

Beverley has had a successful career in hospitality, property and the arts and is currently the director of Alcaston Gallery Melbourne, Australia's leading gallery in exhibiting indigenous art. Beverly is known for her commitment and support of indigenous families from socially isolated communities all over Australia, but in particular, young aboriginal footballers.

West Coast Eagles

The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Julie Bishop was elected to the House of Representatives as Member for Curtin in Western Australia in 1998 and re-elected in the 2001 and 2004 elections.

On 27 January 2006 she was appointed to the Cabinet, as Minister for Education, Science and Training and as the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues. Previously she was Minister for Ageing, first appointed 7 October 2003 and reappointed on 26 October 2004.

Prior to entering Parliament, Ms Bishop practised as a commercial litigation lawyer for 20 years and was Managing Partner of national law firm Clayton Utz in Western Australia.

She held a number of positions including as Chair of the Western Australia Town Planning Appeals Tribunal; a member of Murdoch University Senate; the board of the Anglican Schools Commission and a director of SBS (TV and Radio) Corporation.

AFL Commission

Sam Mostyn
Sam Mostyn lives in Sydney and was appointed to the AFL after a career spanning the private, public and community sector, including as an adviser to former Prime Minister Paul Keating. Mostyn has worked in a variety of industries including legal affairs, telecommunications, financial services, sport, science and the arts. Between 2002 and 2007 Sam held the position of Group Executive, Culture & Reputation at Insurance Australia Group.

Mostyn serves on the boards of Reconciliation Australia, the Australian Museum, the Sydney Theatre Company, Australian Volunteers International and the NSW Foundation for Public Education. She is a member of both the NSW and QLD Premiers' Climate Change Councils and chairs the Stakeholder Council of the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, and is a member of the Chief of Defence Force's Women’s Reference Panel.

In 2008 Mostyn also took up the position of Chair of AFL Sportsready, the industry's group training company and was appointed by the Federal Minister for Sport to the Expert Panel on the Review of Sport in Australia.

Linda Dessau
Linda Dessau is a justice in the Family Court of Australia. She has broad experience in the law, as a barrister and prosecutor before working as a magistrate and judge.

Linda is President and founder of the Essendon Women’s Network which now has more than 700 members and is active in supporting women in AFL.

Linda has served as Vice-President of Wesley College and is a patron of One Umbrella, a director on the Epilepsy Foundation and a Churchill Fellow.