PORT ADELAIDE welcomes today’s AFL announcement that the club will enter a team into the 2023 NAB AFLW Competition, commencing in late 2022.

In an historic day for the 151 year-old club, AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan announced the club’s admission into AFLW at a media conference at AFL House in Melbourne earlier today.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said it was a truly momentous day for the club and its community.

“Great women have always been at the heart of Port Adelaide,” Mr Koch said.

“Wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters and mothers have been driving our great club forward for more than a century. Now we get to bring this incredible legacy to life on the football field through our own AFLW team.

“Our club is now complete. We have a women’s team who will proudly sit alongside our men’s program on the national stage and embrace the expectations of more than 150 years of football tradition. Today is an historic day for our club and our entire community.”

Port Adelaide director Holly Ransom, also a member of the club’s AFLW steering committee, said the club was well prepared for entry into the AFLW competition.

“Just like every other Port Adelaide team, our AFLW team will exist to win premierships. We will take 151 years of history with us into AFLW – the No. 1 guernsey for our captain; 1870 on the back of the guernsey; and an ethos of never, ever giving up.

“From a talent perspective we know there is a significant pool of talent coming through in SA, as part of the next generation of female players. Female participation in football has increased 20% year-on-year here in South Australia.

“And we are committed to fast-tracking the development of women right across our club, from the playing and coaching group to the administration. We will establish mentoring programs to ensure we are an industry leader in the promotion of gender diversity and inclusion.”

Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson thanked the Port Adelaide community for their support and reinforced that the club was well advanced with its planning.

“Since we announced last month that we were formally submitting an application to enter the AFLW, our members and supporters have been incredibly supportive, with more than 4000 registering for AFLW memberships,” said Mr Richardson.

“The re-development of Alberton Oval is underway, having secured the funding required to upgrade the player changerooms in the Fos Williams Family Stand at Alberton to provide state-of-the-art facilities for our female athletes. We expect this first phase of our development to be completed well in advance of our AFLW squad being assembled.

“In the coming weeks we’ll make some significant appointments, starting with the recruitment of our first AFLW Head of Football.

“And from a commercial perspective we are delighted to confirm that Santos will be joining our other Joint Major Partners as a major partner of our AFLW team. As a proudly Australian company, Santos have had a long-term relationship with the club through the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup and we are thrilled they will continue their journey with Port Adelaide as we enter the AFLW competition. Along with Santos we will be making further announcements of partners of our AFLW program in the coming weeks.”