THE Geelong Region Girls’ Junior competition is set to expand for the third successive year with a new U14 league to be introduced next year, while this year’s U15 division will be rebadged into a new U16 competition in 2018.

PHOTO: A file photo of Surfside Waves girls having fun after a MiniRoos game. Surfside Waves is one of the local clubs with a huge female participation rate (Photo courtesy of Surfside Waves SC)

A Draft Competitions’ structure for 2018 was last week released by Football Federation Victoria’s Competitions’ Department and is based on the team entries for 2017 as well as the projected team entries for next year.

With no fewer than 13 standalone U11 Girls’ teams taking part in the two MiniRoos Hubs this year, next year’s U12 division will likely swell to double the number of teams from this year’s total of six teams which took part in the inaugural U12 Girls’ league.

This expansion to three Junior Girls’ divisions in 2018 will effectively provide a systematised pathway from Mini-Roos right up to senior football for females locally for the first time ever!

In addition to the growth of the Junior Girls’ competitions, the Women’s Division 1 league will next year field a full complement of 10 teams for the first time since 2015, when there was only a single division format at Senior Women’s level.

Last year’s Division 2 league, which numbered just seven teams, is likely to grow to at least 10 teams and possibly more with early indications suggesting several new clubs will be entering the local Women’s competition.

The signs are promising that Geelong Rangers, FC Leopold, Corio and new club Armstrong United FC are all looking likely to field a Senior Women’s team for the first time ever, while North Geelong Warriors are confident of re-entering a Women’s team after not fielding a side in 2017.

Officials from existing Div 1 powerhouses, Drysdale and Deakin Ducks, are also secretly confident that both those clubs would field an additional Women’s team in the Division 2 competition next season.

With the upcoming Matildas v China full international at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday November 26, female football is expected to receive a massive publicity boost like never before in the Geelong region, which augurs well for sustained growth of the sport in the immediate future.