Growing interest in the Australian Football League Women's competition "may force the league to move next month's season opener between Carlton and Collingwood to a bigger venue," according to the AAP. The "traditional" AFL club rivals had been scheduled to face off "under lights" at Melbourne's 7,000-capacity Olympic Park on Feb. 3. But AFL Game Development Manager Simon Lethlean has confirmed "the league will consider moving the prime-time clash to nearby Princes Park, which should be able to hold between 17,000 and 20,000 fans." About 2,000 people turned up to watch a "barely" publicized women's practice match between Carlton and Melbourne at Princes Park on Saturday, "raising the prospect of fans being turned away from the season-opener." Lethlean said, "I think there needs to be a level of flexibility in everything with the AFLW as it starts. We're starting with a clean slate and we encourage the clubs and the players to be flexible. It’s a great problem to have. We sense that there's really strong interest in the community." Lethlean is "confident" there will not need to be further venue changes with the AFL Women's season "due to get underway in less than two weeks." Lethlean: "I don't think we think there's going to be capacity issues throughout the season. The two biggest teams in Victoria starting the competition on a Friday night with some good promotion around it is the reason why we think there might be some capacity issues first up" (AAP, 1/22)
