Australian Football League side Richmond CEO Brendon Gale warned the AFL it would be denying the game "an enormous opportunity" by blocking the club from entering the AFL Women's competition, according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. Gale said that he feared that Richmond "could be a victim" of its "large supporter base" and denied a role in the forthcoming AFLW expansion, "with the AFL favouring smaller clubs bidding in a bid to help increase their audiences." Gale added, "I'm hearing the AFLW could be used as a means to help clubs increase their markets. That might be a case against us and if so that is incredibly unfair." Richmond and seven other clubs are expected to learn in grand final week whether they will be granted AFLW licenses "after a series of administrative and commission hold-ups." Richmond's case for expansion "was not lost" on AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan last Friday as 95,000 football fans "crammed" the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch Richmond win its first final in 16 years after the club recorded the highest home-and-away attendances of the 18 clubs in '17. Gale: "Does our large supporter base help or hinder our club? Whether some clubs are being favored because they've struggled to previously garnish support was never a part of the evaluation" (THE AGE, 9/14).
