Inundated by "wannabe sponsors" for Australian Football League side Collingwood's new female football team, Magpies CEO Gary Pert has termed the AFL's contentious pay proposal, which will see most women receive A$5,000 ($3,780) for playing in year one, "a long way from ideal," according to Samantha Lane of THE AGE. Upon landing a second major sponsor for the club's women's outfit -- insurance company CGU signed for three years but is "looking for a longer term commitment" -- Pert's "candid take on pay highlights an emerging contradiction." Collingwood is not the only AFL club saying "sponsors are clamouring for a commercial slice of the female league," which launches as an eight-week, eight-team competition in February and which Pert considers a "potential juggernaut." According to clubs, businesses that have never shown interest in associating with men's AFL "are coming forward to be involved with the women's game." Pert said, "I think it's very realistic that some of our current major sponsors would be spending as much, if not more, in the women's [Collingwood AFL and netball] teams as they are in the men's in future." He added, "We literally have more sponsors than we can take on board, so help us find a way to do it because the more money in the competition the more we can say, 'That justifies the girls getting paid more money.' And that absolutely has to be a priority. One, it's not fair; two it will irritate not only the players but the supporters -- we all want to see them paid well -- and the most critical thing on this is that you'll lose the young athletes to netball and other sports where they will get rewarded at a much higher level" (THE AGE, 10/11).
