Women's Australian Rules Football Radio
Upcoming Broadcasts
3
July 2022
11:00am - 2:30pm
Live on WARFRadio.com and 89.1 FM at the Ground
Essendon vs. southern saints
2022 VFL Women's Grand Final at North Port Oval
our commentators
Founder & Play-By-Play
Peter Holden
Play-by-play
Lucy Watkin
play-by-play
Julia Montesano
Play-by-play
Paul sebastiani
Match Analyst
Alex Docherty
Play-by-play
Brent sternberg
Match analyst
Lisa "Coach Kiwi" Roper
Match analyst
Katie Lambeski
Match analyst
Alyce Collett
Play-by-play
Liam Vertigan
Match analyst
toby hansen
Match analyst
allan mathews
boundary rider
lowana williams
boundary rider
jono venn
boundary rider
alyce tzotzis
Play-by-play
Sam Mills
guest commentators
Former St Kilda AFLW Coach
Peta Searle
2019 VFLW premiership coach
penny cula-reid
AFL General Manager - Competition Management
Laura Kane
GWS giants AFLW footballer
tanya hetherington
first american to play in the aflw
danielle marshall
Williamstown VFLW Captain
Erin Meade
melbourne aflw dev. coach
tamara hyett
2018 AFLW Premiership Footballer
Bonnie Toogood
2018 VFLW Premiership Footballer
meg hutchins
Former VWFL Competition Manager
Darren Flanagan
women's football legend
nicole graves
geelong cats aflw footballer
phoebe mcwilliams
Previous/Inactive commentators
Play-by-play
Jo Wotton
Play-by-play
Matthew Cocks
Play-by-play
Anna Harrington
Play-By-Play
Lauren Bordin
Match Analyst
Sasha Dougherty
Boundary rider
Nic Negrepontis
Statistician
Kristy Williams
Match Analyst
Olivia Crowe
Match Analyst
Niamh Felton
Match Analyst
Ash Bye
Match Analyst
Hannah Mouncey
Play-by-Play
Daniel Hill
Play-By-Play
James Strebinos
Play-by-play
Max Blake
Match Analyst
Andrew Donnison
Match Analyst
James Halley
Match Analyst
Emily Fox
Match Analyst
Callum O'Connor
Match Analyst
Sophie Fazzolari
About us
The
initial idea of WARF Radio began back in April 2013 when 3WBC's VFL
play-by-play caller Peter Holden received a late in the week phone call, asking
him if he could pair up with then SEN1116 reporter Anthony Laughton and provide
commentary to the video stream of the annual ANZAC Day eve match between
the VWFL All-Stars and
the Australian Defence Force.
Researching for the call, Holden discovered the Victorian Women's Football
League (VWFL) were live video
streaming their
games every one to two weeks, but most matches would be without commentary - thus a seed of an
idea was planted.
However, during the summer of 2013/14 the VWFL would hand control of its
competition over to AFL Victoria, and operating initially with limited
resources, it was then deemed financially best to wind-back the video
streaming.
It
was May 2014 though when a chance meeting would lead the creation of the then
named "VWFL Radio". Following a Box Hill v Port Melbourne 3WBC VFL match broadcast,
former Geelong-based VFL commentator Daniel Hill would catch up with Holden in
the Box Hill social rooms, expressing a willingness to call football again,
since his relocation to Melbourne's Eastern suburbs.
After a few beers the decision was made; Holden would go out and purchase the
broadcast equipment (and acquire some soon to be thrown out headsets from 3WBC)
and the duo would begin commentating the VWFL from the following month.
The
first ever match broadcast by VWFL Radio, with Holden and Hill on commentary,
would be the Round 6 Premier Division match between Melbourne University and
Darebin on Sunday June 15th 2014. For the record, Darebin won by 49 points, with future Western Bulldogs, and then Richmond, AFLW captain
Katie Brennan being adjudged 'Best on Ground' for her three goal effort -
winning herself a $50 Pancake Parlour voucher (the prizes also coming out of
Holden's back pocket)!
Throughout 2014,
the then VWFL Radio would broadcast VWFL Matches across the Premier Division,
as well as Divisions 1, 2 and 3, taking themselves and their equipment (almost
always on public transport) to community grounds all over Melbourne.
The new women's football commentary team would also have the honour of calling at (the then) Etihad Stadium, broadcasting the 2014 AFL Women's Exhibition Match. Two AFL International Cup women's matches were also covered in the debut year.
Joining the commentary across the season would be future SEN and Channel 7 AFLW Play-by-Play Caller Jo Wotton, future Fox Sports W-League Caller Anna Harrington, future AFL General Manager (Competition Management) Laura Kane, AFL Victoria's Darren Flanigan, Eastern Devils footballer Olivia Crowe, Melbourne University footballer Ash Bye and soon to become permanent members of the WARF Radio team, Matthew Cocks and Katie Lambeski.
The season would conclude with VWFL Radio providing commentary for the video
stream of all six VWFL divisions' Grand Finals at Coburg City Oval.
Prior
to the 2015 VWFL season, Holden and Hill made the decision to move the volunteer operation from the semi-independent 'VWFL Radio' and align themselves
with independent women's football website Girls Play Footy.
The move saw the commentary team re-brand to 'Girls Play Footy Radio' and in
February of that year, Holden launch the 'Girls Play Footy Podcast'. Members of the radio team would also then
begin to contribute to the Girls Play Footy site, eventually leading to more
than 17,000 Facebook followers and almost 8,000 Twitter followers for the
brand.
The 2015 season would see the radio coverage focus solely on the Premier
Division of the VWFL, with Cocks becoming a more permanent presence alongside
Holden in the call, as well as the debuts of future GWS Giants footballer Tanya
Hetherington and Morphettville Park (SAWFL) footballer Kristy Williams.
Along with the VWFL coverage, two AFL Women's Exhibition Matches would be
covered, the VWFL All Stars v ADF match and two senior women's interstate
matches - including one at Subiaco, where Holden along with WA footballers
Ashlea Renshaw and Julie Nichols would witness Western Australia
become the first state to defeat Victoria in senior women's football.
One
of the technical highlights of the year, would see the team split across two
grounds for the final round, calling the St Kilda Sharks v Eastern Devils
match, while providing live crosses to Melbourne University v Diamond Creek. The final four would be decided in the dying
seconds of both matches!
2016 saw the creation of the Victorian Football League Women's competition (VFLW) with the previous year's six VWFL Premier Division teams and the top four VWFL Division One teams taking part.
Kristy Williams relocation to Melbourne would see her join the commentary team
as a permanent member, while CDFNL Play-by-Play caller Max Blake joined to help
cover Geelong-based matches.
In the competition's debut year the team called the first ever draw (Melbourne
University v St Kilda), the Knox Falcons' only win of the year, and the moment
future Collingwood & North Melbourne AFLW footballer Moana Hope kicked
her 100th goal of the season.
The 'Girls Play Footy
Radio' coverage would again go interstate, with Holden joining future Fox Footy AFLW commentator Jessica Webster and future Brisbane Lions AFLW Premiership coach Craig Starcevich in
calling the Queensland Women's Australian Football League Grand Final.
In October, Holden would fly over to the United States and team up with USAFL
Media Manager (and Podcast Reporter) Brian Barrish, to provide live coverage of
every single women's match across both divisions at the USAFL Nationals in
Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
The
following year was the most historic for women's football, with the debut of
the AFL Women's competition. 'Girls Play Footy Radio' was fortunate enough to
be permitted to broadcast the practice match between Collingwood and the
Western Bulldogs, two weeks prior to the AFLW opening round.
During
the AFLW season, a call was put out for more volunteers to join the team.
Answering the call was Melbourne University footballer Niamh Felton, 3RRR
presenter Andrew Donnison, future SEN Digital Content Coordinator Nic
Negrepontis, and future ABC Grandstand broadcaster and AFL.com.au journalist Lucy Watkin.
2017 also saw the beginning of a new partnership, with the then 'Girls Play
Footy Radio' reaching a handshake agreement with RSN927 for both the podcast (mid-week show) and
live VFLW coverage to air on their DAB+ Digital Radio Channel 'Carnival'.
The first VFLW game to air on Carnival was the Round 2 match between Geelong and Seaford in Ocean Grove, and as result of the VFLW
coverage being carried on digital radio, each match featured a one hour
pre-game show - something not matched then or since by any of the official AFLW
broadcasters.
The season also saw the departure of all bar two of the original community
clubs from the top tier of Victorian senior women's football, consigning them
to history, but thankfully some of their finest moments called and archived by
our team.
Holden,
Cocks, Watkin and Barrish also provided commentary for the 2017 AFL
International Cup coverage, as well as the USA Liberty's tour of Melbourne.
To round out the year, the USAFL Nationals were again covered, with more than a dozen women's matches recorded for
YouTube.
2018 saw the doubling of the team's AFLW practice match coverage, calling the Collingwood v Melbourne at Olympic Park Oval and the Western Bulldogs v Carlton in Ballarat.
However, with the eventual closure of the Girls Play Footy site, a new name was
required for the volunteer team and in April the name Women's Australian Rules
Football Radio - or WARF Radio for short - was chosen.
A new name also meant a hard road ahead, having to start all social media
presence essentially from scratch and also having to introduce the women's
footy community to a new brand, after more than three years under the previous
identity.
It was not all gloom, as the standard of commentary went up another level with
the introduction of future Herald-Sun NAB League Girls' live stream commentator Sasha Dougherty, future
Kayo Sports WNBL and AFL.com.au broadcaster Julia Montesano and Sydney women's football
legend Lisa Roper.
The season also saw Lucy Watkin make the step up from Match Analyst to
Play-by-Play caller, while the Grand Final call featured six women as part of
the day's seven member calling team.
It
was a big year for the Women's Australian Rules Football Podcast, with its first ever outside broadcast at The Footy Almanac's Women's Footy Pie Night,
plus the airing of the 100th Episode - a special featuring the founders of the
Sydney Women's AFL, WAWFL and SAWFL.
In our third year of the assisting the coverage of the USAFL Nationals,
the Women's Division
One final was aired on ESPN3.
The
year kicked off with a double-header coverage of the 2019 AFLW practice
matches, with Carlton v Geelong at Princes Park and the Western Bulldogs v
Collingwood in Ballarat covered live.
A handshake agreement was
also reached with new online broadcaster GoFooty.Live to
carry their coverage of Geelong VFLW matches, with almost 50 VFL
Women's matches broadcast on digital radio in Melbourne.
The year also saw the debut of women's footy legend Nicole Graves (just after her stint as Carlton AFLW General Manager) and future ABC Grandstand Match Analyst Meg Hutchins.
After Collingwood defeated the Western Bulldogs for the VFLW Premiership, Peter Holden jumped on a plane to re-join Brian Barrish in Florida to commentate the USAFL Nationals' two Women's Divisions, with the Division One Grand Final again shown on ESPN3.
Then in 2020, the Coronavirus Pandemic would turn the world as we know it upside-down. As a result, the entire 2020 VFLW season would be scrapped.
Despite no football for WARF Radio's commentators to call in person, the Women's Australian Rules Football Podcast continued producing episodes week-after-week, talking to women who were playing the game (until COVID-19 hit), all around the world. There were a number of notable episodes, including with those who had recently retired from playing in the AFLW, to an interview with an AFLW coach who had been let go due to budget cuts.
In November of 2020, Holden was invited to be a speaker/mentor for the 'Making the Call' pilot program, which initially aimed to introduce more women to art of live football broadcasting.
The 2021 year began with a bump in the road, with the RSN927-WARF Radio handshake agreement coming to an end. However, as one door closed, another opened, with the AFL (now in control of the VFLW) electing to increase the number of VFLW video streamed games, with almost all taking the WARF Radio commentary.
More members were added to the commentary team, including Physiotherapist Lowana Williams, EDFL footballer Sophie Fazzolari, journalism student James Halley and future ABC Grandstand AFLW broadcaster Lauren Bordin. Julia Montesano returned to the team and stepped-up to become a play-by-play caller.
On a sad note, after seven seasons and more than 200 episodes (including a special with one of the VWFL founders), the Women's Australian Rules Football Podcast came to end, with Holden pointing to ever increasing shift work demands.
COVID-19 would continue to mess with Victorian football, with multiple lockdowns effecting the regular season fixture and in the end seeing the cancellation of the 2021 VFLW Grand Final, which would have been played between Collingwood and Geelong.
So, to present day, 2022. WARF Radio has expanded to a second call team for the first time, with the main team broadcasting on both the radio and YouTube feeds, while the 'B Team' broadcast only on the YouTube feed.
There's hopefully a lot more to write about the WARF Radio story as we go into the future, and we thank you for taking the time to listen to our volunteer produced live VFLW broadcasts.
Audio Archive
Volunteer with us
Women's Australian Football Radio (WARF Radio) is seeking expressions of interest from those who would like to join our volunteer team as either a play-by-play caller, match analyst (special comments) or boundary rider for the 2022 VFL Women's season.
Our preference is for those who are former or current women's
footballers/coaches, or are current media students, looking to build their
experience in live sports broadcasting.
As we are all volunteers
and balance doing WARF Radio with our job/study/sports commitments, we
understand your availability can be limited, and are always happy to work
around that.
Former (and current) WARF Radio members have gone onto work for the ABC, 1116
SEN, Fox Sports, AAP, ESPN and AFL.com.au - as well as take part in the 'Making
the Call' and ABC sports commentary workshops.
To enquire about joining us as a volunteer, please email volunteer@warfradio.com
"I wouldn't be in the position I am today without WARF Radio - Pete and the team give everyone the greatest opportunity to try broadcasting for fun or to develop your skills into something more. Come be part of the team to experience it first hand!"
