The rule change required women’s division‑two finals players to have played three home‑and‑away games instead of two. However, the VAFA’s PlayHQ system still displayed the old two‑game rule, so St Mary’s selected a player who was later ruled ineligible.

The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the state’s largest amateur Australian Rules football league, with about 300 teams and 12,000 participants. VAFA denied any gender bias, pointing out that men’s teams have also been penalised – for example, the Uni Blues lost all points and were fined $22,000 in 2022 for using ineligible players – and saying the issue was about rule enforcement, not sexism.

Players and clubs have complained that women’s fixtures, scheduling and ground allocations are arranged later and are less favourable than those for men’s teams. They say this creates a perception of discrimination and adds extra administrative burden to already under‑resourced women’s clubs.