Broadcaster Steve Price’s savage critique of AFLW
BRAODCASTER Steve Price says AFLW is a waste of money and he "wouldn't cross the road to watch it".
Price, appearing on Triple M's Hot Breakfast with Eddie McGuire and Luke Darcy, said an AFL club official told him the spend on four AFLW games was $1 million.
"Is that a good spend?" Price asked. "I wouldn't cross the road to watch it."
He added: "I love female sport, but the amount of money we're ploughing into this is ridiculous."
McGuire, who is also the Collingwood Football Club president, told Price that membership numbers were up because of AFLW.
"You will never get a dollar of government money for any infrastructure unless you've got female sports involved," McGuire said.
"We've just done a deal, which will be announced in the next couple of months ... and the key part of that was the women's sports."
Price responded: "So governments are shaming you into supporting women's football so you can get infrastructure built?"
Price argued the AFLW season opener, Richmond vs Carlton, "sold out" only because it was free entry.
Darcy then countered with the number of girls and women playing AFLW: 530,160. He said AFLW was as "pure as a game you'll see ...we're building something special."
Price said many were "unwilling" to criticise the AFLW "because it's not politically correct".
Darcy responded: "It's just not educated, Steve."
Callers to the show labelled Price a goose, flog and courageous.
The show's voice of reason, Rosie Walton, concluded: "It's so important for women and girls to see we are treated equally ... and to given the same opportunities. To hear Steve talk, it goes back too many steps."
McGuire agreed: "Women are not being carried along by the AFL. Quite the opposite. They are propelling this game to new heights."
