The NAB League Girls (formerly known as the TAC Cup Girls) is an under-19

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and metropolitan

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with each team representing twelve Victorian regions, while a thirteenth team from

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was introduced in 2019. The competition is sponsored by

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

(NAB), having previously been sponsored by the

Transport Accident Commission The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is the statutory insurer of third-party personal liability (CTP insurance in other states) for road accidents in the State of Victoria, Australia. It was established under the Transport Accident Act 1986 ...

(TAC) since its inception. The league is one of the leading competitions for female footballers to be recruited to

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

(AFLW) clubs. An identical competition for male footballers, known as the

NAB League Boys The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

, is also contested on an annual basis.

History

The league was inaugurated in 2017, the same year as the first AFL Women's premiership season was held. All NAB League Boys clubs entered teams and shared training grounds. Reaction to the establishment was positive, with

Fiona Richardson Fiona Catherine Alison Richardson (22 November 1966 – 23 August 2017) was an Australian politician. She was a Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 2006 until her death in 20 ...

, Victorian Minister for Women, praising the league for its encouragement of

women's sports The participation of women and girls in sports, physical Physical fitness, fitness and exercise, has been recorded to have existed throughout history. However, participation rates and activities vary in accordance with nation, era, geography, ...

. vice-captain Madeline Keryk said the competition helped equalise opportunities for boys and girls in junior football. The first season was a five-round competition. The Calder Cannons won all five of their matches and overcame the Murray Bushrangers on percentage to claim the inaugural premiership. The second season was a nine-round competition culminating in a

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. The inaugural grand finalists were the Geelong Falcons and the Northern Knights. The Falcons won 32–21, completing an unbeaten season. The competition has since grown in fixture length and incorporates a team from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The 2020 season was abandoned due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Age eligibility

The competition was originally classified as an under-18 competition, though as of 2021 however the competition has been classified as an under-19 competition. The draft age for both the AFL and AFLW Draft is 18.

Premiers

Best and Fairest Award

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:NAB League Australian rules football competitions in Victoria (Australia) Recurring sporting events established in 2017 2017 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2017 NAB League Girls