With the announcement of the W-League earlier this week, Football Federation Australia has finally completed the triumvirate of professional leagues that they have long sought to have on the sporting scene here in Australia. The Matildas captured the imagination of the Australian public with their performances at last year’s World Cup and opening the eyes of many people for the first time to the women’s game. It served to whet the appetite of many supporters, both female and male and now the FFA has looked to capitalise through the introduction of the W-League. But has the FFA really thought this one through?

Two areas where they did get it right is with the number of teams and the distinct possibility that W-League games will act as curtain raisers for their A-League counterparts. This will surely mean that more people will be getting to A-League games a lot earlier and especially young girls, who are already a regular fixture in the stands. Adding a team from Canberra to the existing seven Australian A-League teams was also a wise move and it gives the football-starved people from the capital a taste of national football action. It makes for a much more balanced competition. But of concern is that in its first season, the W-League is expected to feature a 10-round regular season and a finals series.

First off, eight doesn’t quite go into ten in terms of a balanced competition. Some teams will play others twice and others only once. I understand the FFA not wanting to over commit to the W-League in its first season, particularly after the failure of the old women’s NSL competition. But surely it wouldn’t have been too difficult to extend the competition to at least fourteen rounds, allowing each team to play each other twice, both home and away. It appears that the FFA is hedging its bets on the length of season.

Another area of concern is the salary cap allocated for the W-League. It is reported to be a paltry $150,000 and according to some sources may not even be paid by the clubs themselves. Details of the size of squads at this stage is also sketchy but you would have to assume that they would be between 15 and 20 players per team. Meaning that each player would on average receive less than $10,000 a season. That’s hardly going to provide players who are currently plying their trade overseas with an incentive to come rushing home. Its also not much of an incentive for those who are in Australia, to stay in Australia when they know they can get much better remuneration overseas.

It will also mean that the women’s game in the country is a long way from becoming fully professional - a goal that the FFA should surely be aiming for. There is also no word of whether or not that like the A-League, each team will have a marquee player. Maybe this is one opportunity to attract some of our bigger names back to home soil.

Whilst I am genuinely excited about the introduction of the W-League into the national footballing landscape my concern is that the FFA is not going into this venture with enough conviction that it properly deserves. I hope to be proved wrong.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs.