GSFLW 2024 preview: Festival of football marks fixture shake-up for upcoming season

A fixture shake-up for the upcoming Great Southern Football League Women’s season will be highlighted by a festival of football and an opening multicultural round. GSFL operations manager Ian Beeck announced that a round-robin carnival would feature this season with three games played by all clubs in a one-day football extravaganza at Retravision Stadium. There will be nine games of two 18-minute halves played between rounds six and eight on March 9 collectively as Pride Round with the first game bouncing down at 11am. Beeck said the competition had taken inspiration from other sports codes that had successfully embraced a similar format, earning overwhelming popularity among fans. “Other sporting codes have embraced similar-style events such as the popular Gather Round in South Australia by the AFL and the recent successful National Basketball Association’s in-season tournament in Las Vegas,” Beeck said. “The event has the potential to be one of the premier sporting days in the Great Southern.” During this festival of football, there will be competitions including a longest kick competition and sprint race. Numerous community and service-based organisations will be set up for the day to provide information about the Pride events. Beeck revealed that all teams reached a unanimous decision to support the implementation of the multi-round fixture. “I went to all GSFL clubs for consultation with all requests accommodated, with the fixturing being approved unanimously by the nine GSFL directors and six club presidents,” he said. The competition will begin with a triple-header at McLean Oval in February which begins with Railways against Mt Barker at 2pm. The finals bracket has also had a change up with an additional week allowing the top two sides to receive a double chance. The 2024 GSFLW grand final will once again be live-streamed and commentated and will be played at Sounness Park in Mt Barker. Beeck also announced that Railways were set to host this year’s men’s grand final but due to their ongoing clubroom renovations, the grand final will now be hosted by Sharks at Retravision Stadium. Railways will now host the 2025 grand final. GSFLW FIXTURES 2024 Round 1 — Saturday, February 3 — Multicultural Round Railways v Mt Barker, 2pm at McLean Oval Royals v Albany, 3.30pm at McLean Oval Denmark-Walpole v North Albany, 5pm at McLean Oval Round 2 — Friday, February 9 North Albany v Royals, 6.15pm at Collingwood Park Railways v Albany, 7.45pm at Collingwood Park Mt Barker v Denmark-Walpole, 6.45pm at Sounness Park Round 3 — Friday, February 16 Railways v Denmark-Walpole, 6.15pm at Tigerland North Albany v Albany, 7.45pm at Tigerland Royals v Mt Barker, 6.45pm at Retravision Stadium Round 4 — Friday, February 23 Mt Barker v Albany, 6.15pm at Sounness Park Denmark-Walpole v Royals, 7.45pm at Sounness Park North Albany v Railways, 6.45pm at Collingwood Park Round 5 — Friday, March 1 North Albany v Mt Barker, 6.15pm at McLean Oval Albany v Denmark-Walpole, 7.45pm at McLean Oval Railways v Royals, 6.45pm at Tigerland Round 6-8 — Saturday, March 9 —Carnival Round-Robin at Retravision Stadium — Pride Round Round 6 Railways v Mt Barker, 11am at Oval T Royals v Albany, 11am at Retravision Stadium Denmark-Walpole v North Albany, Noon at Retravision Stadium Round 7 North Albany v Royals, 2pm at Oval T Railways v Albany, 2pm at Retravision Stadium Mt Barker v Denmark-Walpole, 3pm at Retravision Stadium Round 8 Railways v Denmark-Walpole, 4pm at Oval T North Albany v Albany, 4pm at Retravision Stadium Royals v Mt Barker, 5pm at Retravision Stadium Round 9 - Friday, March 15 Denmark-Walpole v Royals, 6.15pm at Collingwood Park North Albany v Railways, 7.45pm at Collingwood Park Mt Barker v Albany, 6.45pm at Sounness Park Round 10 — Friday, March 22 North Albany v Mt Barker, 6.15pm at Tigerland Railways v Royals, 7.45pm at Tigerland Albany v Denmark-Walpole, 6.45pm at Retravision Stadium Easter Bye - Friday, March 29 Qualifying Final and Elimination Final — Friday, April 5 First v Second, Venue TBC Third v Fourth, Venue TBC Preliminary Final — Friday, April 12 Loser Game 1 v Winner Game 2, Venue TBC Grand Final — Friday, April 19 Qualifying winner v Preliminary winner, at Sounness Park