Thursday 10th September 2026
Dear Williamstown Football Club (WFC) Members and our extended community,
We are so very excited as we head into this weekend’s preliminary final at DSV Stadium between our VFLW team and traditional rivals, Port Melbourne.
Our women’s programme is a vital part of the fabric of our Club, and this Board intends to continue its on-going investment in women’s football at WFC.
Finishing as Minor Premiers, our women have had an outstanding season under new senior coach Paul Groves, his extended coaching team and Josh Rhodes (GM Football).
With still much more football to play this season, the women’s team is looking forward to 2027 with Captain Eliza Straford and Co Captain, Emily Eaves already signed up to go again for WFC.
Speaking about her experience at WFC Emily Eaves said, ‘I am very proud to be at this great Club and we are fortunate to have our awesome coach, Grovesy and the support of the Board who genuinely champion women’s football and are behind us all the way…’
Turning to off the field, our members will recently have received communication from the ‘Williamstown Action Group’, purporting to have served a Member’s Notice on the WFC Board to hold a General Meeting. In the interest of keeping our members fully informed, I can confirm:
- On 3 September, the Board formally rejected the Action Group’s request to hold a General Meeting, on the basis that the Notice was invalid.
- The Board has communicated with individual members of the Action Group on multiple occasions (as early as 9 August) to express an openness to meeting to discuss express concerns. These invitations have been refused.
- The Board also requested the Group hold off on any action until after the end of both the VFL and VFLW seasons. This request was ignored.
- Today, we have again communicated to the Action Group that we are unable to fulfil their request to hold a General Meeting, on the basis that the Member Notice is defective and cannot be acted upon by the board (click here if you would like to consider the detail).
Our Board remains focussed on supporting our women as they head into Saturday’s game and encourage all our members to head down in numbers to DSV.
