The nominees were judged on the following criteria:
- Commitment to the support and advancement of football
- A passion for the game
- The ability to make a difference on the football scene
- A keen knowledge of the game including its history and its future
- Club membership
- Willingness to advocate publicly for women as partners with men in football
- A sense of humour a fair play.
Former winner and now judge Caroline Wilson said the Football Woman of the Year announcement had become a significant part of Grand Final week. “It is now a major punctuation mark in Grand Final week and it gives women the chance to grab some ownership,"" Wilson said.
“I think the first two winners of the award were very significant. You had a grass roots supporter who played a major role in the survival of a football club in Irene Chatfield.
“We then had Jill Lindsay who is the only women to hold a position of authority in the AFL and survive. It was interesting that Jill Lindsay was voted as Football's Woman of the Year well before the AFL granted her life membership.""
“This is a competitive business we are in and this is the Premiership for women. And the Essendon Women’s Network has done it well – they are the model that all women’s networks in the AFL are based on.”
Jenny Williams epitomises all that is passionate, supportive, courageous, talented and good humoured about women in football. As the daughter of Fos Williams, Port Adelaide Football Club legend, sister to Mark, coach of the Port Adelaide Football Club, and Stephen, coach of the Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club, she has grown up soaked in South Australia’s football history from head to toe. But she is no spectator, no mere barracker from the sidelines. Jenny has devoted equally as much as her father and siblings to the development and advocacy of sport in general and football in specific.
Jenny is committed to the support and advancement of football where it counts most – with the juniors. At Port Adelaide she established ‘The Department of Youth’ – a young members’ group which forms an integral support for the on field team at training and at matches. She has actively recruited young people looking for ways to contribute to the club other than support on game day. As a volunteer member on the Youth Marker Share Strategic Committee, Jenny’s creativity and energy contribute to both innovation and action to the ways in which Port Adelaide can grow youth membership.
At the same time, she has established a program to bring female physical education teachers to the club to train and work with players and football staff. The workshops provide these women with the opportunity to gain a firsthand understanding of the game in all its facets. Jenny is also responsible for organising the following activities:
All the programs Jenny runs are developed in conjunction with the staff at Port Adelaide in the various departments across which she works. She works alongside the football department, bringing her and their expertise to the development of junior programs and clinics, which run in parallel to the seniors. She collaborates with the marketing department to organise club involvement in community events and assist with the generation of sponsorship. She liaises with the membership department to maintain databases which target relevant groups. Beyond the club she links with the SANFL football operations to run clinics at the state’s major football facility.
Jenny’s contribution to the game of football is more than significant. The innovative programs she initiates, the advice she provides and the role modelling she lives all occur in the context of a wider life. While Jenny works for the Port Adelaide Football Club in a variety of capacities, this is not a full time role. All he work at the club sits alongside her role as a teacher employed in a school, other sporting commitments as coach and advisor and as a home maker in partnership with her family.
