
Jharkhand Crows took away the historic and inaugural women’s inter-state competition as well after their male counterparts clinched the titles in both junior and senior divisions a day earlier.
The first ever ARFAI Women’s East Zone Championship 2025 saw Jharkhand Crows lock horns with Odisha Swans and West Bengal Tigers and take away the title defeating the home team Odisha Swans 05-08-38 to 00-00-00 in the Grand Final on Monday 27 January 2025.
The milestone women’s tournament in India was also organised at the Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM) Oval in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The tournament would not have been possible to organise without the unwavering support and motivation from Rebacca Crawley, Special Projects Manager, Thamarrurr Youth Indigenous Corporation (TYIC) who had been working closely with the Centurion University on projects promoting indigenous knowledge, skills and cultural exchange between India and Australia.

The tournament marked another significant milestone in the journey of Australian Rules Football in India with the women’s participants getting the first opportunity to compete at inter-state level. The girls/women had been playing footy for a while in certain states in India including the three states participating at the zonals. ARFAI had organised exhibition matches between the women’s team in the past during men’s zonal or state championships, but to organise the inaugural competition for women’s Australian Rules Football tournament in India was not only a historic and special milestone, but a remarkable day of skills displayed by the women on field as well.

The day saw league matches kick off in the morning after an opening and jersey presentation ceremony led by Rebacca Crawley from TYIC and Kanchan Pushpa Khurana, ARFAI’s Head of National Operations. While the West Bengal Tigers and Odisha Swans displayed good footy skills at their inaugural appearance to represent their states, the Jharkhand Crows women looked clearly better trained and experienced. Jharkhand and Odisha qualified for the Grand Finals where Jharkhand Crows women won the East Zone Championship 2025 quite convincingly.
The day also saw an Indian A team picked from all the 3 states teams play an international friendly match against the Centurion University Nigerian team, which the Indian girls won quite convincingly. All the women’s games were live streamed through the Centurion University YouTube page. Full day’s replay can be accessed here.
The presentation ceremony post the Grand Final saw Prof. Mukti Kanta Mishra, President of CUTM hand over the Championship Trophy alongside other distinguished guests from CUTM, TYIC and ARFAI. We would like to acknowledge the support from Mr. Hugh Boylan, Australian Consul General to East India, Kolkata for accepting the request to be the Chief Guest for the historic tournament originally but was unable to attend on the day due to personal reasons.
Inaugural Women’s East Zone Championship 2025 – Awards List
Best Mark: Sunia Soren, Odisha Swan
Best Goal: Alomani Tigga, Jharkhand Crows
Best Defender: Ptatishtha Mohapatra, Odisha Swans
Player of the Tournament: Alisha Tigga, Jharkhand Crows
Claridge Fair Play Award: West Bengal Tigers
The ARFAI would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters who made the tournament a grand success including Thamarrurr Youth Indigenous Corporation, Only Health Pty Ltd and Centurion University of Technology and Management. ARFAI is also grateful to all the officials and volunteers across ARFAI’s national organising committee headed by Ms. Kanchan P. Khurana, local organising committee volunteers headed by Footy Association of Odisha (FAO) President Mr. Rama Ch. Murmu and the CUTM and TYIC staff and volunteers.

Photo credits – Matt Reilly