DV calls expected to rise 20% on AFL Grand Final weekend

As thousands of fans prepare for Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, family violence prevention groups are warning it falls on one of the riskiest weekends of the year for women, with frontline services bracing for a spike in demand.

National prevention body Our Watch is urging the sporting community to help prevent gender-based violence as the Brisbane Lions and Fremantle Dockers face off at the MCG.

Here’s what you need to know.

What the data shows

Domestic violence services are expecting a 20% rise in calls this long weekend, according to Our Watch, which the organisation says is a pattern that has held for years.

During this year’s FIFA World Cup, a Vancouver support service reported a 37.2% jump in calls, showing the pattern isn’t unique to Australia.

Similar spikes occur around NRL State of Origin nights, which 2018 research from La Trobe University linked to a 40% in domestic assaults in NSW.

Why it happens

Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly told TDA the sport itself isn’t to blame.

Finals weekends bring more alcohol, heightened emotion and family gatherings, giving perpetrators more access to victims.

She also linked the spike to attitudes around masculinity.

The broader picture

Family violence isn’t confined to finals weekends.

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On average, a woman is killed by a partner every nine days in Australia, and about one in four women has experienced violence, emotional or economic abuse from a live-in partner.

Kinnersly said some police forces spend an estimated 70% of their time on family, domestic or sexual violence.

What’s being done

Our Watch runs a standing partnership with the AFL, training every AFL and AFLW team on gendered violence and helping clubs build a zero-tolerance culture year-round.

It has a similar relationship with the NRL.

Kinnersly pointed to the AFL condemning and banning fans who threw bottles at umpires after Hawthorn’s preliminary final loss to the Lions as a positive step in the right direction.