Woman are going to have to wait a while for equal pay in the women's AFL.

The proposed pay scale for the inaugural women’s AFL league has been leaked and almost immediately we wanted to call for a umpire.

The Herald Sun today revealed the proposed pay scale for the majority of players would be $5000 for the entire season.

This means that a 25-member team could be paid a collective $190,000 for an eight-week season.

Say what? Comparatively, the average wage for one listed male player was $302,104 in 2015.

There is some scaling for the female players with the two top or marquee players from each club potentially walking away with $25,000 each. The $25,000 is split into a $10,000 marketing component with a proposed $15,000 remaining for matches played.

One ‘priority pre-signing’ player and potentially four ‘high draft selections’ could also walk away with $10.000.

But still it seems an awful lot less money than the blokes are being paid for doing the same job.

So what’s the deal?

AFL General Manager of Game and Market Development Mr Simon Lethlean said today: “The AFL will be investing tens of millions of dollars into a new national elite league over the coming years, as well as investing significantly in participation pathways and talent programs for girls and women – we are determined that the women’s game is an emphatic success.”

“Our intention is to pay players between $25,000 (marquee players) and $5,000, and we believe this is a fair and reasonable amount in the first year of building an elite competition from amateur leagues, and for a short season of up to nine weeks.”

There’s no doubt a lot of female players are thrilled just to get their own league off the ground and to earn anything at all. Most of them have been playing amateur for years. So same game. No money.

The truth is while it seems intrinsically unfair to not earn the same money for the same job, it happens in most sports and it won’t change until commercial sponsors get on board.

Simon Lethlean continued: “This is just the beginning, and as our game grows we will continue to invest in our athletes that will soon be household names.”

We want the same thing. We want AFL women’s players to be household names too. We want them to be Aussie sporting legends.

So we’re calling to the big business of Australia to support the AFL women’s league by getting behind the league.  We’re calling on big commercial sponsors to stump up the cash to allow the women who play to be paid more.

Don’t hold back. Be leaders. Be the ones who pave the way. Be the ones who got in on the ground floor.

The season will begin next February and spans eight-weeks with pre-season matches kicking off this November.

A Western Bulldogs v Melbourne match that showcases some of the top talent will be played in Melbourne this Saturday night at Whitten Oval. Get along to show your support if you can.