A groundbreaking era in women’s football in WA will be heralded today with a unique — and passionate — celebration from the stands.

The WA Football Commission says female football participation has soared already this season, ahead of the start of the inaugural WAFLW season.

And Gail Kinsell will make sure everyone at East Fremantle Oval on Sunday knows about it.

Ms Kinsell’s daughter Roxy Roux is a rising star of the game and every time she or one of her teammates kicks a goal, her Zimbabwean-born mother unleashes a raucous African war cry. Called “ululating”, it’s a loud enough scream of pride to shake the old grandstand.

“It’s a warrior noise and people expect it now,” Ms Kinsell, pictured with Roxy, said.

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“When she was playing in under-12s in Dongara, I remember people shaking her hand and saying, ‘It’s a pity you’re not a boy’. Her jaw set and she said, ‘One day I’m going to make it professionally and they are going to be sorry they said that’.

“I’ve raised her to be very strong and not to accept no. I’m so proud.”

Almost 100,000 women and girls are now registered to play football in WA clubs and schools, a whopping growth of 24 per cent on last year. And with West Coast set to join Fremantle in the AFLW next year, there is a strong view the growth has just begun.

WAFC chief executive Gavin Taylor said one in every 10 footballers in WA was now female, up from one in 33 just four years ago. He said all inaugural WAFLW clubs had tapped into a strategic facilities fund to build more female-friendly infrastructure.

A wider review to assess requirements Statewide would be finished in September.

“The numbers are huge,” Mr Taylor said.

Camera Icon Gail Kinsell with footy star daughter Rozanne Roux. Credit: Daniel Wilkins

Ms Roux, 17, has been obsessed with football since she was four, but has also had to push through roadblocks that have traditionally stopped females playing the game.

Mr Taylor said the WAFLW competition would complete the female pathway and Ms Roux said it was making dreams come true for all players aspiring to make it through to the elite AFLW.

“It’s an extremely exciting opportunity to have this pathway open up,” she said.

“The timing is perfect and I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a female footballer. I just want to play footy.”

The WAFLW’s mid-September grand final will be televised live on Channel 7.