ESSENDON and Hawthorn's round one AFLW match has officially been moved to Marvel Stadium. 

Originally scheduled to take place at Port Melbourne's ETU Stadium, tickets sold out within 24 hours of release forcing the AFL to consider the clubs' call for the match to be moved to a larger venue. 

"Quite simply the fans of both clubs, and supporters of women’s footy in general showed why we needed to move to a bigger venue by selling out the game so quickly," the AFL's general manager of  clubs, finance and broadcasting Travis Auld said. 

“Two proud clubs, a historic occasion for them and another historic moment for the NAB AFLW competition." 

The new ticket allocation for the match will go on sale at 12pm AEST on Monday. 

OFFICIAL STATEMENT Round one blockbuster moved to Marvel Stadium

On Wednesday afternoon, Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell publicly called on the AFL to move the match after strong early ticket sales. 

"This morning we saw unprecedented demand for our first AFLW game." Campbell said. 

"The game will be announced as a sell-out shortly, and while that is a cause for celebration it will also unfortunately mean a significant number of our members and supporters won’t be able to show their support should it remain scheduled at ETU Stadium." 

"Playing our arch rival Hawthorn in such a defining fixture for both clubs will be a great spectacle, that is deserving of being played at a venue such as Marvel.

"As such, we are calling on the AFL to move our game to Marvel in order to appropriately celebrate our inaugural home game." 

Even before tickets went on sale, both clubs were anticipating the move after increasing excitement over the first ever AFLW match for each of the powerhouse clubs.

Hawks coach Bec Goddard has been publicly calling for the move since the fixture was released on July 4, telling reporters at a press conference that the "hashtag move it to Marvel... movement starts here".

The Bombers' VFLW side attracted a strong following through its finals campaign (which resulted in a flag) earlier this year, as did the Hawks, who made the second week of finals.

Womens.afl understands there have been differing assessments of the capacity of North Port Oval from a range of stakeholders, with additional infrastructure (e.g. toilets) needed in order to host AFLW games with the expected attendance.

There is also precedence for moving games after strong ticket sales, with the first ever AFLW game between Collingwood and Carlton shifted from the AIA Centre to Ikon Park.

If the match is moved, it may open the door for other ETU Stadium games to be transferred, with the first AFLW Dreamtime match between Richmond and Essendon also scheduled for the inner-city ground.

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The ground will also host clashes in round two between fierce AFLW rivals Melbourne and North Melbourne, and the traditional Essendon and Carlton pairing.

Essendon's remaining home games will be played at Reid Oval (Warrnambool) and Ikon Park (part of an AFLW double-header at the ground).

The Bombers play their first official practice match this Saturday against Port Adelaide at the Hangar, while Hawthorn will make their AFLW practice match debut on the biggest stage of all, coming up against Richmond at the MCG before the men's sides play in the afternoon.