2019 Yearbook Football NSW

I’ve stated on several occasions that volunteers are the lifeblood of our game and that it is impossible to place a value on their service. This was no more evident than in 2019 when our club registrars and volunteers had to overcome a difficult transition onto the Play Football national registration system.

To overcome this challenge, our staff, Associations and Clubs pulled together to identify issues and guide the FFA towards solutions. The manner in which we worked together, and the improvements to the system is a strong example of what can be achieved when we as a sport align and work together towards a collective goal.

That we managed to pull together and get our winter participants on the parks across NSW is testament to the dedication, resolve and commitment of our hard-working Association and Club representatives. On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of players, coaches and referees, thank you!

An important focus area in 2019 for Football NSW was to maximise the opportunities presented by federal and state elections and various grants that were available. Off the back of the state-wide facilities audit, facilities forums, meetings and advocacy conducted by NSW and our Associations and Clubs, we collectively generated $44m in funding from State and Federal government for community facilities.

Some key projects include the first synthetic pitches within the Nepean Football Association that will be installed at Jamison Park and a Home of Football for Southern Districts Soccer Football Association at Ernie Smith Reserve.

Despite these positive results, we have a long way to go to bridge the gap between the facilities we currently have available and those we require to maximise our participants’ experience and to continue to grow the game. This includes the continuation of our Let’s Light Up Football Program that provided $300,000 in grants, which unlocked a total of $3.3m to deliver 17 lighting projects across the state.

Alarmingly, we saw examples of poor spectator behaviour with incidents of sports rage playing out at football fields. We provided support to Associations that found themselves in some challenging situations handling significant media interest and scrutiny. As a result of this, last year we resolved to take a proactive role against

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

ANTER ISAAC

poor behaviour in football and have worked to develop a practical guide on preventing, managing and sanctioning poor spectator behaviour and providing tools to Associations and Clubs which we will be distributing for the 2020 season.

This is another example of our focus on providing value to our participants, Clubs and Associations. During 2020 we will release a handbook to support clubs with their operations, develop certain Association websites and launch our State-wide, and Association-specific, Infrastructure Strategy at Parliament House to continue our campaign for improved facilities for our members.

We welcomed a new association - North West Sydney Football, as a result of the amalgamation of Gladesville Hornsby Football Association and North West Sydney Women’s Football Association. I want to acknowledge the boards and members of those two associations for their foresight and the significant effort required to achieve a fantastic result for football.

We remain committed to advancing the standing of our flagship NPL competitions. Clubs continue to acknowledge the wonderful occasion generated at Valentine Sports Park, our home of football, with all Grand Finals of NPLW and NPLW 2 played simultaneously across two fields on one day.

It was also a grand occasion to see almost 7,000 fans flock to our NPL Men’s Grand Final day, held at Bankwest Stadium – Sydney’s premier football venue for the first time.

As part of our reboot of the Men’s NPL competitions, four applicant-clubs that had been competing in Football NSW competitions were unsuccessful in their application.

I would like to once again acknowledge the unsuccessful applicant-clubs, Balmain Tigers FC, FC Gazy Auburn, Hurstville City Minotaurs and Western Condors FC and the contributions they have made to Football NSW’s competitions over the years. Football NSW would also like to acknowledge and thank the tireless service that the many volunteers associated with those clubs have provided to the game of football over the years.

Due recognition was given to members of the football community in 2019. Congratulations once again to the Chair of North West Sydney Football Helen Armson who was nominated amongst a prestigious list as the ‘Volunteer

Director of the year’ at the NSW Community Sports Awards held at Parliament House.

Football NSW Competitions Coordinator

Debbie Abboud was honoured at the same event for her amazing 31-year service to the sport receiving the ‘Distinguished Long Service Award’.

I want to extend my warm compliments to Canterbury’s Vince Laws who proudly took out the George Churchward Medal as well as acknowledging Bankstown City FC’s loyal serving female administrator Denise Hinton who was awarded the Charles Valentine Medal.

We often celebrate in the success of our players that come through our pathway to represent our country. On that note it was pleasing to see many NSW-raised players in the Matildas squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and a growing number of players representing our youth national teams. Importantly we also saw referees Kurt Ams and assistant referee Lance Greenshields officiate their first international match as they took charge of the Japan versus Bolivia clash at the Kirin Challenge Cup.

Of note we also said farewell to long serving referee James Barnes who hung up his whistle after an extraordinary 50 consecutive seasons in our competitions.

Our Strategic Project Manager Jo Fernandes was also acknowledged by FIFA, being appointed as the General Coordinator for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in France.

At the NSW Sports Awards, our Cerebral Palsy State Team was named ‘Team of the Year with a Disability’, whilst finalists included Football NSW for Organisation of the Year and Michelle Hanley for ‘Administrator of the Year’.

Sadly, we mourned the passing of Glenn Tasker, former General Manager of the NSW Amateur Soccer Federation.

I would like to thank the members of our Standing Committees, Disciplinary Committees, GPT and Appeals Tribunal.

At the 2020 AGM, we will farewell directors Rob Laws and Jeanette Jones. On behalf of the Board, I take this opportunity to thank them for their invaluable and significant contributions and wish them well for the future. I want to thank my fellow directors for their continued contributions and dedication to football.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

Football NSW has been an active supporter of Australia’s bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. We collectively recognise the significant opportunities that would be created for football if the bid is successful and we will continue to back the bid ahead of the decision in June 2020. It will be a gamechanger!

We once again took a leading role in promoting female participation across various areas of football. In 2019 we formed a Women and Girls Association Working Group to improve the sharing of knowledge and best practice.

In conjunction with our Associations and Clubs, Female Football week attracted 8,500 participants across a range of activities. Part of the festivities included a female coaching workshop that attracted 100 coaches. We are committed to increasing and upskilling female coaches and will introduce female coaching scholarships in 2020.

The refinement of female player pathways continues with a women’s competitions review scheduled for 2020 alongside the introduction of a girls specific Talent

CEO’S REPORT

STUART HODGE

Support Program, to compliment the terrific development work being done by Associations, Clubs, the Football NSW Institute and the Future Matildas program that we partner with the FFA and NSWIS. We will also expand our representative teams that compete in the FFA Girls National Youth Championships by adding an additional metro team to increase opportunities for our players to compete at a higher level. It is worth noting that eight current players in Football NSW Institute were either Junior Matildas in 2019 or invited to be train-on squad members of W-League clubs.

Following our philosophy of ‘Better coaches, Better Players’, I am pleased at the progress we have made in coach development including the organisation of a sold-out State Coaching Conference. We are now fully up to date on outstanding C Licence assessments and continue to drive coach development though expos, workshops, capability building and the Club Coach Coordinator program.

Referees, a crucial part of our game, increased to 5,350. Whilst pleasing to see the number of referees increasing, we appreciate that improving the quality of refereeing is vital.

In 2019 we commenced several programs to enhance referee development including the Elite Development Group, Women’s Elite Panel and Regional Academy.

The pathway from Association/Branch into our elite programs is producing results with the first time in over 10 years that we have the most referees from any member federation on the A-League panel. Maddy Allum was also selected as the first female referee of the National Youth League (under A-League structure), Isabella Libri became the youngest referee to debut in the W-League and Chloe Gray from Macarthur was named the Community Referee of the Year by FFA.

National success was achieved by our NPL clubs. Sydney University won the Challenge Cup by defeating the Belconnen Blue Devils from ACT. We hope this joint initiative of Football NSW and Capital Football develops into a national Women’s NPL Finals Series and lay the foundations for a Women’s FFA Cup.

After breaking a 32-year premiership drought in NPL NSW, we were proud to see Wollongong Wolves clinch the National NPL Finals and secure themselves a place directly

in the last 32 of the FFA Cup. The excitement generated by the finals and the FFA Cup is generating discussion on a potential NPL Champions League. We will explore the feasibility of this in 2020.

With the expansion of the A-League to include another NSW based club, Macarthur FC in 2020, there will be greater opportunities for players to reach A-League level.

The NPL NSW was showcased as never before with all Men’s and Women’s first grade games live streamed. In 2020, we will add commentary to all women’s matches and launch our own ‘Over the Top’ platform that will become the home of NPL football. The growth of streaming will offer us the opportunity to increase our audience and enhance the commercial offering of the NPL.

Football NSW continues to be a leading facilitator of national futsal events. We successfully hosted the FFA National Futsal Championships for state representative teams and a championship for clubs from others states in both men and women. After several years in hiatus, the Futsalroos played an international match against Solomon Islands at Valentine Sports Park ahead of

their participation in the 2019 AFF Fustal Championship. In 2020, we will conduct a review into the community level of futsal to identify areas where we can grow and develop the game.

Our vital work to ensure our game remains inclusive saw the introduction of Community FC, a program designed to provide playing, coaching, administrative, and leadership opportunities to aspiring individuals from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), Indigenous and newly arrived communities of whom do not have access to affiliated grassroots football due to social and/or economic barriers.

We also continue to support Powerchair Football with Valentine Sports Park, the home of the Premier League. We remain active as a member of the organising committee of the 2021 Fédération internationale de Powerchair World Cup that will take place in Sydney and assisted in the delivery of the Asia Pacific Oceania Cup, which was won by Australia.

Our game development team once again supported Indigenous football growth through our support of the John Moriarty Foundation, National Indigenous Football

Championships and the Nations of Origin. We continue to recognise our players are attracted to modified forms of the game. TAFE NSW Summer Football continues to see significant growth with over 50,000 players registered for 2019/20. As a sport we must remain vigilant in providing opportunities for all to play the game and we will pilot some programs with Associations during 2020.

In 2019, I had the honour to deliver the welcome address at the State Dinner to honour those who volunteer for our game. As I stated that night, we live in a time poor world where the concept of volunteerism across society is being challenged. The hundreds of thousands of football participants across the state continue to be indebted to our volunteers for the input they’ve made over many years and the difference they continue to make to football and their communities. Thank you.

I would like to conclude by paying tribute to the hard-working staff at Football NSW and to thank the directors of Football NSW for the wisdom, advice and support they provide.

Football NSW would like to thank the members of its Disciplinary Committee, General Purposes Tribunal and Appeals Tribunal for their contribution and commitment to the operation of grievance and disciplinary matters in 2019.

The members are passionate about Football and volunteer a significant amount of time and effort to assist Football NSW in ensuring a level playing field for all participants.

In 2019, the members of the Disciplinary Committee, General Purposes Tribunal and Appeals Tribunal were:

DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

• Barry Hoare

• Theo Wisman

• Geoff Leverton

• Shane Merry

• Luke Margelis

GENERAL PURPOSES TRIBUNAL

• David Lewis (Chair)

• Ben Jones (Vice-Chair)

• Anthony Scarcella (Vice-Chair)

• Marcelo Valerio

• Robert Iaconis

• Duncan Tweed

• Louis Fayd’Herbe

• Mendo Cklamovski

• Courtney Scallan

• Pouyan Afshar

• Jacquie Seemann

APPEALS TRIBUNAL

• Anthony Lo Surdo SC (Chair)

• Graham Turnbull SC (Vice-Chair)

• Iain Rennie

• Peter Mulligan

• Julia Sorbara

• David Stanton

• Ivan Griscti

• Michael Holmes

BOARD OF DIRECTORS thank you

1. Anter Isaac - Chairman 2. Rob Laws - Deputy Chairman 3. James Chetcuti - Director 4. Louie Apostolovski - Director 5. Stephen Hayes - Director 6. Jeanette Jones - Director 7. Carlos Gonzalez - Director 8. Fiona Lang - Director

FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT & GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

The Facilities and Advocacy Unit enjoyed a successful 2019 working with Clubs, Associations and Zones ensuring the continued development of infrastructure for all football venues across NSW.

Several initiatives over the year were achieved as the Unit strengthened its position as a leader in the infrastructure space.

The first half of the year was heavily focused towards the two Government elections - the State election in March and then the Federal election in May. During the respective election campaigns, football clubs across NSW benefitted with funding announcements made by Local Members of Parliament for infrastructure projects.

In the State Election, more than $12 million was provided to community football clubs and Associations across the state including funding for synthetic fields, amenity buildings, field improvement and other infrastructure improvements. Several key highlights included $750,000 to the Panania Diggers Soccer Club for a new amenity building and $1.5 million for a synthetic field in the Hornsby Council.

The Federal Election saw several key projects funded with over $15 million committed to football including $500,000 to the Manly Warringah Football Association for their clubhouse upgrade and $450,000 for the first stage of the redevelopment of the Carlingford Ovals including field and lighting upgrades.

With our State-Wide Facilities Audit completed in 2018, the next phase was to use the data collected to develop an Infrastructure Strategy for NSW for the next ten years. Facilities continue to be an issue for community football across the country and certainly highlighted in NSW with a growing population and increasing popularity for the

game over the next 10 to 20 years. A strategic framework for the planning and development of football infrastructure across metropolitan Sydney and regional NSW is imperative to sustain current participation numbers and to help grow the game in the future. In simple terms, going forward the current demand and growth of the game is only limited by our capacity to provide suitable facilities for players to participate in a safe environment.

Over the last 12 months, the Facilities and Advocacy Unit has connected with most local Councils across NSW, Football NSW Associations and Northern NSW Football Zones either through workshops or surveys to shape our infrastructure strategy. The NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy 2020-2030 will deliver an integrated state-wide football facility supply, demand and investment strategy that guides the provision of, and investment in football facilities across NSW over the next ten years.

The highly successful Let’s Light Up Football Fund returned for a second year in 2019 with another $300,000 distributed to football clubs in NSW from the Community Investment Fund. Once again, lighting projects were spread across NSW to provide much needed lighting upgrades for community football clubs across the state. The key objective of this Fund is to incentivise a joint funding approach whereby matching contributions from a club and/or association is combined with Local Council support and to provide much needed high-quality pitch lighting.

Together with projects supported in 2018, the Let’s Light Up Football Fund has now

seen a total of $602,124 invested by Football NSW resulting in a total of $6.4 million being invested into pitch lighting by Clubs, Associations and Local Councils. Over the last two years, 34 football fields in NSW have been lit as a result of this program.

Similar to the Let’s Light Up Football Fund, Northern NSW Football launched its first ever Football Facilities Fund for its affiliated Zones and Clubs. The fund provided $332,288 to six community football clubs in its first year. The Facilities and Advocacy Unit provided support to Zones and clubs during the application period and was involved in the assessment process. The $332,288 in funding facilitated a total investment of $786,401 in community football facilities when aggregated with other funding pledges. The establishment of the Facilities Fund is aligned to Northern NSW Football strategic goal to improve the accessibility and overall quality of football facilities throughout NSW.

The two funds offered by both Football NSW and Northern NSW Football demonstrates football’s commitment to infrastructure improvement across NSW. Both organisations understand the value of facilities not only to enable growth in the game, but their role in enabling broader community development. Ensuring communities have adequate spaces where people can actively and safely engage in sport and recreation can provide improved social, health, educational and cultural outcomes for all.

The First Round of the Greater Sydney Sports Facility Fund was announced with eight of 15 projects being directly or indirectly football

related. Two of the larger football projects that were funded included $5 million towards a synthetic field at Rydalmere Park and $2.5 million towards the first synthetic fields in the Nepean Football Association at Jamison Park. Completion of both synthetic fields is expected in 2020.

In 2019, Football NSW and Tennis NSW announced an exciting partnership agreement aimed at increasing the opportunities for member clubs and associations to share access to existing tennis facilities across NSW. Working with community stakeholders, and aligning with Office of Sport initiatives, it is hoped that new and existing tennis facilities are made available for multi-purpose community use, suitable for the conduct of small sided football competitions, or general training. With many recreational activities facing the pressures of limited space, increasing population pressures, and financial

sustainability, this opportunity presents an ideal opportunity for both football and tennis. It is hoped that a joint share model is developed whereby football players and teams can share access to tennis courts thereby contributing to the sustainability of these facilities in the future.

Football NSW, Northern NSW Football and leading national modular construction company, Ausco Modular, partnered to deliver high specification changerooms and facilities for all club levels. The StateWide Facilities Audit highlighted that 22% of venues don’t have change rooms, 64% of venues don’t have a Referee’s room with the most alarming statistic being that only 12% of changerooms are ‘female friendly’. This partnership with Ausco Modular will look to improve the number of ‘female friendly’ facilities across NSW to accommodate our large female participation base.

The partnership will provide football clubs with an alternative option when it comes to the construction of amenity buildings. Ausco Modular buildings have a lower build cost, significant time-savings, in-house design services and their end-to-end project management makes their sporting facilities perfect for community football clubs.

Next year will be a milestone year for football in NSW with the launch of the NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy 2020-2030, a first for football. This Strategy will become an important piece in our ongoing engagement with all levels of Government over the coming decade. The Strategy will allow the sport and governments the opportunity to plan and develop football facilities for the 350,000 registered participants that participate in the world game today.

LET’S LIGHT UP FOOTBALL FUND

$ $ $602,124

FOOTBALL INVESTMENT

CONVERTED INTO

$6,469,885 TOTAL INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE

34 FUNDED PROJECTS over 2 years

23 ADDITIONAL FIELDS with lighting above Australian Standards

INCREASED CAPACITY

7 new fields with lighting

FOOTBALL FIELDS UPGRADED

30 metro 4 regional

VALENTINE SPORTS PARK

Valentine Sports Park once again kicked off its objectives in what was a successful 2019 season with the precinct being used for a number of events for football and various other sports.

The Glenwood based venue played host to the full spectrum of the football family in elite and grassroots for outdoor and Futsal competitions as well as servicing the sporting and recreational needs of the local community on top of providing an avenue for numerous other sports to experience the high-quality facility via its accommodation. Some of the major highlights for the 2019 season included:

• Community Cup - North Epping Rangers v Australian Army

• Matildas & UNICEF - World Children’s Day Collaboration

• Milo Malaysia Tour

• FFA Futsal National Championships

• Sanitarium Weet-bix commercial with Tim Cahill

• AICES Football Championships

• AICES Open Football Championships

• Pararoos Camp

• Hills Football Breast Cancer Cup

• CIS Football Championships

• NSWCCC Football Championships

• NSW CIS Cup Semi Finals

• NSW CIS Grand Final

• NSW All Schools Football Championships

• Football United Gala Day

• Football 4 All

• TSP Tournament

• ALDI MiniRoos Holiday Clinic

• M Sports Tours

• State Cup Finals

• SAP Gala Days

• NSW CCC KO Semi Finals

• NSW All Schools Challenge Cup

• Football United Gala Days

• NSW PSSA Football & Touch Gala Day

• Football NSW State Titles

• National CP Football Championships

• IFCPF Female Camp

• Champions of Champions Finals

• NSW PSSA Football Knockout Finals

• ADF Tournament

• Futsal Cup

• Futsal Premier League

• NPL Women’s Grand Finals

• State League Grand Finals

• NPL Youth Grand Finals

• NPL3 Grand Finals

• Western Sydney Wanderers hosted the Wellington Phoenix, Newcastle Jets and Central Mariners for friendlies

• Young Matildas Camps

• Junior Matildas Camp

The venue hosted in excess of 1,666 separate events and it is estimated over 107,000 people passed through the venue in 2019.

SKILL ACQUISITION PROGRAM & GIRLS SKILL ACQUISITION PROGRAM

Skill Acquisition Program and Girls Skill Acquisition Program continued to be delivered in 2019 through licenced clubs and Football NSW Associations.

Football NSW again held SAP & Girls SAP Gala Days which are well supported by the clubs and participants, which supports the week to week matches in which clubs participate in.

Football NSW SAP Gala Days also provide the opportunity for clubs to have matches against clubs with whom they do not normally engage during the course of the season.

The ‘Home of Football’ in NSW played host to grassroots football’s most prestigious tournament as teams from all over NSW wowed spectators in what was a wonderful day for the round ball game that proved to be a hit with players, managers as well as the referees and officials on the day.

It was an unforgettable day for the Manly Football Association who had four of its teams take out respective Champion of Champions titles highlighting their association as the most successful at the tournament.

Football South Coast had three of its teams take various titles while Northern Suburbs, St George FA and Sutherland Shire FA took out two respectively.

Club representatives from Southern Districts, Central Coast, Canterbury, Macarthur, Nepean and Hills also enjoyed success as they had one club representative celebrate a Champion of Champions title.

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge commended all the participants in what was a great day for grassroots football in the state.

“It’s a date that we firmly have as one of our most talked about on our football calendars.

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

The 51st Football NSW’s Champion of Champions finals were played at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday 21st of October with nineteen highly entertaining matches that rocked the state governing body’s headquarters.

“The Champion of Champions is a special tournament with so many amazing stories from each of the clubs doing the rounds leading up to the big finale.

“We were privy to some perfect football performances and I am sure each participant, club, parent and fan enjoyed themselves thoroughly on one of our biggest days of the year.”

17 Men

18 Women

Wanderers FC (Canterbury & District SFA) 3 v University of Wollongong Juniors (Football South Coast) 0

Kemps Creek SC (Southern Districts SFA) 2 v Narellan Rangers SC (Macarthur FA) 3

Shellharbour Junior FC (Football South Coast) 0 v Rouse Hill Rams FC (Hills Football) 1

18 Men Lindfield FC (Northern Suburbs FA) 3 v Glenmore Park Football Club (Nepean FA) 4

21 Women

21 Mens

Greystanes FC (Granville & District FA) 2 v Wollongong United FC (Football South Coast) 8

Cronulla Seagulls (Sutherland Shire FA) 3 v Epping Eastwood FC (Gladesville Hornsby FA) 2

All Age Women Southern Ettalong United FC (Central Coast Football) 2 v Albion Park SC (Football South Coast) 9

All Age Men Brookvale FC (Eastern Suburbs FA) 4 v West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook FC (Gladesville Hornsby FA) 1

Over 30 Women

Loftus Yarrawarrah Rovers FC (Football South Coast) 2 v Pittwater RSL FC (Manly Warringah FA) 3

Over 35 Men Como Jannali FC (Sutherland Shire FA) 2 v Southern Ettalong United FC (Central Coast Football) 0

Over 45 Men

Inter Lions Soccer Club (Canterbury & District FA) 1 v Hurstville City Minotaurs (St George FA) 2

FEMALE FOOTBALL WEEK

Delivered in hybrid format, Female Football Week is a national initiative to celebrate the immense growth of women’s football at all levels of the game and acknowledge and promote the important role women play in developing football.

In 2019 Football NSW delivered Female Football Week from May 25th – June 2nd in the lead up to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup where over 8,500 participants took part in activations.

The Football NSW talent was again on show at the FFA’s Female Football Week Community Awards. The awards were established to identify players, coaches, administrators, referees and male champions who have gone above and beyond in women’s football. Football NSW was thrilled when Chloe Gray Macarthur District Football Association was recognised as the FFW Community Referee of the Year in a celebration on International Women’s Day. Chloe who has been a part of the Macarthur Football Referees Association for the past six years has officiated at all levels of the game, including the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s Competition is a part of the Football NSW Referees Academy, she has also been chosen as part of an elite group that traveled to Dallas in the USA to officiate the Dallas Cup, a tournament which will see her be given the opportunity to rub shoulders with other FIFA officials throughout the duration of the competition. Despite all her accolades on the pitch, away from the field Chloe is also seen as a mentor amongst her peers within the community and has become a highly regarded individual.

Women & Girls Association Working Group

During FFW Football NSW launched a working group formed with Association staff who have Womens and Girls football within their portfolios. The purpose of the group is to information share, create common goals and best practice models for Womens and girls’ football. During this first meeting FFA’s Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Cassie Lindsey presented on the FFA’s framework for building inclusive Club. This group will meet regularly to challenge current thinking around women and girls’ football. Currently 10 Football Associations and Football NSW make up the working group.

Coaching Female Football Workshop

Football NSW kicked-off the week long festivities with a Coaching Female Football workshop, which took place at Valentine Sports Park. Over 100 enthusiastic coaches braved the crisp conditions for this exclusive opportunity, which comprised of an on-field session run by Leah Blayney and the Future Matildas, followed by an FFA Technical Analyst session by Alexandra Diakos. A panel discussion then took place with Football NSW Women & Girls Technical Director Brian Dene, Western Sydney Wanderers W-League assistant Catherine Cannuli, Future Matildas and Football NSW Institute Coach Leah Blayney and FFA Technical Analyst session by Alexandra Diakos.

School Sessions

Throughout Female Football Week, Clubs/ Associations and Football NSW delivered various school session including MiniRoos gala days, the Football NSW Futsal Schools Championships and MiniRoos Kick Off Programs. Students were able to refine their skills, make new friends and even experience football and futsal for the first time. School programs remain a great way to introduce boys and girls to the game within the safely of the school environment.

Girls Goal Keeping

Under the watchful eye of Football NSW Game Development Officer and Sydney FC goalkeeper Trudy Burke and Nepean Football Association Football Manager James Rankine female goal keepers of all ages attended development sessions. ‘Goalkeeper specific sessions are a first for Female Football Week and it was exciting to see so many enthusiastic goalkeepers wanting to fine tune their skills.’ Commented Trudy Burke.

ASSOCIATION OR CLUB

Sydney Juniors Football Clubs

North West Sydney Women’s Football Association

Canterbury & District Soccer Football Association

EVENT NAME

MiniRoos for Girls

North West Sydney Women’s Football Association Female Football Week Master Class with Rae Dower

CDSFA Female Football Week Gala Day

Girls Skill Acquisition Programs

With the season in full swing, many GSAP Clubs delivered come and try GSAP sessions. Girls Skill Acquisition Programs offer Football development for FFA’s Skill Acquisition Phase Training (based on the National Curriculum) for talented girls entering the FNSW/FFA representative player pathway. The focus is on core skill development and lays the foundation for players moving into the next football development phase (game training) and the National Premier Youth Leagues. During the come and try sessions, players were able to experience a typical training session with current squads.

List of Association and Club Events

Football NSW would like to thank and commend the below list of Clubs and Associations that supported the 2019 Female Football Week by hosting events. This year was our best yet, with over 8,500 participants taking part in activations for players, coaches, referees and administrators.

St George Football Association

Women’s O30 Social 6’s Marconi Football Club

Berowra Football Club

Northern Suburbs FA

Gladesville Ravens Football Club

Panania Diggers Soccer Club

Hornsby Heights Football Club

UNSW Football Club

Albury Wodonga Football Association

Camden Tigers Football Club

Northern Suburbs FA

Southern Districts Soccer Football Assoc

Football United

Northern Suburbs FA

Springwood United FC

Canterbury Junior FC

Camden Tigers Football Club

Northern Suburbs FA

Hazelbrook Football Club

Asquith Soccer Club

St FC Panania

Sydney Olympic FC

UNSW Football Club

St FC Panania

Mount Druitt Town Rangers FC

Northbridge Football Club

Northbridge Football Club

Nepean Football Association

NWSWF & GHFA

Football South Coast

Springwood United FC

BTH Raiders SC

Kellyville Kolts

Manly United Football Club

West Pymble Football Club

Hills Football

Hills Football

Wentworth Falls Football Club

Burwood FC

St George FC

Female Football Week

Back to Berowra weekend. Celebrating our 60th anniversary and Female Football week

Northern Tigers WPL NSFA Day

Round 12 Home Game V APIA

Women’s Football Day

Female Football Festival

FFW – Pull Up Your Socks

Women’s Pink Round

FFW Girls Conference League & Ladies Day“GO PINK”

NSFA FFW Coach Education Workshop

SDSFA FFW WWC EDITION

Fairfield Football in the Park

Female Football Friday

Ladies Night

Vince & Val Laws Girls Gala Day

FFW Girls Celebration Day - ‘GO PINK’

Northern Tigers WPL NSFA Day

Hazelbrook Female Football Gala Day

Female Football Showcase and Festival

Australia vs Italy live family event

NPL 1 Womens Round 13

Pull on Your Socks

Female Football Clinic

Rib Night: Feast and Football

Girls Come and Try Day

Soccercise Come and Try Day

FFW Goalkeeping Workshop

U8-U12 GHFA/NWSWF Festival of Football FFW Celebration

Come and Try Football event for Female 4-12 years

Matildas v Italy

Raiders Pull on Your Socks

Training night with Premier League Ladies

FFW Activity

Festival of Female Football

Female Football Week Level 4 Referee Course

Female only ALDI MiniRoos Certificate

Training session for Female players at Wentworth Falls FC

FFW Ball Skills Workshop

FFW Round

STATE CUPS

A picture-perfect day for football took place on Sunday the 21st of July at Valentine Sports Park, as association clubs from far and wide came together in a battle to take home this years’ State Cup honours.

Thousands of players and their fans made their way to the home of football in Glenwood, as the battle for cup glory and association bragging rights took place, with fifteen championship winners crowned.

Four age groups were named after former administrators, players and football advocates who have assisted in the development of the game in NSW.

The 12 Boys were playing for the Frank Broughton Cup, the 12 Girls the Cheryl Salisbury Cup, the 21 Men’s the Robertson Cup while the All Age Men fought it out for the Bill Cullinan Cup.

Manly Warringah Football Association took the first honours with Pittwater RSL claiming the Cheryl Salisbury Cup against the Blacktown Association’s club the Parklea SFC .

While the Frank Broughton Cup was taken out by Sutherland Association side Lilli Pilli FC, who defeated their cross town rivals Marton FC in a compelling 3-1 victory.

The Robertson Cup for the first time in five years will leave it’s residency from the Sutherland Association, thanks to Football South Coast side Wollongong United FC, who defeated Glenmore Park FC in a 3-nil thrashing.

Concluding the day’s accolades, the Bill Cullinan Cup was taken home by the Kirrawee Kangaroos in what was a thrilling display of football. The Kirrawee Kanagroos emerging victorious for a second year in a row within this competition, to become champions once more.

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge praised the clubs and associations on making this day so special.

“The State Cup is one of our most prestigious events we run at Football NSW.

“Events such as these allow clubs from within our associations to test themselves against the best from around the state.

“We thank all those behind the scenes in making today’s event a significant highlight within our annual calendar.”

ALDI MiniRoos Football is specifically designed for children under the age of 12 with matches and programs delivered on smaller fields in smaller teams with the aim to build a more inclusive environment for kids to fall in love with football.

ALDI MiniRoos Club Football is the home of Australia’s largest network of grassroots football clubs, who provide opportunities for boys and girls of all abilities to play small sided games at the weekend. 2019 saw more than 98,000 children register to play football during the Winter Club Football season. Of these children 21,889 were female (22.26%), an increase of 2.62% in female participation from the 2018 season, which is a testament to the continuous promotion and support for female football across the football landscape.

As part of the ALDI MiniRoos initiative, clubs and associations were able to order their free Club Coordinator Packs through the MiniRoos website. 2019 pack options included different options of balls, ball carry bags, cones and player bibs depending on the individual club’s needs.

The Club Football season also saw various other initiatives take place, including the Office of Sport’s Shoosh for Kids awareness week. This initiative took place during the week 20th May to the 26th May, with 102 football clubs across NSW showing their support of the initiative by signing up to support the campaign. Football NSW support both the Winter and Summer Shoosh for Kids initiatives which aim to support grassroots clubs in providing positive environment for their members and address issues that arise from poor sideline behaviour including; abuse to officials, reduced volunteer numbers and reduced participation rates (due to poor experiences, non-enjoyment or too competitive).

Another initiative aimed at improving the experience of participants at grassroots clubs is the FFA’s Club Coach Coordinator (CCC) program. 2019 saw the Technical and Member Services departments at Football NSW work together to promote the program to our grassroots community through Association Workshops, sharing of key messaging through social media, and the introduction of the ALDI MiniRoos Club Football Support Program. The latter program was piloted in 2019 in the Granville Football Association with Parramatta City FC. Through this pilot program Parramatta City FC were provided with a Football NSW Game Development Officer that acted as the club’s CCC for a 12 week period; addressing the retention rates

ALDI MINIROOS

2019 saw more than 100,000 children under the age of 12 participate in ALDI MiniRoos Football across NSW.

of players and coaches by providing on the job coach education to volunteer coaches in order to improve the quality of coaching and improve club culture.

The Football NSW MiniRoos Servicing Scheme (MSS) achieved another successful year since its introduction in 2017. Through this scheme, Football NSW provided financial support to targeted Member Association with the aim to introduce more boys and girls to football through the ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off program and associated initiatives. Six associations actively engaged with Football NSW to contribute to the overall success of the ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off program in 2019, which saw a total of 3,666 boys and girls register to one of the 83 sites in the Football NSW landscape. In line with Club Football participation data, female participation also increased in Kick-Off programs with 1,307 female participants in 2019.

Further to the grants provided to associations through the MSS, the Member Services team also offered grassroots clubs to apply for a $500 MiniRoos Kick-Off Summer Grant. The Summer Grant is designed to assist member clubs to establish their MiniRoos Kick-Off program during the post-season of 2019 or pre-season of 2020, with the ultimate goal of driving participation for the following year. Grassroots clubs who received the 2019 ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off Summer Grant included Albury Hotspurs FC, Bathurst Collegians SC, Forbes District SC, Normanhurst Eagles FC, Richmond Ex-Servicemens SC, Roselea FC, Rouse Hill Rangers FC, Southern Tablelands Football Association and Strathfield FC.

Whilst the ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off is designed for children aged 4-11, the Hills Football Association and various other clubs around NSW have been modifying the program at their own centres to cater for children aged 3-5. In 2019, Football NSW’s community team made significant process in developing a state-wide product that can be delivered consistently across Sydney and looking to branch out further. The first Football NSW delivered Kinder Kick-Off was delivered as a 10-week pilot program at Bright Achievers Early Learning Centre in Glenwood, with 20 registered participants aged under the age of 5. The program successfully helped the children build fundamental motor skills, develop social skills and self-esteem through introducing them to football. The 10-week program culminated in a special visit from the Western Sydney Wanderers mascots, which led to many smiles and the children receiving their ALDI MiniRoos Participant Packs.

2020 will see the Kinder Kick-Off program branch out Sydney wide with the aim to promote healthy and active lifestyles in the early development stages of children through introducing them to football.

The ALDI MiniRoos Settlement Program is another branch of the Kick-Off product that aims to build more inclusive football environments by supporting recently arrived migrant and refugee communities through subsidised programs. With the support of our Member Associations and other migrant resource centres and similar organisations, Football NSW once again delivered successful programs in Fairfield, Lakemba, Liverpool and Punchbowl.

Valentine Sports Park was once again home to the ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off Fun Days. After the successful implementation of these school holiday programs in 2018, Football NSW once again hosted 3 fun days in 2019, engaging with more than 250 children. All participants received a #GoSocceroos or #GoMatildas ALDI MiniRoos Jersey and ALDI MiniRoos Football as well as Football NSW giveaways. Our inflatable activations were once again a popular sight at various community events throughout the year. The ALDI MiniRoos Shooting Targets, Football NSW Dartboard and Street Football Pitch; visited more than 100 Member Association and Club based events such as ALDI MiniRoos Gala Days, Female Football Week events, Grassroots Presentation Days, NAIDOC events, football4all events and various match day events for the Matildas, Socceroos, Olyroos, FFA Cup and MinIRoos Ticket Offer Rounds. With an increase in participation and engagement in football throughout NSW, Football NSW congratulates our Member Associations’ and Clubs’ staff and volunteers for their countless hours on the ground providing children and families with a safe and fun place to learn to play football.

NPL NSW MEN’S

NSW MEN’S

Led by retired Socceroos star Luke Wilkshire, Wollongong ended years of disappointment by winning the premiership title for the first time in 32 seasons after leading the competition every week since round one. However, Wollongong weren’t the only storyline and there was more than a few twists and turns over a thrilling 22 weeks.

The new season kicked off in March and it delivered a massive upset right from the outset with reigning premiers and champions Sydney Olympic stunned by Sutherland Sharks with Jeremy Cox scoring the match winner.

Not much was known about the Wolves at the start of the new campaign after a big turnover of players in the offseason but they gave their fans reason to be confident with a 2-1 win against Manly United at WIN Stadium.

It wasn’t until week two that the Wolves truly had their coming out party when they thrashed competition favourites APIA Leichhardt Tigers 3-0 with new striker Thomas James scoring a hat trick.

Sydney Olympic eased any doubts after their round one loss with a dominant 6-2 humiliation of newly promoted Mt Druitt. It was an early reality check for the competition new boys as the reigning premiers flexed their muscles.

The last week of the season had a few extra twists with Mt Druitt defeating APIA and Hakoah holding Blacktown to a draw. A 3-1 win for Sydney United 58 against Manly United helped them finish the year in fourth place.

Finally Wollongong gave their fans the victory lap they craved as they were presented

TEAM YEAR OF THE

the premiership trophy after a win against Marconi stallions.

The result also meant Wollongong had been in top spot on the table through every week of the season.

APIA finished the year in second spot followed by Blacktown in third, United in fourth and rounding out the top five was Marconi.

Sydney Olympic’s disappointing title defence finished in sixth and out of the finals, while Mt Druitt narrowly missed out on a fairytale finals berth in their first year after promotion in seventh.

Sutherland ended the year in eighth, Manly United in ninth, Rockdale in 10th and Sydney FC in 11th.

Hakoah won the dubious honour of the wooden spoon for 2019 after finishing in last place.

The Football NSW Men’s Championship series was to be one of the best yet as the leagues best teams did battle for grand final glory.

Sydney United 58 kicked off proceedings at Edensor Park in a thrilling elimination final against fierce rivals Marconi Stallions which needed extra-time to decide a winner.

It was United 58’s Patrick Antelmi who sunk the Stallions with a brace to end Marconi’s hopes of claiming their second piece of silverware for the season.

Week one of the Championship Series also featured another game which went down to the wire with a penalty shootout deciding the preliminary semi-final clash at Lambert Park between APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Blacktown City.

After a gruelling 90 minutes with the match locked at 0-0, Chris Payne thought he had found the match winner for APIA when he slotted home in the first period of extra-time.

However, Joey Gibbs had other ideas and kept Blacktown alive with an incredible goal in the final seconds of the match to force the game to penalties.

Blacktown were unable to complete the fairytale as APIA kept their cool to secure the win from the spot.

Week two of the playoffs got underway in spectacular style as Blacktown City and Sydney United 58 played out a game for the ages in the minor semi-final at Lily Homes Stadium.

The opening 20 minutes had to be seen to be believed with Blacktown and United trading a

The 2019 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 2019 regular season is in the books and it was the year of the Wollongong Wolves.

UROSEVSKI JESIC GIBBS OUGHTRED PASFIELD

COACH: WILKSHIRE SUBSTITUTES

flurry of goals with the home side leading 3-2 despite less than a third of the game being played.

Blacktown held the lead for most of the game but a Tomislav Uskok finish with less than 15 minutes remaining sent the game to extra-time.

The visitors had all the momentum and delivered a masterclass during extra time to score four unanswered goals and inexplicably force a premature end to Blacktown’s season with an incredible 7-3 win.

In the major semi-final, recently crowned Premiers Wollongong Wolves looked to stretch their dominance over APIA Leichhardt Tigers at WIN Stadium.

While the Wolves had controlled proceedings in their previous two games against APIA, it was a different story on this occasion with underdogs the Tigers snatch a gritty 1-0 win thanks to a poachers finish from Chris Payne.

Wollongong threw everything forward at the death but it wasn’t enough as APIA punched their ticket to the Grand Final at Bankwest Stadium with the courageous victory.

The Wolves loss meant that WIN Stadium was the scene again in week three of the finals series as they were forced to take on United 58 to fight for the remaining spot in this seasons decider.

Stefan Dimoski opened the home side’s account on the cusp of half time and it appeared like it was back to business as usual for the Wolves. But their world came crashing down in the second stanza as United struck twice to complete an incredible 2-1 comeback.

It was the first time all season Wollongong had lost two consecutive league matches with their untimely slump in form proving costly.

Bankwest Stadium played host to the biggest day of the season as APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Sydney United 58 went head to head in the 2019 NPL NSW Men’s grand final in front of 6,500 boisterous fans.

Looking to end near three years of championship sorrow, APIA took the lead in the first half through a strong header from Paul Galimi.

United 58 refused to give in and found an equaliser courtesy of winger Matthew Bilic after some brilliant lead-up play.

With the game deadlocked, fans were treated to extra-time where it was Robbie Slater Medal winner Sean Symons who proved to be the difference maker.

The APIA captain securing victory for his side with a brilliant chipped finish from outside the penalty area as the Tigers finally ended their painful wait for Championship glory with a 2-1 win.

It capped off what was an incredible 2019 NPL NSW season leaving fans already waiting for the 2020 season to get underway.

NPL 2 NSW MEN’S

After 26 gruelling rounds and a pulsating finals series, the 2019 National Premier Leagues 2 NSW Men’s season has seen North Shore Mariners claim the Premiership and Hills United take out the Championship.

Only three years after being wooden spooners, North Shore were top dogs at the end of the regular season, but were unable to stop a rampant Hills United outfit on Grand Final day. There’s been plenty of intriguing stories elsewhere, and the last six months have produced some fascinating football. The season kicked off with a bang as Mounties found two late goals to steal a point in an incredible 5-5 draw against Canterbury Bankstown FC. Macarthur Rams, Northern Tigers and Central Coast Mariners recorded injury time winners in round 2.

St George City FA beat Canterbury 1-0 in round 4 to record their first ever NPL 2 Men’s victory. The fifth weekend featured a 2018 Grand Final rematch, and despite St George FC captain Hussein Akil completing a hat trick inside 20 minutes, a strong second half from Mounties would see them run away to a 5-3 victory.

There was plenty of action in round 8, and a 90th minute equaliser from Rydalmere’s Luke Grima was immediately rendered irrelevant by Lachlan Rose’s 91st minute goal – Spartans won 2-1.

Western Sydney Wanderers registered a 6-0 triumph over Spirit FC in the following round, with Marley Peterson netting a hat trick. Arthur Diles’s side kept it up, and in round 11 Mohamed Adam scored for the eighth consecutive game as the Wanderers defeated St George City FA 3-0.

In round 13, fans at The Crest Athletic Centre saw Canterbury finally record their first win of the year when they beat Rydalmere 3-1.

Bonnyrigg’s 3-0 victory over Hills in round 15 was the start of nine victories and a draw in a ten game sequence for the White Eagles.

Two injury time goals from North Shore sharpshooter Mitchell Smith gave his side a 2-1 win over Macarthur in round 16. That late comeback set the stage for a top of the table clash in round 17 at Northbridge Oval. North Shore ended up squeaking past Hills to claim top spot, an 89th minute Jarrod Dodds own goal giving them a 2-1 victory.

Round 19 produced a milestone as Mohamed Adam scored his 20th goal of the campaign in the 1-1 draw between Western Sydney Wanderers and Rydalmere.

Round 22 gave us a 90 minute rollercoaster between Hills and Central Coast. The Mariners came back from 3-1 down to level the scores. Hills looked to have settled the contest with a 93rd minute goal, but the Mariners scored less than 60 seconds later – 4-4 the final score.

The 23rd round saw Rydalmere end an 11 game winless run by beating Macarthur 3-0, while North Shore stumbled the following weekend, drawing 1-1 with Blacktown Spartans and allowing Hills to retake top spot after their convincing 5-0 win over Canterbury.

The Premiership race took another twist in the penultimate round. At Ilinden Sports Centre, an 89th minute winner from Hussein Akil gave St George FC a 3-2 victory over Hills. The following day, North Shore overcame the disappointment of conceding an early goal to win 3-1 against a nine man Rydalmere, moving back to the top of the table. Meanwhile,

Canterbury finished their home fixtures with a shock 5-3 win over Bonnyrigg.

In the final round, Hills defeated Macarthur 3-2, but would have to settle for second place as North Shore won by the same scoreline over Spirit FC to secure the Premiership.

Bonnyrigg finished in third, Mounties ended the season in fourth, Spirit FC were just behind them in fifth, and Northern Tigers claimed sixth place.

Spartans were in seventh, followed by Central Coast Mariners in eighth and Western Sydney Wanderers in ninth.

St George FC ended up in 10th, with local rivals St George City FA finishing 11th in their debut NPL 2 Men’s season.

Rydalmere were in 12th, Macarthur ended the year in 13th, while Canterbury Bankstown FC finished in last place.

Week 1 of the finals provided high drama. Mounties found an injury time winner to defeat Spirit FC 2-1, while Bonnyrigg needed extra time in their 4-2 victory over Northern Tigers. The following week saw Hills United become the first team to book a Grand Final spot after beating Bonnyrigg 2-1, and North Shore Mariners followed suit on the same day with a convincing 5-0 win over Mounties.

The Grand Final reflected what had been an action-packed season. Hills scored four times in the opening 40 minutes, eventually running away to a 6-3 victory. The Championship trophy is just reward for a club that had improved substantially after missing the finals in each of the previous two seasons.

2 NSW MEN’S

NPL 3 NSW MEN’S

Stanmore Hawks were the most improved outfit this season. They claimed the Premiership this season before falling to SD Raiders in the Grand Final. However, here is a snapshot of how the Hawks progressed from 2018. They went from a 12th placed finish in 2018 to claiming top spot this year, they had the league’s tightest defence this time round compared to last season when they had the fourth worst defence in the competition.

SD Raiders made amends for last season’s Grand Final heartache against St George City FA by defeating the Hawks in this year’s main event. The road to the Grand Final was quite a difficult one to navigate for Nicky Carle’s men, they spent most of the season in 3rd or 4th position on the ladder and were beaten by rivals Stanmore Hawks and Bankstown City in all their meetings over the regular season.

On the other end of the spectrum, we saw Parramatta FC struggle in this year’s competition, the Eagles were relegated from the NPL 2 last year and were dealt with the same fate this year-round as well. Sydney University, Granville Rage and Western NSW Mariners also found it tough this campaign; however, they still have some memories for the highlights reel.

The ‘students’ best win of the campaign arrived against Rage back in June when they triumphed 6-0, whilst Rage caused a major upset when they overcame eventual finals placed outfit Bankstown United 2-1 at the end of July. One result that stood out for the

Mariners was their impressive 4-3 victory away to Uni, that thriller midway through the campaign will go down as one of the most entertaining encounters this season. Following the departure of key personnel, Hawkesbury City had realistic expectations heading into the campaign. Dean Bertenshaw was forced to restructure his side this season, putting his faith in youth, whilst they ended up finishing in 10th spot, they were still able to inflict heartache on the teams above them. They had a profitable spell towards the end of June, where they managed to share the points with Stanmore at Arlington Oval before backing that up with consecutive home victories against Dunbar Rovers and highflying City.

Further up the ladder we had Dulwich Hill, Dunbar Rovers and Camden Tigers. All three sides were sniffing around the top six this campaign, whilst Dunbar and Camden were still in with a chance of finals football when we approached the final round of the regular season. Dunbar always made it difficult for their opposition week in, week out. They shared the points with Stanmore early in the campaign before falling short against them thanks to a dramatic late equaliser in their reverse fixture, whilst they condemned Bankstown City to a 3rd placed finish when they smashed them 4-1 in the final round.

The Tigers’ home form was their saviour this season, they only lost three matches at Ron Dine Stadium and had the fourth best home

record in the competition. Their hopes of securing a finals berth on the final matchday were dashed after Inter Lions managed to cling on to six position thanks to their victory over the Mariners.

To explain Inter’s campaign we can split their season into two. The first half of the season, John Theo’s men were firing on all cylinders and sitting pretty in the top five with plenty of breathing space below them. However, injuries took its toll on the side as the season progressed and they crawled into the finals with only one win from their final seven matches in the regular season. They sparked to life in the finals and were unfortunate not to knock off City as they fell to a high scoring 6-5 defeat.

Bankstown United were the overachievers this season, they surpassed all expectation in their first year in the competition by ending up in 5th position on the ladder and making their debut in the NPL 3 finals series. Their best highlight of the season will no doubt be their derby triumph over their neighbours.

As always, Gladesville Ryde Magic were a force to be reckoned with in the NPL 3 competition. Up until round four, Magic were the only side who held a perfect record in the league, however like many other sides, injuries and player departures had a massive toll on their results. They laboured their way past United in the first week of the finals before being outdone by the Hawks in the semi-final.

3 NSW MEN’S

As we close the book on another chapter of the National Premier Leagues 3 competition, we look back at all the defining moments that shaped the 2019 season.

Round one of the competition saw perhaps the most shocking result of the season as eventual premiers Central Coast United had an off night at Cook Park which saw Nepean FC come away with a convincing win.

As good teams do, Central Coast United then responded in style knocking off South Coast Flame in a club record 9-0 win. The result would subsequently see the resignation of Flame’s head coach and a turnaround with a midseason run eventually seeing them secure finals football.

That round (round 4), also saw the first Hurstville derby of the season play out with the Hurstville City Minotaurs coming away with the chocolates. However, Hurstville FC would strike back later in the season.

The first half of the campaign was a minefield with surprise results coming every week. Most notable of which saw FC Gazy Auburn and Hurstville FC knock off eventual champions Fraser Park FC.

These results for Fraser Park, set the scene for a memorable night in round 11, the team from Marrickville almost throwing away a 4-1 lead over the Western Condors to scrape home 5-4 in the game of the season.

After the storm, there is always calm. And with the turnaround of the season upon

STATE LEAGUE MEN’S

New year, no different for the State League Men’s competition in 2019. The league was at it’s chaotic, unpredictable best throughout the season. In the end though, it was a tale of the top two teams when it came to silverware and deservedly so as they broke away from the rest during the regular season.

us, results started to normalize with one exception. Balmain Tigers on the back of the performances of new striker Frank Calgano found their roar. And they looked like securing a finals position after 7 wins in 8 leading into round 18 including the much-coveted win over Fraser Park on the road, unfortunately though things then petered out.

The club championship and premiership races came to a head in round 19 and UNSW FC had the last laugh in 2019 over former friend now foe Renato Jelen. UNSW FC were unlucky throughout this year’s campaign, with problems at the back meaning they could only hold Fraser Park to a draw despite the heroics of golden boot winner Nima Beik who found the scoresheet once again in this one

And it came in poetic fashion, as United returned to Prospect after their heartbreak last year. This time there was no doubt and they emerged as comfortable victors.

Come the last day, only one thing was on everyone’s minds and it was finals qualification. In a tense and thrilling finish, Western Condors and South Coast Flame secured victories whilst Hurstville FC relied on Prospect United defeating Nepean FC to progress.

Finals time and it didn’t disappoint in week

one. Fraser Park and Western Condors just had a knack of playing out thrillers this season, this game was no different with Fraser winning 3-2 in a tense contest. In the other game, South Coast Flame took advantage of home comforts securing an unlikely win over Hurstville FC courtesy of a Yuki Mandai goal.

The second week of the finals saw simultaneous kick offs just metres away from each other. On that night South Coast Flame outlasted Western Condors in extra time to live another week whilst Central Coast United got some revenge after dropping both regular season fixtures to Fraser Park, winning 3-0 to progress to the grand final in a clinical performance.

However, that’s where South Coast Flame’s run came to an end, with Fraser Park bouncing back a week later to book the other grand final spot highlighted by a long range freekick from Cam Philpot.

And didn’t they take advantage of it going on to win the trophy on a warm afternoon at Valentine Sports Park. Luiz Lobo opened the scoring on 15 minutes as the team from Marrickville controlled proceedings for large parts of the fixture. The other stand out moment being goalkeeper Thomas Alston saving an Adam Woodbine header with just seconds remaining in the fixture.

NPL NSW WOMEN’S

NSW WOMEN’S

They dominated the campaign and showed their strength by winning both the first grade and reserve grade competitions.

For the newly promoted Sydney Olympic it was a season to remember and much the same can be said for the incredible Northern Tigers and Blacktown Spartans.

The season kicked off with the new girls on the block smashing the Blacktown Spartans with Panagiota Petratos the star, while Uni did even better against Bankstown City.

2018 champions Macarthur also got off to a good start with a tight victory at Cromer Park.

After round four every team but the North Shore Mariners had recorded a victory as the Blacktown Spartans would begin their incredible run with Ash Crofts finding top bins and even Kylie Ledbrook winding back the years with a spectacular volley in the same match.

It was a first defeat of the season for Uni with Football NSW Institute staking their claim for a run at the title.

Alix Roberts showed her dead ball specialties which continued throughout the season, scoring the winner in round eight against the Stingrays.

By the halfway point of the season, we had already had five different league leaders with everyone confident they could push through to the end and be crowned premiers.

We witnessed one of the best headed goals of the season in round 12 by Emilly Minett from Manly, but it wasn’t enough for victory against the Rams.

In round 13 Sydney Uni continued to knock down everything in their path, snapping a nine-match undefeated run by the Spartans.

Round 17 had the Illawarra Stingrays keep their premiership hopes alive with a massive 6-1 win over Bankstown, while the Tigers tore apart the Mariners in the local derby, Daisy Arrowsmith showing her prowess in front of goal.

The Champions finals hopes took a massive blow five rounds from the end as they lost to Uni.

North Shore caught a break with their best performance of the season in round 20, defeating Macarthur 4-1.

One game from the end of the season, Sydney Uni wrapped up the premiership with a routine victory over the North West Sydney Koalas.

The best was saved to an incredible final day. With final ladder positions on the line, everyone went at it full throttle.

In arguably the match of the season, the fantastic Vesna Milivojevic had Bankstown in front against the Tigers with only minutes remaining before the Tigers staged a late come back and took the spoils with a 4-3 win, securing third spot.

The Rams finished the season on a high while Uni defeated the Stingrays, dropping them to fifth place on the ladder.

Finals kicked off with an incredible nine-goal thriller and a memorable turnaround where the Illawarra Stingrays came back having been down by three goals inside the first 30 minutes against the Blacktown Spartans to win 5-4.

On the other side of town, it took a late Northern Tigers goal to put them in the major semi final against Sydney University, while the defeated Sydney Olympic took on the Stingrays.

Olympic were involved in another tight game, this time outlasting the Stingrays and continuing their season for at least another week.

Sydney University showed complete dominance at Arlington Oval against the Tigers and secured their grand final spot with a spectacular goal from Rachel Soutar.

The Tigers would get another chance, facing up against Olympic or the second time in two weeks, this time thumping the team in Blue 3-0.

At Valentine Sports Park, Sydney Uni was looking to claim the double and go a step further from the previous season. It wouldn’t go for them the way they expected as Jason Eagar’s Tigers came to play.

The underdogs would take the lead mid-way through the second half in some style through Emma Watkins after an inspired performance from the team from North Turramurra.

Best on the park Servet Uzunlar looked set to lift the trophy until Cortnee Vine scored late for Uni to send the game into extra time.

The added 30 minutes didn’t bring a winner so the match moved to a penalty shootout where Courtney Newbon took her chance to shine, saving two spot kicks and helping uni lift the Championship.

It was Sydney University’s year in the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s competition in 2019.

NPL 2 NSW WOMEN’S

2019 was another fantastic season in the National Premier Leagues 2 NSW Womens competition – APIA Leichhardt Tigers were crowned Premiers after a dominant performance across 22 rounds but were pipped in the Grand Final by Gladesville Ravens, 1-0 in what was a tense and fitting finale for the season.

APIA Leichhardt Tigers were the standard bearer this season in NPL2 NSW Womens. After a round 1 defeat to Gladesville, they went through the rest of the regular season, undefeated. That 21-game streak swept to the Premiership and the work of Golden Boot Ashleigh Palombi was central to that as she combined with Georgia Bridges and Amy Dahdah to plunder 68 goals of their 105 scored.

In their first season back in the NPL2 NSW Womens competition, Sutherland Shire FA picked up where they left off last time. Sutherland Shire FA finished second with 53 points, only two points behind rampant APIA. Jordan Baker led the way again for them with 30 goals which took them to a Preliminary Final which saw them defeated 4-3 by Gladesville Ravens.

Onto the Ravens, whilst they finished the regular season in third, they went the long road in the post-season and edged out APIA for the Championship, 1-nil. Gladesville Ravens found their consistency in 2019 after missing the finals by a single point, and standout performances from Emily Diaz, Yume Kashima and Eri Arikawa alongside their team spirit helped them to their success which included being the only side undefeated against APIA – the two sides played out the game of the season in a 3-3 draw on a crisp night at Christie Park.

Nepean FC continued to make progress in 2019 as they finished fourth but were on the heels of the top three who ran away with the competition this year. Coach Alan Tasses brought through some talented youth in

the side alongside the experienced Desiree Vassallo and Stefanie Trovato which saw them claim the scalps of Sutherland Shire FA and Gladesville Ravens plus a pair of draws against APIA that showed they can compete at the top table.

Rounding out the top five was last year’s Grand Finalists, Central Coast Mariners. Still missing 2018 Golden Boot Candice Phelan, the yellow-and-navy had Danielle Wise step into the breach with 29 goals to lead the young side to another finals appearance. Dan Barrett adjusted his side well dealing with injuries across the season and it was another season of growth for the academy which included starring roles from Mikala Tucker and Iona Snape.

Missing the post-season by a single point, Marconi Stallions missed the finals but improved their finishing position on 2018. The addition of Jasmin Courtenay returned 26 goals but her combination with Ceyda Cambaz saw the Stallions pick up some huge victories, headlined by a 4-3 win against Sutherland Shire FA but being unable to string more than four results together cruelled their chances.

SD Raiders FC started the season slow but Terry Gray got his side rolling through the middle of the season which had them chasing a top five spot until the final few weeks. Their highlight was a 3-2 success against Marconi Stallions in round 7. Custodian Natasha Pentecost was a constant with some stunning saves this season which helped them feed their talented forward line led by Samantha Muscat.

For UNSW FC, new coach Alex Nolan will be delighted with the way his side bookended their season. Three games undefeated to start the season had them dreaming of a finals spot but after that start they were unable to build through the season. UNSW FC did finish the season with good results against Marconi Stallions and SD Raiders with the form of goalscorer Alexandra O’Rourke has them confident for the future.

Both Western NSW Mariners and St George FC had disappointing seasons as they finished in 9th and 10th respectively. The Mariners were a tough nut to crack at home but found themselves on the wrong side of the ledger too often with 14 losses. St George FC improved on 2018, finishing one spot and point higher, but otherwise an uneventful season for the Saints. A comeback result against UNSW FC was one result to hang their hat on.

Southern Branch FC moved themselves off the bottom of the NPL2NSW Women’s ladder picking up three victories, an improvement on their single win in 2018. Shaylee Meehan fired home nine goals for the south coast side with her partnership with Jessica Muir was fruitful at times.

Lastly, Inter Lions were rock bottom this season. It was a long and tough haul for the Lions, they picked up their only victory against St George FC 2-1 in round 11. Inter’s other point also came against the Saints in the final week to finish off their season positively.

2 NSW WOMEN’S

TAFE NSW WARATAH CUP

The Marconi Stallions have been crowned 2019 TAFE NSW Waratah Cup champions after a brilliant brace from captain Marko Jesic led the side to a 2-1 win against a ten-man Sydney United 58 at Lily’s Football Stadium.

It was a brilliant performance from the Stallions who fought back from 1-0 down early on to claim their first top flight trophy since 2012.

It was an absolutely inspired performance from Jesic who scored a stunning header to level the scores at 1-1 going into the half after Simonoski gave United 58 the lead 28 minutes in.

A crude challenge from Matthew Bilic meant he was sent for an early shower midway through the second half with Marconi make the most of the player advantage.

A penalty kick in the dying minutes secured the win for Marconi with Man of the Match Jesic notching his second from the penalty spot and the Waratah Cup title.

United 58 made a fast start to the game and nearly claimed an early lead.

A sloppy Marconi back pass seven minutes in was pounced on by Simonoski but his effort was saved by Vekic.

The contest was traveling at lighting pace with both sides trading chances early with the action going from end to end.

After 28 minutes Simonoski found the breakthrough with a perfect volley.

A looping cross into the box found Antelmi but he was unable to control the ball which deflected wide and into the path of the United 58 striker to bury into the back of the net. Momentum was well and truly on Marconi’s side in the closing stages of the half.

Defender Milgate was unlucky not to have given the Stallions the lead in the 41st minute when his looping header was cleared off the line by a well timed Mathew Bilic header. However, Marconi were not going to be denied in the 44th minute.

Jesic finding the back of the net with an absolute sublime looping header to ensure both sides went into the break locked at 1-1.

United came out of the blocks with intent and Antelmi nearly did the damage when he hit the post from the edge of the penalty area.

Marconi turned the tables a few moments later as Manos was forced to rush out of his net to deny Jesic.

A mazy run from Andrew sliced through the United 58 defence but he fired high and wide.

Vekic pulled off an incredible diving save in the 65th minute from a curling Sim free-kick.

The game took a dramatic turn after 67 minutes when Bilic was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for cutting down Andrew.

With the man advantage, Marconi pushed to find the lead and were saved more than once by the quick thinking of Manos.

Marconi’s pressure finally paid off when they were awarded a penalty after a handball from Adrian Vlastelica.

Jesic stepped up to the spot and fired past the keeper to give the Stallions a 2-1 lead with only 10 minutes left on the board.

United threw everything forward with the clock winding down.

Sim knocked a header over the bar from a curling corner and Vlastelica also had a headed effort saved by an alert Vekic.

With seconds left on the clock United 58 had one last effort when Trifiro lined up over a freekick 25 yards from goal.

His stinging effort curled over the wall and dipped drastically forcing an incredible reaction save from Vekic to ensure his team took home the trophy.

Marconi coach Peter Tsekenis was all smiles after claiming what was his second title as a coach.

“This team has been written off by some this season so to win the cup is the perfect reward for a brilliant group of players,” he said.

“This is the first silverware of their career for some of the boys so it will be a moment they remember for a long time to come.”

A solemn United 58 striker Patrick Antelmi rued what could’ve been after the heartbreaking defeat.

“You can’t fault the effort of anyone. We just failed to make the most of our chances and paid the price.” he said.

“I had three or so opportunities I should’ve done better with but sometimes that football and things don’t go your way.”

FFA CUP

National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s clubs were once again well represented in the 2019 FFA Cup as Sydney United 58, Marconi Stallions, Manly United, Mount Druitt Town Rangers and St George FC all took part in Australia’s Premier Cup knockout competition.

The Round of 32 draw saw three of our five NSW teams progress to the Round of 16 with an all NPL NSW Men’s affair that took shape at Popondetta Park with Manly United prevailing on penalties 4-2 over hosts Mount Druitt Town Rangers after the match ended at 2-2. Dejan Pandurevic opened the scoring for the visitors in the second minute before Toufic Alameddine equalised four minutes later. The game ended 1-1 after ninety minutes but Manly thought they did enough to win as Harry McCarthy bagged a goal in the 95th. John Roberts had other ideas however and he levelled the scores once more for the hosts with a well taken goal in the 110th minute which sent the game into penalties. It was Manly’s quality shotstopper Dylan Mitchell who showed his worth as he proved to be the hero of the evening with the Northern Beaches outfit recording a 4-2 win from the spot.

Marconi Stallions travelled to chilly Tasmania where they took on South Hobart FC and it was Peter Tsekenis’ men that proved too strong running out 3-0 victors. Goals to Marko Jesic and own goal to Hugh Ludford and the

third from Damian Tsekenis secured a spot in the Round of 16 for the former NSL giants.

Ilinden Sports Centre played host to an eightgoal thriller as NPL NSW Men’s side Sydney United 58 worked overtime in getting a 5-3 win over NPL 2 NSW Men’s side St George FC. United 58 thought they were home and hosed as Patrick Antlemi and Josh Macdonald put the away side ahead but Musashi Kokubo struck in the 63rd minute for the Saints. The tide turned in a huge way for the NPL 2 outfit as Marcus Beattie bagged an equaliser in the 78th minute before Yianni Perkatis scored what looked to be the winner in the 93rd minute. Wrong. Kokubo struck a dagger in United 58’s hearts in the 96th minute that sent the game into extra time. Wally Savor’s men however struggled and were unable to keep their momentum flowing as Tariq Maia and Michael Ruhs ensured the famous United 58 club booked its spot in the Round of 16. The Round of 16 proved to be fatal however for all three NPL NSW Men’s clubs as all bowed out.

Manly United said goodbye to its FFA Cup

chances at Perry Park as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Brisbane Strikers thanks to a sole goal from Matthew Richardson.

Marconi Stallions pushed A-League city glamour side Melbourne City till the end losing out 2-1 at Marconi Stadium. Socceroo Jamie Maclaren gave the Melbournians the lead in the second minute before Craig Noone stretched it to 2-0 in the 44th minute. Stallions young gun Martin Fernandez gave the Stallions a glimmer of hope with a great individual goal in the 85th minute but it proved to be too little too late as City celebrated passage to the quarter-final stages of the FFA Cup.

Finally, A-League outfit Western Sydney Wanderers dismantled a youthful Sydney United 58 side 7-1 at Campbelltown Stadium. The Wanderers were too good as a double from Daniel Georgievski and goals from Bruce Kamau, Kwame Yeboah, Tate Russell, Radoslaw Majewski and an own goal from Matthew Bilic gave Markus Babbel’s team an easy victory cancelling out Antelmi’s goal in the 50th minute.

FOOTBALL4ALL

A day of celebration at all levels of the game, as Football NSW celebrated its 11th annual football4all gala day at Valentine Sports Park for its 2019 instalment, as over 450 participants took part on a wonderful day of football.

With smiles on faces and footballs in abundance, a total of 23 teams took to the pitch in small-sided games, as well as off-field activities in a day of inclusive football.

The brisk morning saw the weather turn into nothing but blue skies and perfect conditions all round, for a day filled with festivities and joy. The day also featured appearances from Karen Jones, acting Chief Executive of the Office of Sport, Councillor Julie Griffiths representing Michelle Rowland, Federal Member for Greenway as well as the Honorary David Elliot MP, Minister of Police and Emergency Services, Councillor Stephen Bail - Major for Blacktown & Edmond AtallaMember for Mount Druitt who assisted in the day’s presentation. There were also player appearances from Hyundai A-League Clubs the Western Sydney Wanderers with Keanu Baccus, as well as Central Coast Mariners’ Giancarlo Gallifuoco and Abraham Majok with each guest

playing a part in posing for photos and lending a hand in giving out medals and showbags to our participants.

Socceroos Mascot ‘Maloo’ also made a guest appearance and was a hit with each and every participant giving high fives all round as well as starring in a number of selfies.

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge acknowledged the amazing feats football4all has reached throughout its ten-year journey.

“It was amazing to see so many happy faces at yet another marvellous football4all gala day.’

“The gala day has always proven to be a showpiece event on the Football NSW calendar, with the event growing yearly in both size and media coverage.

“This year we saw well over 20 club programs across NSW participate alongside Capital Football’s “Football Connect” on top of the preexisting programs we already have established within the state.’

“Football NSW is committed to supporting opportunity for people with disabilities to participate in football as players, coaches, referees or administrators and we are committed to developing an environment where accessibility and diversity are valued and nurtured.

“NOVA Employment football4all is a fantastic initiative which Football NSW will continue to grow and develop for years to come.”

A big thank you to NOVA Employment in particular Martin Wren the CEO of NOVA Employment who had the barbeque running for several hours and raised over $1,000, which is a new record for the barbeque, which will be donated to the Pararoos development centre.

While over on the Futsal court, Powerchair Football was also in full swing with over 20 players participating in the day’s games.

POWERCHAIR FOOTBALL

Powerchair Football in 2019 has continued to grow at all levels with the Australian Powerchair Football Association hosting the Asia-Pacific Oceania Zone Powerchair Football Tournament in Sydney.

The Australian National Powerchair football team won the Asia Pacific Oceania Cup for the first time, beating Japan 3-0 in the final match.

Locally, Sydney FC won the Premiership over the Central Coast Mariners for the NSW Premier League Powerchair Competition held at Valentine Sports Park during the winter season.

The 2019 season also saw the addition of the Hills Knights as a new entrant to the league. At grassroots level, 2019 saw 47 players across all divisions with 25 of those being Premier League players from a variety of ages.

The Powerchair Football Development Squad was also successful as 15 of the original 30 players graduated from the second tier to the heights of the premier league.

NATIONS OF ORIGIN

The 2019 Nations of Origin took centre stage at Northern NSW’s Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Wednesday 17th July as twenty-four Under 14 teams from ten nations across NSW took part in what was a memorable tournament experienced by all.

This year, a number of lucky Nations participated in the Football 5’s component with Anaiwan, Awabakal, Biripi, Bundjalong North, Darkinjung, Dharawal, Tharawal, Wiradjuri, Wiradjuri East, Wiradjuri Gugaas, Wiradjuri Mawang Gaway, Wonnarua and Worimi nations taking part.

The Awabakal Red (Boys) and Awabakal Black (Girls) teams took out the Premiership plaudits on the day while the Awabakal White (Boys) and Dharawal (Girls) won the Cup competitions respectively.

The event has been held annually since 2012 which has now grown into one of the largest youth Indigenous sporting events in NSW as 2019 showed yet again how strong this tournament is.

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The National Indigenous Football Championships (NIFC) took place for the fourth consecutive year as the South Nowra Football Complex was a hive of activity celebrating the Indigenous community via the world game.

Run by the Wreck Bay Sharks FC within the Shoalhaven Football Association, this year’s event saw both senior Men and Women as well as Under 14 Boys and Girls battle for the right to be crowned Champions of the National Indigenous Football Championships in their respective category.

Teams travelled from areas including Kempsey, Newcastle, Canberra, Dubbo, Cairns, Tamworth, Armidale, Grafton, Lismore, Batemans Bay, Illawarra and Jervis Bay.

This year saw the return of Jade North competing in the competition and Mark Bridge attended for the first time.

The Under 14 Boys and Girls category saw two Champions declared as Djuwin Waimburra defeated the Dolphins 5-2 to claim the female category while for the males, the Newcastle All Stars A’s proved too strong for Roseby Park Saltwater Gatherers as they steamrolled to an 8-0 victory.

Saturday’s finals action saw the Illawarra Bungarras defeat the Newcastle All Stars 3-2 in the Women’s competition, and the Northern Nations FC side defeated the Dhubu Dinawans 3-2 in the Men’s Grand Final.

The entire event highlighted the importance of the Indigenous community at all levels and was kicked off with an ALDI MiniRoos clinic with 90 students attend from local schools in the Nowra region.

The Schools clinic was run by Football NSW Game Development staff and assisted by Shoalhaven Football Association, Wollongong Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire amongst other coaches from the NPL NSW Men’s club.

NATIONAL CP FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

NSW were crowned the National CP Football Champions for the fifteenth time after defeating Western Australia 5-1 at Valentine Sports Park.

It was a memorable tournament for the boys in blue who were simply outstanding as they steamrolled their opponents in what were fantastic conditions at Football NSW’s headquarters.

Apart from the NSW victory, the tournament saw a first across two aspects of the game; the addition of a second NSW state team, and the inclusion of female players for the first time. Female players competing in the tournament played in both the NSW White and Capital Football teams.

In addition to the National tournament, Football NSW also played host to the IFCPC Asia-Oceania Regional Female CP Football Camp which saw 16 females from around the region participate in training sessions and workshops. Nine of the sixteen players who attended the camp are NSW based footballers and form part of the Female only CP Football Training sessions. These training sessions began in 2019 and will continue into 2020 to develop a pathway for female CP Footballers. The Pararoos Development Centres are still going strong with the launch of a second centre in Sutherland, supported by the Sutherland Shire Football Association.

WALKING FOOTBALL

Walking Football experienced a quiet year in 2019, with only NWSF running a program in line with their Summer Football.

Without a Development Officer working in this space between August & November, progress had been slow.

The end of the year saw plans put in place for programs to be run with NWSF, NSFA & Bankstown, with numerous other Associations also showing an interest.

The late 2019 planning came to fruition, with NWSF featuring strongly on Sunrise, with seven live crosses & a second NWSF football program starting up at Pennant Hills Park.

NSFA began 2020 strongly with two small sided games and 20 participants at their come and try day at North Turramurra recreational area.

Bankstown are kicking off the new year with two new Walking Football programs.

Overall, the process of enhancing the experience of participants taking part in our Walking Football programs was paramount and a key theme leading into what was set to be a huge 2019-2020 season for the exciting new concept.

TAFE NSW SUMMER FOOTBALL

The 2019 TAFE Summer Football season was certainly one of the biggest yet.

Thanks to all the efforts of Football NSW, Members and club staff, Volunteers, Referees and players, the 2019 season saw a healthy growth in player numbers increasing from 41,604 in 2017/18 to 48,473 in 2018/19.

The 2019 Summer Football Program aimed to improve and increase the additional support to Associations and clubs that hosted competitions.

Overall we had 91 centres take part, 42 of them being run by grassroots clubs, 22 by regional clubs, 17 by Metropolitan Associations, 7 elite clubs and 3 Regional associations.

The initiatives included a comprehensive marketing package including Facebook banners, signage as well as being part of the official registration campaign with My Football Club. Insurance and a flexible approach to the resource support accessible by competition hosts.

The 2019 Summer Football framework provide by Football NSW supported the Member Associations and clubs delivering competitions with:

• Marketing and competition management resources

• Best practice guide

• Equipment

• Disciplinary structure aimed to reduce admin workload

Growing the Social experience

The strong participation outcomes continued thanks to the various growth and marketing strategies that further increased the involvement from clubs and associations as well as the support seen from TAFE NSW which grew our numbers overall.

SUMMER FOOTBALL PARTICIPATION 2018/19

FUTSAL COMPETITIONS

NSW Futsal enjoyed another brilliant summer of sizzling action as the state’s Premier, AWD and Cup competitions all dished up a super serving of spicy sport.

NSW Futsal Premier League

It was back to Groundhog Day as Inner West Magic cast a binding spell to conquer the Premier League club championship, beating Mascot Vipers by 30+ points to make it a staggering nine category wins from the 12 seasons to date, while long-time top-flight commanders Dural Warriors spiraled into PL2 as last-place finishers.

The Inner West accolade was directed by dominant premiershipchampionship doubles from their 14 Boys, 17 Girls and Open Women’s outfits (the latter going through undefeated and also winning the Futsal Cup), their 12 Boys also finishing first and 15 Girls coming from fourth place to beat Campbelltown Quake 3-2 on grand final day.

But Inner West imploded in the prestigious Open Men’s competition to miss the finals altogether and that left the door wide open for Enfield Allstars to storm through and score a last-minute winner against perennial premiers Dural and snare the club’s first-ever senior men’s trophy in the closest competition ever.

Mascot also won double-trophies in 16 Boys and 19 Men, while other premierships went to newbies Eastern Suburbs Hakoah (15 Girls) and Mountain Majik (13 Girls), and Vipers won thrilling 13 Girls and 12 Boys deciders.

AWD 1 & 2

AWD competitions were well contested but South Coast Taipans were once again division-one pace-setters as they clinched a third straight premiership-championship double beating Raiders 4-1 in the decider –Taipans have lost just twice in 31 games across three glorious summers. Phoenix went unbeaten in division two, winning the premiership by a dozen points.

NSW Futsal Premier League 2

Boomerangs FS lived up to their name as they were thrown out of and will return to the top flight for a third time in nine years following their tight Premier League 2 club championship victory.

The Territorians only captured the Open Women and 19 Men premiership trophies but had enough across the board to outlast a string of rivals.

Sydney City Eagles won the coveted Open Men’s premiership but missed the decider as SD Raiders pipped West City Crusaders 4-3 in an absorbing grand final.

The same thing happened in the Open Women’s as premiers Boomerangs missed the final where South Coast Taipans edged out Raiders Futsal 3-2 in extra time, and the capital’s 19 Men’s also lost their decider to SD Raiders 4-5.

SD Raiders picked up classy premiership-championship doubles in the 14 Boys and 12 Girls competitions, as did the Raiders Futsal 15 Girls and Sydney City 12 Boys teams.

Raiders Futsal finished first in 18 Women but lost the grand final to SD Raiders in a penalty shootout, while South Coast 16 Boys finished top but had to watch Phoenix win the decider.

NSW Futsal Cup

The cross-league knockout competition has quickly become a favourite in just its second edition and 2018 saw Campbelltown Quake pull off a huge upset in the Men’s final holding big guns Dural scoreless in a tense 1-0 victory, while Inner West edged UTS Northside 2-1 in an equallyexciting Women’s showdown.

NATIONAL FUTSAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The FFA National Futsal Championships was held in Sydney and hosted by Football NSW as the country’s best young Futsal players gathered to settle who was best in Australia.

Victoria Magic were the first winners on grand final day as they downed NSW Thunder 4-1 in the U12 Boys final, Lucas Green scoring all four goals for the southerners.

It was tight at halftime as Green’s first-term brace was countered by an Oliver Randazzo strike for NSW, and Green was active again in the second period scoring another brace to silence the Thunder.

Futsal Victoria was at it again in the U13 Boys final beating NSW Storm 4-2 to seal the title on the back of a Luke Mensink hat-trick.

Goals to Mensink and Michael Guerra placed Victoria in a good 2-0 position at the break, and not even a second-half brace from Storm young gun Corey Conin was enough to bridge the gap as Mensink fired in a couple more goals to seal victory.

The U13 Girls final was an absolute scorcher with NSW Thunder prevailing 5-4 over archrivals NSW Lightning.

Lightning were first on the scoreboard as Adelaide Wyrzynski tapped in following a great Avaani Prakash run, but Thunder were level again inside a minute thanks to an Abdul Massih reply.

Prakash soon fired Lightning back in front flicking the ball into the back of the net before Wyrzynski bagged her second of the game. Thunder cut the deficit to one with a neatly-

taken set-piece, Massih firing past the keeper with a powerful effort, and it was locked up again just after the second-half restart when Daniella Naeimi scored for Thunder to make it 3-3.

The see-sawing game saw Lightning hit the lead again when a Chelsea Burton set-piece flew into goal, but once again Thunder equalised via Tahlia Voskanian to set up a thrilling finale.

Thunder pushed their noses in front for the first time with five minutes remaining when India Breier somehow steered her tightangled shot into goal and her side held on for a thrilling 5-4 win.

The U14 Boys final was anything but close as NSW Thunder controlled the game from start to finish in a convincing 6-1 win over Queensland Metro.

Thunder scored early following some great build-up play between Dylan Gil and Clayton Taylor who tapped the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Taylor had the Thunder’s second back-heeling the ball into goal and completed his hat-trick a minute later with a sweeping shot into the top corner.

Taylor continued his assault and seconds before halftime made it 4-0, Jett McCue-Shore making a neat five with a glitzy side-footed shot.

But the Queenslanders never gave up and deservedly got on the scoreboard when a Caden Penniket hit its target, but Taylor had the last say with an incredible fifth goal that closed out a dominant five-goal win.

A fantastic Capital Football performance saw them secure the under U15 Boys following a tidy 3-1 win over Football Victoria.

William Buckmaster put Capital in front midway through the first half rounding off a nice team move and the Territorians continued to pepper the Victorian unit going close on several occasions.

Their pressure paid off when Aidan Milicevic doubled their advantage with a long-distance strike, but the Victorians were having none of it and hit back through a Francis Mah flick to claim the match momentum.

It was to be Capital’s day however as Maxx Green scored to make it 3-1 and Victoria couldn’t find a way back.

In an all NSW U15 Girls final NSW Thunder came away with the trophy beating Lightning 3-1.

It was a tense beginning with both sides battling hard before Bryleeh Henry scored to lift Thunder ahead, and she landed a second goal soon after with a neat chip over the Lightning goalkeeper.

Darcy Malone put Thunder further in front

after the halftime break, and at 3-0 down Lightning went to a press that pulled one back through Claudia Cicco, but they couldn’t find another and Thunder won the title.

NSW Thunder dominated foes NSW Lightning in a 4-1 win to claim the U16 Boys crown.

Keeper Riley Nicholl was at the top of his game early in the Lightning goal making some fine saves to keep the Thunder at bay, but he couldn’t stop a fluky own goal from sneaking past him following a Peter Politis cross.

Politis was in the thick of it again, this time finding himself on the scoresheet when he finished well to make it 2-0 to Thunder.

Thunder were well on top and could’ve gone further ahead had substitute Lightning keeper Carlos Barriga made three outstanding saves in a row, before Rocco Melino finally got one past him with a deft lob.

Peter Grozos skipped through the Lightning defence to place the ball into the back of the net and make it 4-0 with five minutes to go, Milos Anic snaring a Lightning consolation with a well-taken 10m penalty.

A dramatic penalty shootout decided an absorbing U17 Girls final with NSW Lightning breaking Capital Football hearts to take top honours.

Capital Football shot in front following a delicious Alex McKenzie break and finish from

a near-impossible angle, smashing the ball into the top corner, but with only seconds remaining in the first half a powerful strike from Lightning captain Monique Holder ensured the scores were level at the changeover.

The tactical battle between the sides continued in the second period with neither team able to break the other down until a Lightning penalty in extra time saw Holder convert and take a late 2-1 lead.

Capital threw everything forward in search of an equaliser and got it via a McKenzie free kick in the closing stages that sent the match to a shootout.

Successive successes followed by successive misses only heightened toe excitement, Rocchetto producing another fantastic save to win the championship for Lightning.

NSW Thunder proved too good for Queensland Metro in Open AWD Mixed final, collecting the silverware with a 9-2 victory.

Thunder went in front when Bradley Southwell played in team-mate Blake Eagleson who blasted into the back of the net, Eagleson returning the favour when he set up Southwell for Thunder’s second.

Southwell scored again just minutes into the second half and completed his hat-trick with a neat finish to make it 4-0, Eagleson landing his second to push the gap to five goals.

Rocco Musumeci then penned his name on the scoresheet before Queensland finally got some reward for their efforts when GarbrielMetta scored, but it was Thunder’s day and they closed out a five-goal win to lift the trophy.

A fantastic come from behind victory saw NSW Thunder saw them come away with a 3-2 victory over the NSW Lighting in a fantastic U19 Men final.

The Lightning exploded from the blocks and led after just two minutes as Declan Cotter found the net, Jayden Smileski doubling the advantage following some fine work down the left by Andrew Holder.

Michael Borg could’ve halved the deficit for Thunder but his shot was met by an outstanding save from Lightning keeper Jack Vandervelde, who was having a great game between the sticks and continually kept the opposition at bay.

Vandervelde was finally beaten five minutes into the second half by a powerful Thomas Quilligan strike that cut the margin in half and with 10 minutes Thunder found their equaliser when Quilligan combined with Emmanuel Tzanakes.

The end-to-end action was nail-biting and with two minutes left on the clock the turnaround was complete as Tzanakes grabbed his second for a 3-2 Thunder victory.

FOOTBALL NSW INSTITUTE

The Football NSW Institute program had an inspiring year with experienced coaching staff and in the development of our talented young females, providing them a highperformance training and playing environment with best practice.

The National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s competition continued to provide a challenging experience for our teams which proved to be rewarding for the program.

In addition to the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s competition, the teams played some competitive matches against boys during the year, and some of our players participated in a Womens 2019 World Cup tour which saw them play against some elite female football teams in France.

The exposure to different levels and types of competition throughout the program is extremely beneficial and we believe is an important part of their development.

Football NSW and our coaching staff will continue to strive to achieve the best high-performance environment to facilitate our young players aspirations to the overall goal of progression to Westfield W-League and ultimately, any of the various national teams.

Players of note

W-League (train-on) and National Team selection:

• Jessika Nash – Sydney FC train-on and Junior Matildas (captain)

• Darcey Malone – Sydney FC train-on and Junior Matildas

• Charlie Rule – Sydney FC train-on and Junior Matildas

• Bryleeh Henry – Junior Matildas

• Jordan Jasnos – Junior Matildas

• Aideen Keane – Young Matildas

• Claudia Valletta – Sydney FC train-on

• Isabel Gomez – WSW train-on

SCHOOLS

Football NSW conduct a variety of school’s programs that cater to players, referees and coaches annually. These programs are designed to introduce players to the game, provide transitioning opportunities to club football and support the local Football Association with referees and coaches.

Futsal Schools Championships

The Football NSW Futsal School Championships is a schoolbased futsal competition that consist of five age categories for boy and girls. In 2019, the popularity of this competition continued to grow with 1,178 teams entering and circa 10,600 students participating in the Futsal Schools Championships.

In 2019 thirteen venues made up the regional competition from February to June, with the State Championships being held in Windsor in August. It was pleasing to see so many schools enter the competition this year. The quality at each regional tournament has improved year on year and the State Championships saw some excellent futsal talent on display.

NSW Premiers Sporting Challenge

Football NSW has a long tradition of supporting the School Sports Unit’s NSW Premiers Sporting Challenge. Focusing on developing leadership opportunities for students through sport and physical activity, Football NSW was excited to attend and support students at eight multi sports events. In 2019 over 400 students completed the MiniRoos Grassroot Certificate.

Football NSW will continue to work with the School Sport Unit to improve the experience for all students that attend football sessions and increase opportunities for students to coach within their local football clubs.

Football NSW ALDI MiniRoos Schools Program

In January 2019, Football NSW launched the new Primary Schools program. Based on the MiniRoos introductory KickOff program, students were able to experience the fun of being a MiniRoo in their school environment. 24,200 students participated in Football NSW programs and activations delivered or supported by Football NSW coaches during 2019.

Football NSW MiniRoos Gala Days

Football NSW conducts MiniRoos Gala Days throughout the state giving students the opportunity to participate in small sided games in a non-competitive, safe environment. With the emphasis on fun, over 2000 students participated in Football NSW delivered MiniRoos Gala Day in 2019.

Teacher Professional Learning (TPL)

Football NSW again supported the NSW Education Department’s Teacher Professional Learning program by delivering football coaching courses to teachers. These courses included Football for Primary School Teachers, Football for High School Teachers, Futsal Certificate and Referees course. 115 teacher from across NSW attended a course in 2019 and Football NSW looks forward to supporting teachers that attend football TPL courses in 2020.

Sporting Schools

Sporting Schools is a $240 million Australian Government initiative designed to help schools to increase children’s participation in sport, and to connect them with community sporting opportunities. In 2019 Football NSW delivered Futsal programs on behalf of football within NSW under the Sporting Schools Program. Students enjoyed term based programs delivered by Football NSW coaches. Football NSW looks forward to supporting schools that acquire funding in 2020.

BOYS

AGE WINNERS RUNNERS UP

U10 Mamre Anglican School (9) St Spyridon College (0)

U13 Moriah (4) The Illawarra Grammar School (1)

U14 Mamre Anglican School (5) Endeavour Sports (1)

U16 Narrabeen Sport (5) Galston HS (0)

Opens Reddem House (3) Bossley Park HS (1)

GIRLS

AGE WINNERS RUNNERS UP

U10 Clovelly PS (2) The Hills Grammar (1)

U13 Pymble Ladies College (2) Queenwood (1)

U14 Mamre Anglican School Northern Beaches

U16 Mamre Anglican School (2) Narrabeen Sport (0)

Opens Endeavour Sports (2) Central Coast Sports (1)

TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT

The Football NSW Technical Department has significantly grown over the last 12 months. As part of our strategic plan to service both coaches and players our reach has seen us connect with a greater number of members across the whole of NSW.

Providing more professional development opportunities for coaches within their own footprint has in turn given players an overall better football experience.

Underpinning a desire to have a greater number of player pathways with qualified and experienced coaches, an increased effort to provide both formal and informal opportunities was the key driver for 2019. One of the key aims for coach development was to provide greater access to CPD opportunities for coaches across New South Wales.

Association hosted Expo’s were piloted with our member associations Sutherland Shire Football Association and Gladesville Hornsby Football Association which were greatly received by coaches within these footprints. Coaches who attended these expo’s were exposed to the latest coaching methods as well as the chance to interact in questionnaires with the technical department and special guests from the Football World.

As well as the Expo’s, Football NSW launched the series of “Evening With” sessions which saw experts from the World of football such as Ron Smith, Tottenham Hotspur academy coach and club legend Ledley King, and football conditioning expert Dr Craig Duncan host valuable sessions with coaches and

parents alike to provide further development opportunities outside of formal coaching courses.

The ongoing relationship with Football Coaches Australia continued to strengthen in 2019 with a National Teams PD day held at Valentine Sports Park as well as a Australian Joeys observation training camp held at the NSW Academy of Sport in Narrabeen.

The 2019 year saw a relaunched State Coaching Conference held in November at Valentine Sports Park. Over 400 coaches attended the one-day event which saw industry leaders from both inside football and outside of football descend to Football NSW headquarters for a fantastic day of coach development. Preparation has begun for the 2020 coaching conference as we look to build on the success of this year and provide a World Class coaching conference in 2020. Formal coaching courses were again the mainstay of the coach development and it was pleasing to see that the demand for courses continues to rise as coaches seek to further develop themselves.

In 2019 a total of 16 C Licence courses were held across the metropolitan and regional areas.

Football NSW also saw an increase in the

demand for the B Licence coaching course and for the first time four B Licence courses were held at Valentine Sports Park and we are pleased that in 2020 we will host an A Licence course here in Sydney once more.

One of the key aims for the Technical department was to grow the network of coach developers in New South Wales and this year we increased the pool of C Licence instructors to 12 full instructors with a further four instructors in the process of training for 2020 and three B licence instructors with a further four instructors in the process of training to become B licence instructors.

Goalkeeping courses were once again on the agenda and we continued our strong working relationship with FFA’s Head Of Goalkeeping

Tony Franken which saw Valentine Sports Park host part 2 of a Level 3 Goalkeeper course and 2 Level 1 Goalkeeping Licences.

We will build on this strong relationship in 2020 with a further two level 1 courses being held as well as a level 2 course and part 1 of the FFA/AFC Level 3 goalkeeping licence.

Talented player development is central to the technical outcomes outlined in the Football NSW Strategic plan, with increasing efforts being made to broaden the number of potentially talented players being identified and developed through a collaborative

effort between the Football NSW Technical Department and the various NPL Clubs and Associations through their Technical Directors.

In order to broaden the number of potentially talented players being identified and developed, in 2019 the Football NSW Talent Support Program serviced over 400 players across both metro and regional hubs with the program being run across four school terms to service clubs, players, coaches within their footprint.

The Football NSW Talent Support Program holds the following key principles at its core:

• provide a best practice development environment for talented youth footballers

• key integration with the FFA’s National team program and coaches

• deliver consistency in product and experience to all participants

• align with the FFA’s National Curriculum; and

• provide age appropriate programs for elite male and female players

The Boys National Youth Championships features teams from each of the State Federations and a selection of HAL Academies compete over five days.

This year Football NSW had a total of six teams across the U13 and U14 age groups; four Metropolitan and two Country.

The FFA National Youth Championships are designed in order to:

• Provide an initial opportunity to view the pool of potential talented players

• Establish a FFA National Teams’ data base from the most promising potentially talented players

• Member Federation Technical Directors and coaches are informed/updated on ways to provide the best development environments for young potential talented players (NPL/TSP/Associations) to continue to progress and further develop.

This year’s National Youth Championships was an overall success.

Both players and coaches applying themselves professionally both on and off the field.

The players demonstrated quality individually and collectively with many players being identified by the National Teams Unit as demonstrating high potential.

Testament to the ongoing success of Football NSW player pathways is the large number of players from NSW representing Australia in

successful campaigns at each of the U15, U17, U20, U23 age groups in 2019.

We also fielded strong TSP Regional teams in the Under 13’s, 14’s and 15’s categories for both Boys and Girls. These players were all identified by TSP and Association coaches via NPL Youth Competitions, Branch Championships, Country Cup and State Titles.

Regional TSP games were hosted at Goulburn while the Regional TSP teams played at Football NSW TSP Game Days, M Cup and the Central Coast Cup. There were also training centres held at Albury-Wodonga, Griffith, Wagga, Nowra, Orange and a new centre in Bowral.

REFEREE DEVELOPMENT

Football NSW referee numbers increased to 5300 in 2019. This was achieved largely through our fantastic network of Referee Branches whose dedication, committee and passion for Refereeing helped reach our goals for growth.

Over the season there were 150 Referee courses, twelve assessor courses and five instructor course which helped improve numbers to 506 Assessors and 177 Instructors. By increasing the amount of coaches and instructors helps to continually improve player experience through larger referee coverage and greater referee knowledge.

The sin bin was a major revelation during its introduction in 2018. 2019 saw several Associations either introduce the concept or expand the idea into further age groups. Once again, the sin bin rule has resulted in fewer red card, less disciplinary hearings and a better football experience for Referees, Coaches and Players.

Next season Football NSW will start a campaign called Road to 99. The concept is to achieve 99% coverage across all community football matches within 5 years.

Community Football

A total of 167 referee courses were managed across NSW in 2019. Referee branches continued their high level of service to community football, conducting Level 4 & 3 Referee courses, facilitating the transition to the new Play Football registration system and rolling out the modifications to the Laws of the Game. In addition, successful Temporary Dismissal trials saw more competitions implement the system permanently in 2019. 2019 witnessed record numbers of female participation in refereeing. A total of six referee branches, together with Football NSW, conducted ‘Female Only’ Level 4 Referee courses in and around Female Football Week, growing female referee participation to 13.5%.

Regional referee branch development featured heavily throughout 2019, with emphasis placed upon the referee pathway in the Western, South Coast and Riverina regions, resulting in heightened retention rates. An increased number of upgrade and Assessor courses were conducted in regional areas and a complete rollout of a Regional Referee Development Panel (RRDP) is set for early 2020.

Referee Academy

The Football NSW Referee’s Academy has been operating since 2015. Selected referees are given access to National league coaches to gain knowledge and experience to officiate in National Premier League’s NSW Men’s and Women’s Youth top tier competitions. As part of the selection process Referees are required to pass multiple fitness and Laws of the Game

tests throughout the season. This is to ensure all Referees maintain the FNSW/FFA/FIFA standard to continue with their development up the refereeing pathway

Over the years, the Academy has produced three Westfield W-League Assistant Referees, two Westfield W-League 4th officials (one of which was the youngest ever to debut as a referee), one Hyundai A-League Assistant Referee and twenty-four National Youth League Referees.

Many of these Match Officials are now Refereeing in the NPL NSW Men’s and NPL NSW Women’s elite competitions.

2019 was another successful year for the Football NSW Referees Academy as we again topped the rankings at the Girls NTC (Isabella Libri) and Girls NYC (Bethany Cummins).

Elite Development Group

Football NSW in conjunction with the NSW State League Referees Branch created the Elite Development Group (EDG) in 2018 to provide 10 emerging Referees greater opportunity to officiate at a higher level.

Referees were required to attend monthly technical training sessions, complete weekly video analysis and gained extensive live match day coaching. As a result, the EDG has produced 8 Referees who are now officiating on the Men’s NPL1 1st grade. The results have been outstanding and Football NSW will be looking to further expand the group over the next 1-2 years.

On the back of the success of the EDG, Football NSW in conjunction with the NSW State League Referees Branch created the Women’s Elite Program (WEP). The concept and training are based on the same style as the EDG. The results have been immediate with 7 out the 10 Referees debuting on the Women’s NPL1 1st Grade and 2 being selected as Referees for the Westfield W-League.

Schools Engagement

Over the last 5 years Football NSW has implemented a Schools Referee program in conjunction with School Sports Australia. The program provides the students with a Level 4 Referee qualification. The students then officiate matches within the school football calendar, local association and Football NSW.

2019 achieved a major milestone within the School Referee program as we had our first Referee selected to a National Panel. Isabella Libri attended the course with Bossley Park 5 years ago and at 19 years old became the youngest Referee to officiate a Westfield W-League match.

The program continues to grow in strength with several student referees now firmly set up within the State and national level.

Football NSW will look to increase the number of schools involved in 2020.

BANKSTOWN DAFA

This year saw the launch of Bankstown first girls only MiniRoos competition on Saturdays for Grade 6/7, which received very positive feedback. BDAFA will continue to offer this competition in the 2020 season and expand it to include Grade 8/9.

2019 saw the revitalisation of SSF Gala days in the Bankstown Association, instead of the typical gala days held for each age group at the end of the season, we asked clubs who would love to host and held each age group at separate intervals throughout the season. All our gala days received an outstanding response, we had a majority of teams joining in and the children had a wonderful time -the atmosphere was fantastic! Bankstown and our member clubs were also greatly assisted by Football NSW and the Western Sydney Wanderers who both provided additional activities for the children. Thank you to both organisations, our wonderful clubs and members for making these gala days great!

Bankstown Association also saw a dramatic increase in its Summer Football program. It grew from 16 teams in the 2018-2019 season to 72 teams, over 600 participants in the 2019-2020 season. Our host club Bankstown Sports Stars have done a wonderful job of running the program and to celebrate the success of summer football BDAFA &

Bankstown Sport Stars we will be hosting a Fun Night for the Grade 6-11 participants. The local Police, Fire brigade, Football NSW

and Western Sydney Wanderers will all be attending to make the evening an exciting event for the children.

“Bankstown – Continuing to build”

This was underpinned by acknowledgement of our history which was celebrated with a 40 year milestone in 2018. The association branded and embellished the entrance to Blacktown Football Park with our 23 wonderful grassroots clubs as well as the referees branch and Blacktown Spartans FC. Throughout the year there was various promotional events such as our Aldi MiniRoo Photo Shoot, our Premier League aptly named The Magnificent 13 due to the number of participating Clubs as well as celebrating Female Football Week with the collaboration of both the GDSFA and the BDSFA through the Phoenix League which provides one of the largest female football competitions within the Western Sydney basin.

The live streaming of our Premier League grand final showcased our wonderful competition and the magnificent tribal nature that is grassroots football, which is alive and well and healthy between all our member clubs within the association.

The BDSFA Board and the leadership team in consultation with all our member clubs worked collectively to provide the wider community the opportunity to participate in community based football and be part of the inclusive journey to allow goals to be set, milestones to be achieved and players of all levels and from all backgrounds to participate in football throughout the wider community.

The Blacktown District Soccer Football Association manages football within one of the most culturally diverse areas within Sydney and it is extremely proud of the achievements of all the membership and the participation of the community and the foundation set by our life members to provide a narrative to reach out and continually strive to produce better outcomes for all its members through a consultative, transparent dialogue and engagement.

BLACKTOWN DSFA

2019 saw the BDSFA focus on delivering a quality football competition by increased player education and player development throughout the local community.

CANTERBURY DSFA

Growing the game at a community level within the footprint of the CDSFA remains at the fore for the Directors and Management of the Association.

However, to grow the game within the innerwest suburbs of Sydney, where there is ever increasing density of population and no new green space coming online, more needs to be done than just providing a competition for participants.

For several years the CDSFA has championed greater investment by local, state and federal governments in community sporting infrastructure. This currently is the number one ticket item outside of the normal provision of football for the Association. Future proofing facilities, adding to the gameday experience, and ensuring clubs are given the tools for them to provide to their members.

Through 2019 the active engagement by the CDSFA with the different government levels has seen a number of infrastructure projects be initiated, remaining progress, and completed.

a. Bennett Park (City of Canterbury Bankstown) – completion of the renewal of the playing surface across four full-sized football fields. The surface being recognised as potentially one of the best natural grass surfaces available to community football in the Sydney basin. Moving towards 2020 there has also been approval given for the installation of new lighting to bring the four playing fields up to Australian Standards for safe training and night fixtures as well as funding towards the modernisation of the amenities building and associated club operational facilities. A cost of just under $1 million for the surfaces alone.

b. Parry Park (City of Canterbury Bankstown Council) – completion of the renewal of the playing surface across four full-sized football fields, inclusive of irrigation and drainage; activation of the upgraded lighting suitable for the conduct of community football fixtures at night. The works undertaken support two clubs whose primary player base comes from new and emerging communities. A cost of over $1 million for the Parry precinct upgrades.

c. Blair Park (Municipality of Burwood) –completion of the amenities building in October with additional/new storage and administration facilities for Burwood Football Club. This follows the installation of lighting to Australian Standards in July

and the currently in progress renewal of the playing surface with irrigation/drainage part of that process.

d. Ron Routley No. 2 (City of Canada Bay) –currently in progress is a $2 million spend on the creation of a new synthetic football surface that will benefit two local clubs.

e. Strathfield No. 1 (Strathfield Municipality) – following on from the installation of a synthetic playing surface on Strathfield No. 2 in 2018, work commenced and has been completed on the installation of a second synthetic surface at Strathfield Park, now on the No. 1 field. Strathfield Council has been pro-active in recognising the need to provide surfaces that can benefit sport at the community level whilst maintaining aesthetics of the wider park precinct and its users.

These are just but a few projects that are being pursued, partnered and supported by the Association. As we move into 2020 there are several additional infrastructure improvements on the boards – Henley Park (Burwood Municipality) amenities renovation/addition; Rudd Park (City of Canterbury Bankstown) installation of a synthetic playing surface; Ewen Park (City

of Canterbury Bankstown) upgrading and installation of floodlighting; Pratten Park (Inner West Council) installation of new floodlighting.

It is estimated a spend of some $15-20 million has been spent and is planned for in the period 2016-2022 within the footprint of the CDSFA simply on future proofing community infrastructure. It is also a reasonable determination to estimate a spend of some $20 million more by 2025 is what would be required to bring more community sporting assets up to basic standards and into a position whereby a regular maintenance program could then be implemented for the future. The challenge before the Association will be to ensure Clubs with no role or link with the CDSFA that play in external competitions, and whose focus is on” elite semi-professional” levels of the game do not gain access to the improved infrastructure to the detriment of local community football clubs and the local rate payers who contribute to the capital works programs of local government. This has been a problem in the past and needs to be addressed by Football NSW having a strategic plan on the geographic placement of licences for its competitions. Denuding of resources from the community level of the game, will only weaken the foundations of football.

We saw increased participation with players, coaches & managers. 2019 saw the introduction of the 24th CCF club, Barnstoneworth United FC. I would like to thank our partners Battlewin, Oporto Flame Grilled Chicken, Central Coast Unity Bank & Central Coast Mariners, your contribution to the players of the Central Coast is important to add further value to our competition.

This year saw an increase in our referee numbers, which lead to an improved coverage of games. It’s important that we continue to grow our referee pool, whilst improving our referees through further development.

Coach Education is starting to gain momentum with approximately 350 coaches participating in various coaching courses as well as 10 clubs participating in the Club Coach Coordinator (CCC) program.

Pluim Park saw the latest improvements completed for the start of the 2019 season. There are currently plans for the next wave of improvements to further enhance our fantastic football facility. Thank you to Football NSW & The Australian Federal Government for their assistance.

Thank you to Darren and the team at CCF for delivering an outstanding football competition, presenting Pluim Park in immaculate condition and providing valuable support to our 24 clubs.

We look forward to the 2020 season.

CENTRAL COAST FOOTBALL

2019 football season in review, a season with minimal washouts, with only the final weeks creating havoc with the competition extended an extra week.

EASTERN SUBURBS FA

Season 2019 saw a season of change, enhanced and new partnerships and a continued focus to deliver a great football experience for all its members and stakeholders

Season 2019 saw significant change with long serving ESFA General Manager Aaron Dibdin moving to Football NSW as its Member Services Manager. Aaron’s dedication and hard work has left a great legacy for Football in the Eastern Suburbs.

This season the ESFA Technical Department delivered various programs and initiatives that will see our Coach Education, community engagement and football pathway for both boys and girls grow in the coming season.

Off the field, the Technical Department was also busy forging partnerships with key organisations that will allow us to grow as an association and give all our footballers the best opportunities within the Eastern Suburbs.

Three key partnerships were finalised between ESFA, Sydney FC, University of NSW FC and Matraville Sports High by the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between ourselves and the respective organisations. All are significant and equally important relationships, that will help assist our entire football community.

With the restructure of the NPL competition for 2020, our players now have a clear pathway to achieve their aspirations. With an MOU signed between UNSW FC NPL and ESFA, the ESFA SAP players now can continue their journey through the youth and senior competitions at NPL level.

The volunteers involved with our Clubs, with various ESFA committees and people who help in an unofficial capacity – our game would not survive without them. Saying thank you doesn’t seem enough, but your work is truly appreciated by many. The same goes for coaches – they give up a lot of their time to ensure that our players learn new skills as well as participate in an organised team environment.

With just under 9,000 registered players the Association does have its

challenges. The main one being Private Academies. For ESFA it needs to stay focused on the big picture and deliver good competitions and programs for its members.

The ESFA Board and Staff are deeply committed to provide a great football experience for its members and stakeholders. Looking forward to 2020.

Competitions and Player Development

• In a continued show of strength of our grassroots football players, a record five teams made the Champion of Champion Grand Finals, with 3 clubs claiming victory. In a continued show of strength, two out of our three participating teams were State Cup Grand Final winners

• Our highly successful Girls Conference League teams continued to dominate the competition with 2 out of the 3 teams crowned League Champions and also winning the Grand Final

• Our Association Youth League squads were also very competitive two of the squads making the final series.

• The continuation of development programs across all ages and a partnership with Sydney FC in the Implementation of Skills Training and School Holiday Clinics

• Our Summer Football Competition reached 2000 players in 2019, having commenced in 2013 with 500 player this has been a great competition which reaches out to non winter registered players

Community

• The FSC Knights is a program for junior players with a special need, this program continued in 2019 with the assistance of the Disability Trust.

FOOTBALL SOUTH COAST

After many years of planning and work, 2019 saw the completion of the construction of the regions first synthetic pitch. It was a historical moment for football in the Illawarra with many players across the association having the opportunity to play at Ian McLennan Park which underwent a significant face lift with refreshed amenities, the installation of new tiered seating and a disability toilet.

• The Refugee Football Program, which kicked off as a 10 week pilot has progressed to a weekly competition running throughout the year and is supported with the assistance of the Multicultural Communities Council Illawarra.

• Walking Football commenced in 2018 and has grown in 2019 with a regular Wednesday night competition running throughout the year.

Referee Development

• A new structure was implemented to streamline various committees with a focus on referee development and retention

• A continued challenge with the growth of the game is the shortages of referees, and strategies to address this continue to be explored and implemented

Infrastructure

FSC introduced a Club Infrastructure Committee and will be working with clubs to prioritise and improve their infrastructure needs. This will supplement the great work by a number of clubs who were successful in funding and grants to improve drainage, lighting and amenities across a number of facilities in the region.

Sponsorship

FSC has engaged a number of organisations to support and sponsor football. The level of

sponsorships is growing each year and we are proud to have such supportive organisations involved with us.

GLADESVILLE HORNSBY FA

A new era beckons with the formation in 2019 of North West Sydney Football Ltd from the merger between GHFA and North West Sydney Women’s Football Association.

It was a year of milestones for GHFA and our clubs and we congratulate Hills Hawks and West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook on celebrating 50 years, and Ryde Panthers 60 years with the Association.

The biggest milestone came in July with clubs of both GHFA and North West Sydney Women’s Football Association voting in favour of a merged Association – North West Sydney Football which became operational on 1 October 2019.

A new name brings with it new opportunities and we are confident the merged entity is well placed to assist clubs and provide a more efficient administration process for their men’s and women’s teams.

With the Christie Park synthetic fields available, the GHFA Cup returned after a two-year break and we introduced new competitions in the Masters 9s and Walking Football. Both show great signs of becoming valued forms of competition for players of a certain generation.

Thanks to our referee partner, GHFRA for their great support again and achieving a nearly 90% coverage of GHFA competitions. Together with our GPT, there was a concerted effort to address abuse of match officials and a zero-tolerance for players via the disciplinary processes. This should produce a higher level

of referee retention in the future.

Our Community & Club Development Program excelled again with six Certificate courses presented and numerous seminars and in-services through our GHFA Spirit FC coaching and support staff. The GHFA Academy developed over 300 players and 25 coach apprentices. Our annual 4v4 and 5v5 tournament at our Festival of Football Gala Day attracted over 80 under-age teams in fun football format.

This exercise was very exciting especially when finding the smallest details to help celebrate our game and to take pride in the very special place that Granville has in the game, not just in Sydney or NSW but in our nation.

We introduced new Trophies for each age group of the Mixed Knock Out competitions and named them in honour of the six local lads that played for the national team in the Golden Generation of the GDSFA - the early 1950’s. The last Sunday in July is KO Finals Day at Melita Stadium was fantastic and having these living legends or their relatives present their trophy to the winners was very special and well received. As was live streaming of every final game! But all these finals were just the curtain raisers to the Main Event.

After all the KO finals, the main event was the historic Cottam Cup Final from 1907. The game was epic and a genuine classic. Defending Champions Inter Lions FC from the Canterbury Association battled against the GDSFA hopeful, Holroyd Rangers. After 2 goals in 90 minutes and then 4 more goals in 30 minutes of extra time – including a goal with practically the last kick of the game – the Cup was decided with a penalty shootout. It was Holroyd Rangers who prevailed and won their inaugural Cup and brought Johnny home! This game was also live streamed with excellent commentary that reached an audience of over 14,000! The beauty of live steaming is that it can be watched by friends and relatives from all over the world - and it was!!

We also introduced for the first time, Knock Out Competitions for our ladies and girls. Whilst it was slow for the clubs to embrace, the finals held at Merrylands Park on a cold winter’s June night proved to be a fantastic celebration, as was our collaboration with the Blacktown Association as we completed the very successful Phoenix League now in its third year.

The success and popularity of the live streaming continued for Grand Final Day in September, again, this was very popular and all the Division 1 Grand Final’s played at Melita Stadium was a wonderful celebration showcasing the best of our Association as three teams (2 mixed, 1 female) went on to make the Champion of Champions Finals.

GRANVILLE DSFA

After three years of extensive research, we rewrote our own history and published the history of the sport in Granville which dates back to 1882 on our website, together with the foundation of our Association which we discovered was in 1900, two years earlier than commonly thought.

This year our Association and the Highlands Soccer Association brought back to life a trophy that dates back to 1887 – the Atkinson Price Challenge Cup - Australia’s oldest football silverware in existence!! This Cup was first played when a team of Scottish lads from Joadja Creek wanted to challenge the powerhouse and undefeated Granville Magpies FC team. Soon thereafter the Cup went missing for over a century. Last year, upon learning of this amazing silverware, we approached the HSA to reactivate it and we all agreed.

Our Challenge Shield (from 1901) Champions challenged the HSA Premier League Champions, Marulan FC and let history record Auburn FC won 3-2. This will be a regular end of season event. To mark the occasion special gold and silver medals were casted and given to each team. Before the premier league match, the best women’s teams from each Association, Rydalmere Lions and Moss Vale, played with the Lionesses winning.

We look forward to celebrating our 120 year anniversary in 2020!

HILLS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

Hills Football is lucky enough to be right at the heart of one of the largest growth corridors in the country.

Due to this, there has been an influx in young families to the area. Hills Football has strategically focused on the 3-6 age bracket via our ALDI MiniRoos Kick Off programs within Childcare Centres, Shopping Centres, Sports Centres and via our Member Clubs. In 2019, our community ran 23 separate programs for 529 kids. We are also fortunate enough to receive a whopping $200,000 grant thanks to the NSW My Community project scheme to roll out FREE MiniRoos to 19 community Childcare Centres in 2020.

The investment into the youth is starting to pay off. Our under 7s summer football program has grown by 300% from 2018’s numbers. Its all well and good to grow our numbers, but many lose focus on retaining the players, coaches and volunteers that we already have. In 2019 we placed great emphasis on providing the best experience possible to ensure the retention rates remained high and that players stayed playing our sport. A main focus for the experience of our players was refereeing. Both referee allocations and referee education. In 2019 we finished the season with 96% referee coverage across all competitive age groups. We implemented a Referee Development Panel that mentors and prepares our talented young referees for the next steps of their careers. However the highlight was our 4 new fully qualified All

Ability referees who took part in officiating selected matches this season.

Coach Education also remains high on the agenda. In 2019, 151 coaches were qualified from 13 separate courses. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Zac Ribeiro and the introduction of the CCC Servicing Scheme.

On the park, a huge congratulations to:

• Rouse Hill Rams U21 Ladies, Champion of Champions

• Winston Hills Under 14 Boys, State Cup Champions

• Winston Hills Under 15 Boys, State Cup Champions

• Castle Hill United, Under 16 Boys State Cup Champions

• Castle Hill United, Under 17 Boys State Cup Champions

2019 also saw three very welcomed editions to our family. Sydney Coolong FC, a new club with multicultural roots, the new Caddies Creek Sports Facility that Kellyville United FC now call home, and last but not least The Bella Vista Public School artificial pitch.

A big thankyou to all volunteers from the Clubs and relevant committees that are the heartbeat of our game.

For the first time in its history, participation in Association Football soared over 10,000 players across the Macarthur region. Overall, participation increased by over 5% from 2018, with 835 teams taking the field and representing the regions 22 affiliated clubs. Growing the Girls game is a primary focus for the Association and, with the introduction of Girls-only MiniRoos leagues this season, female participation rose by over 8% from 2018. Over 100 female teams competed in local competitions this season from MiniRoos through to Senior Football.

Further growth is expected in 2020 as the Association will welcome a new club in the growing community of Gregory Hills, which will be based at Cunningham Park.

MACARTHUR FA

A year to celebrate as Football goes from strength to strength in Macarthur.

The Association celebrated some significant achievements from its members in 2019, including:

• Macarthur Football Association U14 Youth League Champions;

• Narellan Ranger U17 Boys Champions of Champions;

• Camden Tigers U14 NPL2 Youth Champions;

• Chloe Gray, National Female Referee of the Year;

• Tamara Robbins, Ingleburn Eagles, Football NSW Fair Play Award winner;

• Paul Ellis, Camden Falcon, Football NSW State Award Recipient;

• Darcey Malone, Mt Annan, Junior Matildas squad member; and

• Rosaria Galea, Macarthur Rams Women, Young Matildas squad member.

Of great significance to the future of the game in our region, Members of the Association this year passed by special resolution the adoption of a new Constitution and Regulations. The adoption of a new Constitution and Regulations marks the start of a new era for the Association and its members.

MANLY WARRINGAH FA

Manly Warringah Football Association became the largest football association in New South Wales in 2019 in a tremendous mark of recognition for our volunteers, players, coaches, managers, parents, referees and officials.

18,758 registered players is a magnificent achievement and something the entire Northern Beaches football community can reflect on with pride.

Too often in grassroots football we place too much emphasis on trophies and competition tables, our focus straying from the real essence of grassroots football, which is simply playing the game we love with friends for enjoyment and exercise.

Which is why the number (18,758) is a significant confirmation that the infrastructure,

environment and support our 17 Member Clubs have in place attracts people to our sport and allows them to stay. From the U6s to the Over 45’s – men and women - football really is for life!

Our sport is built on the blood, sweat and tears of a legion of passionate and dedicated people, volunteers who put in countless hours to take on committee roles, mark lines, run canteens, hand out gear and countless other tasks.

These people are the fabric of our game and

should stand tall knowing they are helping more than 18,5000 people play the sport they love in an organized competition on a weekly basis.

The continued growth of player numbers - up more than 3,000 since 2014 - has presented challenges regarding ground availability. However, the MWFA’s relationship with Northern Beaches Council to support facilities upgrades and our players understanding in spreading matches to Friday nights and Saturday evenings has ensured player growth has not seen us outgrow our facilities.

In 2019 Nepean FA continued with a strong and determined focus on delivering our strategic plans and reaching our goals both on and off the pitch.

We were extremely pleased with the injection of funds in excess of $9,500,000 from local, state and federal governments that will deliver significant improvements at many of our venues in 2020 and 2021.

One third (10) of our clubs will enjoy major facilities upgrades following grants from the State and Federal Government. Our district will also finally catch up to the rest of Sydney with the installation of our first double synthetic pitch which will be installed at Jamison Park Penrith and will be ready for use by September 2020.

It’s great to be able to look forward to safer, more secure and better functioning facilities for so many of our members.

Female Football Come & Try Day

On the coach education and player development fronts, we are pleased to report that we continue to reach and exceed our plans for making better football available to more people and upskilling our coaching volunteers.

In 2019 we accredited over 450 Coaches. 350 newly accredited with Miniroos Certificates, 45 with Skill Training Certificates, 40 with Game Training Certificates and 25 with Senior Coaching Certificates. This takes our total to around 3000 Coaches accredited in the last 4 years in our District. A figure we’re very proud of.

In the area of player skill development, 2019 saw the full re-branding launch of our Nepean Football Academy and School Holiday clinics which delivered quality, affordable extra skill development to over 400 players who have taken their next step in a player development pathway.

2019 was a year for Nepean Football to reach or exceed targets set to secure the success of Football in our District

1. SKILL DEVELOPMENT - GOAL KEEPER TRAINING

2. FEMALE FOOTBALL COME AND TRY DAY

3. TRYING SUMMER FOOTBALL FOR THE FIRST TIME – OVER 30’S WOMEN

NORTH WEST SYDNEY FOOTBALL

North West Sydney Football might be a new name to the local community, but it brings together two great soccer institutions of Sydney’s north-west to deliver brilliant sporting programs to the local community.

Formed by the merger of the Gladesville Hornsby Football Association and North West Sydney Women’s Football, the new body is focused on delivering more playing opportunities for men and women in 2020.

“With all the men’s and women’s competitions and clubs coming under the one roof we’re able to provide a more holistic approach,” NWSF CEO Mark Lockie said.

“We’re now able to provide much more opportunities for players with competitions, clubs and teams catering for all age groups from under-six right up to over-45s.

“The merge also offers more choice of players. Girls for instance will now have access to Saturday competitions as well as the usual Sunday football programs which were on offer.”

NWSF has 36 clubs under its banner, as well as representative sides for the talented

players coming through the ranks.

North West Sydney Spirit FC is the association’s men’s representative club, whilst the North West Sydney Koalas FC are the women’s representative club. Both compete in their respective National Premier Leagues NSW competitions.

Whilst representative football is an important avenue for the association’s talented players, a key component of NWSF’s growth strategy is making football available to people of all ages and abilities.

“We’re looking at an over-40s competition for the women,” Lockie said.

“We’ve had the over-30s competition for a few years now but we’re seeing that there’s a growing group of women who are getting to that over-40 mark and looking to keep playing so we want to ensure that there is the opportunity to keep playing.

“To supplement that we have a couple of other programs on offer as well this year, with Walking Football coming into play as well.

“We’re really looking at expanding that program and we’re also going to continue the successful Master 9s competition we ran last season.

“That’s a competition aimed at over-45 men and women who want a more social game on a Saturday or Sunday on a smaller field.”

At the other end of the scale, NWSF’s academy program continues to go from strength to strength.

“It’s been quite successful, so we’ll be looking at running a girls only academy as well,” Lockie said.

With such a wide variety of competitions and programs, there is certain to be a team in a club perfect for players of all ages and abilities.

PUTNEY FC

2019 was another strong season of participation for NWSWF Association.

3,181 players took the field during our winter season.

Our Development Squad Program continued to deliver enhanced skills for players between 6 and 12 years of age. This program becomes more popular every year and some players who have attended have been selected for Koalas GSAP.

We continued our Goal Keeping Program for all ages and abilities, which was delivered by NWS Koalas First Grade Goal Keeper and former Chilean National Goal Keeper Romina Parraguire.

A highlight this year was seeing former Matilda and Life Member of our Association be inducted into the Football Federation

NORTH WEST SYDNEY WOMENS’S FA

North West Sydney Women’s Football Association sees the end of an era as we merge with Gladesville Hornsby Football Association, but not before one last rewarding and successful season.

Australia’s Hall of Fame. Leigh is one of only 19 Matildas to be inducted.

During the month of July, some of our players joined our Minister of Sport at Parliament House in Sydney, to take part in the press conference announcing our State’s support of the 2023 Women’s World Cup bid.

Once again, Grand Final Day was the pinnacle of another fantastic season and a great way to say goodbye to NWSWF as we know it. We played 70 games on the day, awarded 1655 medals and 329 trophies.

On the 1st of October, 2019 NWSWF Association and Gladesville Hornsby Football Association merged to form NORTH WEST SYDNEY FOOTBALL. The merger means the new association will become one of the 5th largest in NSW.

2019 SEASON

• 103 MiniRoos teams consisting of 1011 players

• 61 Junior teams consisting of 983 players

• 68 Senior teams consisting of 1043 players

• 11 PINK players

Whilst it is sad to see an end to the only allfemale association in the state, it is exciting to be part of the new organization, where all involved plan to further grow female football and development.

NORTHERN SUBURBS FA

A record season across Northern Suburbs FA with an increase in player numbers, Northern Tigers FC breaking club records and community initiatives reaching new heights.

In the third year of the NSFA’s Towards 2020 strategic plan, the fruits of our labour were beginning to show across NSFA, with 16,868 players experiencing the joy of football in our winter season - more than ever before in our history.

The NSFA boasted three teams in this year Champion of Champions finals, showcasing the increasing quality of coaches and players that are being produced throughout the region. During the last three seasons, many community initiatives have been implemented including the Club Coach Coordinator program, INSPIRE Coach Support program and the installation of the NSFA Development Leagues which have all raised the standard of experience for our members and provided appropriate pathway opportunities.

Northern Tigers FC followed this trend, reaching its first NPL NSW Women’s grand final in 2019 and lifting silverware thanks to the Men’s U20’s in NPL 2 NSW Men’s.

As our player numbers continue to rise and the engagement with the wider NSFA community grows, there is an ever-increasing demand on facilities. NSFA continues to advocate on behalf of football in the region and forge strong relationships with councils and MPs to increase the capacity of fields to service its community.

Back on the park, the NSFA Skellern Cup grew, covering 20 primary schools with over 800 girls taking part. XLR8 Player Development

Programs increased their presence, providing a unique and quality experience for over 2,300 aspirational footballers.

It’s been some time in the planning nonetheless Southern Districts Football Association and Liverpool City Council have now turned soil at Cirillo Reserve, Middleton Grange. As a joint cooperative between Southern Districts Football Association, Liverpool City council and funded by the Federal Government, it’s been a wait of 4 years and it’s finally coming to fruition. Cirillo Reserve is earmarked as a centre of excellence purpose built for female football, something that is lacking in the South West of Sydney.

Southern Districts Football Association is committed to break down barriers that might inhibit girls and women from playing our wonderful game. This purpose-built facility has a sole focus towards females with key elements such as Safety, Lighting, Security and Amenities to cater for the ever growing participation of women and girls.

Cirillo will be the “Home Base’’ for our NPL Women’s teams. The facility will be able to host night matches as well as training.

We believe our community deserves nothing less than the most modern facilities to cater for the growing population in Sydney’s South West Corridor and the growth in female football in Australia.

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SFA

Southern Districts Support Female Football Participation in South West Sydney with a state of the art development commencing in 2020

ANDY FAVALORO, PHIL SAMPSON, CLLR TONY HADCHITI

ST GEORGE FA

2019 has been another fantastic year for SGFA, further strengthening our position as a leading Association within Football NSW.

The biggest issue within the district historically has been the lack of suitable football facilities. We have been determined to fix this and through our collective efforts what we have delivered in the past few years for our community is unmatched and beyond all expectations.

The district now has four synthetics facilities at present with 4 more to come and major works have taken place at multiple venues to deliver new buildings, upgraded lighting, field resurfacing and irrigation systems.

Our participation numbers continue to rise and importantly a focus on prioritising the

development of female football opportunities has seen more girls and women play the game in our region than ever before.

We continue to further strengthen our partnership with Sydney FC, delivering hugely successful joint programs and for the first time employing a full-time community Officer to help drive growth and connection between grassroots Clubs and the National Leagues.

Our development program is now firmly entrenched as the authentic pathway for aspiring local male and female players and stands on the shoulders of our grassroots

clubs. We are excited about strengthening this connection into the future.

Outside the delivery of the winter competition, we delivered a range of successful programs including the St George Cup, Over 30 Womens social events, SGFA Allstars games, St George Football Community Day, the SGFA Chairman’s Cup and our ever growing summer football competitions.

We recognise the support of our patrons, the contributions made by both George’s River and Bayside Councils and send a huge thanks to our Clubs, volunteers, Referees and staff for your tireless efforts and support.

With in excess of 18,900 players the SSFA boasts incredible playing depth across all age groups and competitions which General Manager Jeff Stewart says is key to ensuring a fantastic playing experience.

Stewart said that while growing the game and making it available to new players is important, the real secret to the shire’s incredible football participation is retention.

“I think the experience of playing is good and that’s a draw card to keep players in the game,” he said.

“We have a level of football for everyone starting out from under-6 right up to ove-45s for the men and over-40s for the women.

“We keep people in the game.”

A big focus for the association in 2020 is the continual development of its academy program.

“We’ve moved heavily into the academy space in recent years and we’ve put in place a program we can now offer to individual clubs and teams to help them develop their best players,” he said.

“It’s about ensuring the players that want to give themselves every chance of developing into the best player they can possibly be have the opportunity and try to bridge the

SUTHERLAND SHIRE FA

gap we’re seeing as a community association between the community and NPL (National Premier Leagues) space.”

The academy program gives players access to extra sessions on top of their regular club and team training programs and is run by qualified coaches.

“There’s three main reasons people sign up for the academy program,” Stewart explained. “They want more training, they’re on the cusp of getting into the representative programs and they want to make the required improvements in their game to make those programs, or they simply love playing and want more opportunities to play and get better.”

The holistic approach to player development - which is further supported by the SSFA’s coach development and support networks - has been vindicated at Football NSW’s Champions of Champions competition in recent years.

Another big focus for the SSFA is supporting its clubs in the push for more facilities.

“We are actively trying to support our clubs to better manage their facilities enhancements and better manage their requests for grant monies,” Stewart said.

“We have a dedicated facilities person whose job it is to assist clubs with all the paperwork that’s necessary when applying for grants or requesting funding for different facilities projects.

“With so many players within the association, it’s important we’re able to support our clubs in looking at new potential for facility development and infrastructure.”

The Sutherland Shire Football Association is one of the most successful football associations involved in Football NSW competitions, and it’s not hard to see why.

WESTERN BRANCH

2019 was a positive year with all associations running successful competitions in a season less affected by weather.

The Branch is pleased with an improved number of coaching coaching courses/certificates and also further assistance in regards to Coach Education in many forms including more involvement in schools.

The Challenge Cup has grown immensely and has proven to be both a competitive and a positive pre-season event. The 2019 event was hosted by the Dubbo District FA at Lady Cutler Oval.

There was continued growth in Futsal and Summer Football participation, and we will be looking to increase the active futsal centres affiliated with Football NSW for 2019/20 and also growth areas for Summer Football.

The Dubbo FA had a particularly strong year in the Western Youth League taking out all 5 Boys age groups.

There was another group of coaches undertaking a Regional C Licence held at Bathurst.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Western NSW Football Challenge Cup

Men Dubbo Macquarie United Orana Spurs

Women Dubbo Bulls Dubbo RSL 78’s

Western NSW Youth League

WINNER RUNNER-UP

Under 12 Boys Orange Dubbo

Under 13 Boys Dubbo Orange

Under 14 Boys Dubbo Lachlan United

Under 15 Boys Dubbo Bathurst

Under 16 Boys Bathurst Orange

Under 12 Girls Dubbo Bathurst

Under 14 Girls Bathurst Dubbo

Under 16 Girls Bathurst Dubbo

BATHURST DISTRICT FOOTBALL INC.

Shooting Forward – Advancing Regional Football, Changing the Playing Environment, and Shining with Continued Success

On and Off the Field.

Bathurst Football, innovators, and force behind Football in Western NSW. Providing Competitions for the Bathurst District and also 5 surrounding districts featuring Seniors with 8 grades and over 60 teams, Juniors and Mini Football, BDF continues to grow, and provide over 20 clubs with access to all levels of Football.

REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Based around the upgraded Proctor Park Complex featuring world class new fields, change-rooms and State-of-the-art Electronic Scoreboard, BDF provides the best Competitions in the area, while continuing its successful partnership with WNSWFC providing a pathway to NPL Football.

BDF hosts the hugely successful Proctor Park Challenge and Bathurst Cup each year, and locally a quality Men’s Premier League Grand Final saw Lithgow Workmen’s Club (State Cup Quarter Finalists) triumph over Abercrombie FC 5-4 in penalties after being inseparable at 2 all after extra time. Not to be outdone the Women’s Premier League showcase, featuring an all female Grand Final Referee team for the first time, saw Underdogs CSU triumph 4-3 in the shoot out over defending and minor premiers Panorama FC, after a dramatic 3-3 extra time thriller. Thousands at the ground witnessed the enthralling games, which were also streamed live and watched as far away as France and England. At a Rep level BDF secured 4 Youth League Championships, those sides competing in the Country Cup, with the 16 Boys victorious. BDF hosted the Girls Country Cup with the brilliant football being upstaged by a rousing rendition of Waltzing Matilda by all teams for AusBid 2023.

MEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE GRAND FINAL

WESTERN NSW FC NPL AT PROCTOR

COUNTRY CUPS TEAMS SING WALTZING MATILDA

DUBBO DISTRICT FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

The 2019 season proved to be a strong one across all clubs in both senior and junior competitions with a mixture of Dubbo clubs qualifying for the grand finals, showing that the Dubbo & District Football Association competition is strong across the park.

In the DDFA 2019 competition, the results were:

All Age Men:

1st Grade – Dubbo Bulls Football Club

2nd Grade – Dubbo Newtown Soccer Club

3rd Grade – Macquarie United Football Club

4th Grade – East Dubbo United Football Club

All Age Women:

1st division - Macquarie United Football Club

2nd division – Wellington Warriors

Junior Competition:

Under 17’s – Dubbo City Rangers

Under 15’s – Westside Panthers Football Club Dubbo

Under 13a’s - Macquarie United Football Club

Under 13b’s - South Dubbo Wanderers Football Club

Macquarie United Football Club was awarded the Dubbo District Football Association Club Championship and the South Dubbo Wanderers Football Club was awarded Junior Club of the Year.

Representative football was once again a highlight in the 2019 season for the Dubbo District Football Association. The youth teams of Dubbo came away with strong results in the Western Youth League with all age groups qualifying for the Country Cup Tournament.

Dubbo teams that won Country Cup:

Under 14 Boys – 1st Place (2018 & 2019)

Under 15 Boys – 1st Place (2017, 2018 & 2019)

Under 16 Girls – 1st Place (Record win – first time for DDFA WYL)

Under 12 Girls – 1st Place (DDFA 2019

Representative Team of the year – Undefeated)

With the 2019 State Titles Western NSW team trials came another strong representation for the Dubbo region with a record number of DDFA junior players being selected to represent.

Bailey Stonestreet and Nicholas Peters were both selected in the under 12’s boys team.

Sienna Angus, Mia Penman, Indiana Hardisty, Phoebe Ryan, Mia Whalley, Charlotte Wallace and Renae Settree were all selected in the under 12 girls’ team and Bella Auld, Zara Wallbridge and Amy Moore were selected in the under 14’s girls team.

Amy Moore was also selected into the NSW Country team that played at the Australian Football Federation Australia Girls Westfield National Youth Championship in Coffs Harbour in July 2019.

FOOTBALL WAGGA WAGGA

The 2019 season has been a year of growth for Football Wagga Wagga. The season began with the welcome news that Football Wagga were the recipients of $450,000 in federal funding for lighting at Rawlings Park, a critical first step in our ambitious plan to revamp the home of soccer in Wagga. Federal Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack, announced the grant under the community sport infrastructure program. Mr McCormack described the previous field situation as ‘dire’ for an organisation with 14 clubs and 3000+ registered players. The President of Football Wagga, Tony Dobbin, said it’s exciting to take the first step towards raising $10 million for the Rawlings Park redevelopment.

Football Wagga were sad to farewell their inaugural Development Officer, Liam Dedini, who moved to Sydney early in 2020 to take up a newly created role as head of goalkeeping for Football NSW. On his last day he left a final message for the hundreds of kids he’s come across in the last three and a half years: “Just keep playing. Make sure you enjoy it. Keep juggling. Give yourself a record. And what you do on one foot, do on the other.”

When Liam began three years ago there were 48 kids in SAP, combined

LADIES PREMIER LEAGUE GRAND FINAL

LADIES PREMIER LEAGUE GRAND FINAL

boys and girls. Now thanks to his efforts we have two teams in each age group, 148 players, and girls’ teams in each age group for the first time this year. His mini-Matildas and mini-Socceroos gala days are now a fixture in Wagga, growing from less than 200 children three years ago to around 1,000 now.

The Wagga City Wanderers have gone from three men’s teams in a Sydney-based state league to fielding boys, girls, men’s and women’s teams in a national premier league (NPL) structure in Canberra. The Men’s under 18s and under 20s won their competitions, the junior girls teams all played finals and the under 16 boys just missed a grand final appearance.

2019 saw the introduction of a new club to the Association, Hanwood FC. In their maiden year in the competition the Griffith based club claimed the men’s and women’s premiership in first grade. The results from the senior 2019 competition were:

Men:

1st Grade (Pascoe Cup) – Hanwood FC

2nd Grade (Gardiner Shield) – Lake Albert Soccer Club

3rd Grade (Blake Shield) – Young Lions FC

4th Grade (Nankivell Cup) – Wagga City Wanderers

Women:

1st Grade (Leonard Cup) – Hanwood FC

2nd Grade (Madden Shield) – Tolland FC

The end of the 2019 season saw a crowd of 1089 people brave horrendous conditions to attend the first ever W-League match between Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets hosted by Football Wagga and Wagga City Council. Despite receiving more rainfall in one day than we had seen all year the event was deemed a success. With it came school visits from Sydney FC and a girls only gala day that saw over 110 kids participate.

Football Wagga Wagga would like to thank the volunteers at all clubs, players and referees for their contribution to making 2019 a successful year for the association. We are looking forward to the continued growth and achievements that 2020 will bring.

A GREAT SEASON FOR OUR PLAYERS IN EUROBODALLA

The Eurobodalla Association enjoyed an exciting season in 2019 with all six clubs fielding MiniRoos and junior teams. It was a successful season for our junior leagues according to the positive feedback from our coaches/players and Parents. Our senior men’s league was a bit disappointing this year with only four teams contesting the All Age Men’s competition. We are putting strategies in place to encourage a better participation rate for 2020. Our All Age Women, however, had a healthy six team competition on a Wednesday night. Whilst we have issues with the availability of grounds with sufficient floodlighting, all credit to the senior team coordinators and our players that hung in there together!

We had lots of action from our MiniRoos; our clubs entered a record number of teams in the Under Six and Seven age groups. Whilst we struggled to keep our teenagers involved, we managed to run a successful Youth League for both boys and girls. At our Annual Presentation Night we awarded the Player of the Year awards, Kyle Dixon from Narooma took out the honour in the men’s division for the second year running whilst Gabi Johnson from Moruya was the winner in the Women’s division. Ryan Miles from the Bodalla club was announced the Coach of the Year, a much deserved acknowledgement as Ryan coached 3 teams including his successful U/16 Rep side. The Club Championship award went to the Moruya Club.

We entered 8 teams into the Branch Championships with our U/15 & U/16 Boys and U/16 Girls proudly crowned Champions and our 12 and 13 Boys and our 12 and 14 Girls runners-up in the Championships.

We had seven teams contest the Country Cup with the Eurobodalla U/16 Girls proud champions representing Southern Branch in this prestigious competition.

The Senior Branch Championship competition was contested again in 2019. Games were played in great spirit and all players were acknowledged for their sportsmanship. Both finals were contested between Far South Coast and Shoalhaven, with Far South Coast lifting the Winner’s Cup in the Women’s divisions and Shoalhaven victorious in the Men’s competition. Congratulations! It was wonderful to see some great football to end a great season.

Our thanks to all the volunteers that make it possible for our players to enjoy our beautiful game.

HUGH WIGNELL RECEIVING THE PRESTIGIOUS RAY TWEEDIE AWARD IN THE U/12 DIVISION

*2018 registrant numbers adjusted to only reflect club football registrations

JUNIORS V SENIORS COMPARISON

FEMALE PLAYER COMPARISON

*2018 registrant numbers adjusted to only reflect club football registrations

FUTSAL REGISTERED PLAYER COMPARISON

2018 x 2019

NUMBER OF CLUBS COMPARISON

AWARD RECIPIENTS

STATE AWARDS

Sheena Storrie

Sonja Casagrande

William Owen

Anthony D'Agruma

Warwick Barwell

Regina Moran

Darren Ney

Paul Ellis

Michael Sestanovich

Karen Waud

Linda Cerone

Glenn Sheaves

Brandon Doggett

Jacky Finlay-Jones

Matt Brady

Cec Barlow*

Ron Beaumont

Leonard Bolden AM*

William Brackenbury*

Howard Bradley

Frank Broughton*

Aulden Brown*

Lionel Brown*

Andy Burton*

George Churchward*

Jack Cirjanic*

Robert Clark

Robert Colombo

John Constantine AM, OAM*

Lindsay Cosgrove

David Crampton

William Cullinan*

Kevin Darcy*

Harrie Dening OAM*

George Dick OAM*

Tom

Eric Drury

Trevor Elliott*

Brian Emery

Les Fairclough*

Ken Ferguson*

William Ford*

Jim Forrest

Ron Garvin*

Keith Gilmour *

David Goodman

Peter Gray

John Hedison

Ian Holmes

Stan Jones MBE*

Ross Kelly

Steve Kenny

Rob Laws

Joe Leffley*

Peter McCann*

Douglas McCarron

Tamara Robbins

LIFE MEMBERS

Bill McIlveen*

A. Raahauge*

Anthony Raciti

Doug Rennie OAM

Joan Robertson*

Jim Ronis

Laurie Simpson

Florence Stephenson

Arthur Sidney Tanner BEM*

Jack Thomas*

John Thomson OAM*

Peter Thorne

Jack Toole*

Ray Tweedie OAM

Charles Valentine*

Sam Vella OAM*

L. Williams*

Bill Wilson*

Frank Wilson

Rod Woods*

*Deceased

CHARLES VALENTINE MEDAL

GEORGE CHURCHWARD MEDAL

A. Doumanis OAM

FAIR PLAY AWARD

HONOUR ROLL

FOOTBALL NSW COMPETITIONS

FOOTBALL NSW FUTSAL

FOOTBALL NSW CUPS & COMMUNITY FOOTBALL

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

STATE CUPS

STATE CUPS

2019 FINANCIALS

DIRECTORS’

Your directors present this report on the entity for the financial year ended 31/10/2019.

DIRECTORS

The names of each person who has been a director during the year and to the date of this report are:

Anter Isaac

Rob Laws

Louie Apostolovski

James Chetcuti

Chris Gardiner (Resigned 14th November 2018)

Stephen Hayes

Jeanette Jones

Carlos Gonzalez

Fiona Lang

Directors have been in office since the start of the financial year to the date of this report unless otherwise stated.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

The principal activity of the entity during the financial year was the fostering of the game at all levels from the Premier Leagues to grassroots community football for its members. Its primary objectives are to grow participation and enjoyment across the Football NSW footprint and manage a Premier League and State league competition that drives the development of its players, coaches and referees for the longer term objectives of building a world class footballing nation.

Its supplementary objectives are to promote the game, service its membership and act cohesively with Football Federation Australia to provide a unity in purpose.

Football NSW measures performance against its primary objective of growing participation by monitoring registration and participation numbers in various facets of the sport. Budgets are allocated based on primary and supplementary objectives. Financial performance is measured against the budgets and reviewed in monthly Board meetings.

DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Football NSW's short term objectives are to: deliver financial and organisational sustainability through effective corporate governance, ensure structural and philosophical alignment with the Football Federation Australia, develop a strong customer service focus and service delivery ethos. Football NSW's long term objective is to grow, develop and promote the game by supporting our members, stakeholders and football family through effective governance, strong leadership, transparent communication, professional administration and clear strategic direction.

The operating performance this year is broadly consistent with 2018. Outdoor registrations increased marginally. Positive growth has been achieved in other forms of the game, with significant increases in summer football participants and registered futsal players. Revenue growth continued for Valentine Sports Park. Major partnership with TAFE as a sponsor has been extended for another year.

Insurance costs have increased in line with the higher amount of claims paid out under these policies. Increased investment has also been made in regional associations reflecting a revised service model.

The financials reflect a decrease in asset value of the land on which Valentine Sports Park is built. The market value should simply be seen as a paper valuation of the underlying land asset base that will be for future generations of the game should the park ever be sold for residential redevelopment. As in previous years, we have undertaken independent land valuation at the end of the financial year. In the current financial year, a reduction in the land value due to current market conditions has resulted in a devaluation of the asset.

INFORMATION ON DIRECTORS

ANTER ISAAC (elected 1 March 2013, re-elected 31 March 2017, Chairman since 11 May 2016)

Chairman, Football NSW Limited

Member of Audit & Risk Committee, Football NSW Limited

Managing Director, Kleinmann Wang

Advisor and Consultant, FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations)

Advisor and Consultant, AFC (Asian Football Confederation)

Advisor and Consultant, FIBA (Federation of International Basketball Associations)

Advisor and Consultant, ICC (International Cricket Council)

Director, International Business Development, Beverly Hills Film Festival

Lecturer and Masters Programme Curriculum Developer, International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting sub-major Corporate Law)

Member, CPA Australia

Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors

ROB LAWS (elected 19th March 2016)

Vice Chairman, Football NSW Limited

Chairman of Audit & Risk Committee, Football NSW Limited

Life Member - Football NSW Limited

Life Member - Macarthur FA

Life Member - Ingleburn Eagles SC

STEPHEN HAYES (elected 14 March 2014, appointed 11th May 2016)

Director, Football NSW Limited

Self Employed

George Churchward Medal Winner

Life Member, Riverina Branch

Life Member, Boomers Football Club (Albury Wodonga)

Life Member, Albury Wodonga Football Association

Life Member, Albury Wodonga Soccer Referees Association

DIRECTORS’

INFORMATION ON DIRECTORS (continued)

JEANETTE JONES (elected 1 October 2011, re-elected 19th March 2016)

Director, Football NSW Limited

Member of Legal & Regulatory Committee

Medical Practitioner

MB BS (Hons) (UNSW)

Life Member, North West Sydney Women's Football

JAMES CHETCUTI (elected 1 March 2013, re-elected 31 March 2017)

Director, Football NSW Limited

Member of Legal & Regulatory Committee, Football NSW Limited

Member of Project Control Group

Sales Professional

Diploma Accounting

Diploma Business (Real Estate)

Member - Australian Institute of Company Directors

AFC C Coaching Licence

LOUIE APOSTOLOVSKI (elected 14 March 2014, appointed 11 May 2016)

Director, Football NSW Limited

Director, itravel

Diploma in Inventory Management/Logistics

Diploma in Business Management

Foundation Life Member, Bankstown City Lions

CHRIS GARDINER (elected 19th March 2016)

BA, MA, M Prof Ethics, MLM

Director, Football NSW Limited

Director, Lumina Learning Australia

Fellow, Australian Institute of Management

CARLOS GONZALEZ (elected 31 March 2017)

Director, Football NSW Limited

State Director BGIS

Corporate Real Estate Professional

FIONA LANG (appointed 29 August 2018)

Director, Football NSW Limited

General Manager and Executive Director of BBC Studios, ANZ

Previously COO of BBC Studios, ANZ

Solicitor, admitted to practice in Supreme Court of New South Wales

Graduate Management, INSEAD (scholarship awarded from Chief Executive Women)

Non Executive Director UN Woman National Committee Australia and member of Finance, Audit & Regulatory

MEETINGS OF DIRECTORS

During the financial year, 10 meetings of directors were held. Attendances by each director were as follows:

MEMBERS' GUARANTEE

The entity is incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 and is an entity limited by guarantee. If the entity is wound up, the constitution states that each member is required to contribute a maximum of $20 each towards meeting any outstanding obligations of the entity. At 31 October 2019, the total amount that members of the company are liable to contribute if the company is wound up is $1,160 (2018: $1,160).

INDEMNIFICATION OF AUDITORS

To the extent permitted by law, Football NSW has agreed to indemnify its auditors, Ernst & Young, as part of the terms of its audit engagement agreement against claims by third parties arising from the audit (for an unspecified amount). No payment has been made to indemnify Ernst & Young during the financial year or since the financial year end.

INDEMNIFICATION AND INSURANCE OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

During the financial year, the Company paid a premium in respect of a contract insuring the directors of the company, the company secretary and all executive officers to the extent permitted by the Corporations Act 2001. The contract of insurance prohibits disclosure of the nature of the liability and the amount of the premium.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER BALANCE DATE

Other than that disclosed in this report and to the knowledge of directors, there has been no other matter or circumstance that has arisen since the end of the financial year that has significantly affected, or may affect Football NSW's operations in future financial years, the results of those operations or Football NSW's state of affairs in future financial years.

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

Football NSW's operations are not subject to any particular or significant environmental regulation under a law of the Commonwealth or a State of Territory in Australia.

AUDITOR’S INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION

The lead auditor's independence declaration for the year ended 31 October 2019 has been received and can be found on the following page.

Signed in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Directors.

ANTER ISAAC ROB LAWS Director Director

Dated: 17 December, 2019

INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

INCOME STATEMENT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

AS AT 31 OCTOBER 2019

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 31 OCTOBER 2019

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

The directors evaluate estimates and judgments incorporated into the financial report based on historical knowledge and best available current information. Estimates assume a reasonable expectation of future events and are based on current trends and economic data, obtained both externally and within the company

(a) Capital Profits Reserve

The capital profits reserve records profits on sale of land.

(b) Asset Revaluation Reserve

The asset revaluation reserve records the revaluations of property, plant and equipment. The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The financial report of Football NSW Limited for the year ended 31 October 2019 was authorised for issue by the Directors on the 17 December, 2019. The financial statements are for Football NSW Limited as an individual not for profit entity, incorporated and domiciled in Australia. Football NSW Limited is a company limited by guarantee.

Basis of Preparation

The financial report is presented in Australian dollars.

The financial statements are general purpose financial statements that have been prepared in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards - Reduced Disclosure Requirements of the Australian Accounting Standards Board and the Corporations Act 2001.

Australian Accounting Standards set out accounting policies that the AASB has concluded would result in financial statements containing relevant and reliable information about transactions, events and conditions. Material accounting policies adopted in the preparation of these financial statements are presented below and have been consistently applied unless otherwise stated.

The financial statements have been prepared on an accruals basis and are based on historical costs, modified, where applicable, by the measurement at fair value of selected non-current assets, financial assets and financial liabilities.

The financial report has been prepared on a going concern basis which assumes continuity of normal business activities and realisation of assets and settlement of liabilities in the ordinary course of business.

Accounting Policies

(a) Changes in Accounting Policy, Disclosures, Standards and Interpretations

Certain Australian Accounting Standards have recently been issued or amended but are not yet effective and have not been adopted for the reporting year ended 31 October 2019. Football NSW will be required to review and revise presentation, recognition or measurement where required for these Accounting Standards in future years. Football NSW has assessed that the following accounting standards are likely to have an impact in the future however the exact impact of these standards has not yet been determined.

FNSW applied AASB 9 for the first time in the financial year. AASB 9 Financial instruments replaces AASB 139 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement and is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018. The classification and measurement requirements of AASB 9 did not have a significant impact on FNSW. FNSW continued measuring at amortised cost the financial assets and liabilities previously held at amortised cost under AASB 139. The adoption of AASB 9 has changed FNSW’s accounting for impairment losses for financial assets by replacing AASB 139’s incurred loss approach with a forward-looking expected credit loss (ECL) approach. AASB 9 requires FNSW to recognise an allowance for ECLs for all financial assets not held at fair value through profit or loss. Upon adoption of AASB 9, FNSW performed ECL provision calculations and have recognized a loss allowance of $88,772. This reflects a $7,172 decrease in the ‘Provision for impairment of receivables’ recognized in the prior year and a change in classification to the ‘Expected Credit Loss provision’.

(b) Revenue and Other Income

Revenue from the sale of goods is recognised upon delivery of goods to customers.

Grant revenue is recognised in the income statement when the entity obtains control of the grant and it is probable that the economic benefits gained from the grant will flow to the entity and the amount of the grant can be measured reliably.

Interest revenue is recognised using the effective interest rate method, which for floating rate financial assets is the rate inherent in the instrument. Dividend revenue is recognised when the right to receive a dividend has been established.

Revenue from the rendering of a service is recognised upon delivery of the service to the customers. Capitation and insurance fees are recognized as revenue based on actual number of player registrations.

(c) Inventories

Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or net realisable value.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

(d) Property, Plant and Equipment

Each class of property, plant and equipment is carried at cost or fair values as indicated, less, where applicable, accumulated depreciation and impairment losses.

Freehold Property

Freehold land and buildings are shown at their fair value based on periodic, but at least triennial, valuations by external independent valuers. In periods where the freehold land and buildings are not subject to an independent valuation, the directors conduct directors' valuations on the carrying amount of the land and buildings to review that it is not materially different to the fair value.

Increases in the carrying amount arising on revaluation of land and buildings are recognised in other comprehensive income and accumulated in the revaluation surplus in equity. Revaluation decreases that offset previous increases of the same class of assets shall be recognised in other comprehensive income under the heading of revaluation surplus. All other decreases are charged to the statement of comprehensive income.

As the revalued buildings are depreciated, the difference between depreciation recognised in the statement of comprehensive income, which is based on the revalued carrying amount of the asset and the depreciation based on the asset’s original cost, is transferred from the revaluation surplus to retained earnings.

Any accumulated depreciation at the date of the revaluation is eliminated against the gross carrying amount of the asset and the net amount is restated to the revalued amount of the asset.

Property, plant and equipment

Property, plant and equipment are measured on the cost basis less depreciation and impairment losses.

The carrying amount of property, plant and equipment is reviewed annually by the entity to ensure it is not in excess of the recoverable amount from these assets. The recoverable amount is assessed on the basis of expected net cash flows which will be received from the assets employment and subsequent disposal. The expected net cash flows have been discounted to their present values in determining recoverable amounts.

Depreciation

The depreciable amount of all fixed assets including capitalised lease assets, but excluding freehold land and buildings, is depreciated on a straight-line basis over the asset's useful life to the entity commencing from the time the asset is held ready for use. Buildings are depreciated on a written-down value basis.

The depreciation rates used for each class of depreciable assets are:

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER

2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

The assets' residual values and useful lives are reviewed, and adjusted if appropriate, at the end of each reporting period.

Asset classes carrying amount are written down immediately to their recoverable amount if the asset's carrying amount is greater than its estimated recoverable amount.

Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing proceeds with the carrying amount. These gains or losses are included in the statement of comprehensive income.

(e) Leases

Lease payments for operating leases, where substantially all the risks and benefits remain with the lessor, are charged as expenses on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

(f) Financial Instruments

Initial recognition and measurement

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the entity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. For financial assets, this is equivalent to the date that the entity commits itself to either purchase or sell the asset (ie trade date accounting is adopted). Financial instruments are initially measured at fair value plus transaction costs except where the instrument is classified ‘at fair value through profit or loss’ in which case transaction costs are expensed to profit or loss immediately.

Classification and subsequent measurement

Finance instruments are subsequently measured at either fair value or amortised cost using the effective interest rate method or cost. Fair value represents the amount for which an asset could be exchanged or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties. Where available, quoted prices in an active market are used to determine fair value. In other circumstances, valuation techniques are adopted.

Amortised cost :

Amortised cost is calculated as the amount at which the financial asset or financial liability is measured at initial recognition; less principal repayments, plus or minus the cumulative amortization of the difference, if any, between the amount initially recognized and the maturity amount calculated using the effective interest method; and less and reduction for expected credit loss.

The effective interest method is used to allocate interest income or interest expense over the relevant period and is equivalent to the rate that exactly discounts estimated future cash payments or receipts (including fees, transaction costs and other premiums or discounts) through the expected life (or when this cannot be reliably predicted, the contractual term) of the financial instrument to the net carrying amount of the financial asset or financial liability. Revisions to expected future net cash flows will necessitate an adjustment to the carrying value with a consequential recognition of an income or expense in profit or loss.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

(i) Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss

Financial assets are classified at fair value when they are held for trading for the purpose of short-term profit taking, or where they are derivatives not held for hedging purposes, or when they are designated as such to avoid an accounting mismatch or to enable performance evaluation where a group of financial assets is managed by key management personnel on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented risk management or investment strategy. Such assets are subsequently measured at fair value with changes in carrying value being included in profit or loss.

(ii) Receivables

Receivables, previously classified as Loans and receivables under AASB 139 are now classified and measured as Financial assets at amortised cost under AASB 9 Financial Instruments. Receivables are recognised initially at fair value and subsequently at amortised cost. Normal terms of settlement vary from 30 days. FNSW assesses expected credit losses upon initial recognition of the financial asset with a forward-looking expected credit loss (ECL) approach. For trade and other receivables, FNSW applies the simplified approach permitted by the standard, which requires expected lifetime losses to be recognized from initial recognition of the receivables. In prior periods, amounts not recoverable were assessed at each reporting date under AASB 139. Indicators that an amount was not recoverable include where there was objective evidence of significant financial difficulties, debtor bankruptcy, financial reorganisation or default in payment. Any allowances for non-recoverable receivables were recognised in a separate allowance account. Any bad debts which had previously been provided for were eliminated against the allowance account. In all other cases bad debts were written off directly to the statement of profit or loss.

(iii) Financial Liabilities

Non-derivative financial liabilities (excluding financial guarantees) are subsequently measured at amortised cost.

Fair value

Fair value is determined based on current bid prices for all quoted investments. Valuation techniques are applied to determine the fair value for all unlisted securities, including recent arm's length transactions, reference to similar instruments and option pricing models.

Impairment

FNSW recognises an allowance for expected credit losses (ECLs) for all debt instruments not held at fair value through profit or loss. ECLs are based on the difference between the contractual cash flows due in accordance with the contract and all the cash flows that FNSW expects to receive, discounted at an approximation of the original effective interest rate. The expected cash flows will include cash flows from the sale of collateral held or other credit enhancements that are integral to the contractual terms.

De-recognition

A financial liability is derecognised when the obligation under the liability is discharged or cancelled or expires. When an existing financial liability is replaced by another from the same lender on substantially different terms, or the terms of an existing liability are substantially modified, such an exchange or modification is treated as the derecognition of the original liability and the recognition of a new liability. The difference in the respective carrying amounts is recognised in the statement of profit or loss.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

(g) Impairment of Assets

At the end of each reporting period, the entity reviews the carrying values of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have been impaired. If such an indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, being the higher of the asset’s fair value less costs to sell and value in use, is compared to the asset’s carrying value. Any excess of the asset’s carrying value over its recoverable amount is expensed to the statement of comprehensive income.

Where the future economic benefits of the asset are not primarily dependent upon the asset’s ability to generate net cash inflows and when the entity would, if deprived of the asset, replace its remaining future economic benefits, value in use is determined as the depreciated replacement cost of an asset.

Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of a class of assets, the entity estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the class of assets belong.

Where an impairment loss on a revalued asset is identified, this is debited against the revaluation surplus in respect of the same class of asset to the extent that the impairment loss does not exceed the amount in the revaluation surplus for that same class of asset.

(h) Employee Benefits

Provision is made for the entity’s liability for employee benefits arising from services rendered by employees to the end of the reporting period. Employee benefits that are expected to be settled within one year have been measured at the amounts expected to be paid when the liability is settled.

Employee benefits payable later than one year have been measured at the present value of the estimated future cash outflows to be made for those benefits.

Contributions are made by the company to an employee superannuation fund and are charged as expenses when incurred.

(i) Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash on hand, deposits held at-call with banks, other short-term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. These are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value.

(j) Finance Costs

Finance costs are recognised as an expense in the period in which they are incurred.

FINANCIALS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

(k) Goods and Services Tax (GST)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

Revenues, expenses and assets are recognised net of the amount of GST, except where the amount of GST incurred is not recoverable from the Australian Tax Office. In these circumstances the GST is recognised as part of the cost of acquisition of the asset or as part of an item of the expense. Receivables and payables in the statement of financial position are net of GST and the overall GST position is remitted to the Australian Tax Office and recognised as a separate balance.

Cash flows are presented in the statement of cash flows on a gross basis, except for the GST component of investing and financing activities, which are disclosed as operating cash flows.

(l) Income Tax

No provision for income tax has been raised as the entity is exempt income tax under Div 50 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

(m) Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the entity has a legal or constructive obligation, as a result of past events, for which it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will result and that outflow can be reliably measured. Provisions recognised represent the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation at the end of the reporting period.

(n) Comparative Figures

Where required by Accounting Standards comparative figures have been adjusted to conform with changes in presentation for the current financial year.

(o) Trade and Other Payables

Trade and other payables represent the liability outstanding at the end of the reporting period for goods and services received by the company during the reporting period which remain unpaid. The balance is recognised as a current liability with the amounts normally paid within 30 days of recognition of the liability.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 1: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

(p) Critical Accounting Estimates and Judgements Key estimates - Valuation

The company assesses impairment at each reporting date by evaluation of conditions and events specific to the company that may be indicative of impairment triggers. Recoverable amounts of relevant assets are reassessed using value-in-use calculations which incorporate various key assumptions.

At 31 October 2019, an independent valuation was performed on the freehold land and buildings at Valentine Sports Park. This valuation was conducted by Colliers International. The valuation was based on the fair value less cost to sell. The critical assumptions adopted in determining the valuation included the location of the land and buildings and the current strong demand for land in the area.

(q) Establishment of Sinking Fund

The Board and Management of FNSW have established a sinking fund as part of prudent financial management practices for costs of maintaining the working assets at Valentine Sports Park. Specifically, this sinking fund identifies funds required for routine resurfacing of the 2 artificial fields, once they near the end of their useful life (20,200 hours of use per field), and in future years will include amounts for any significant capital upgrades/refurbishment.

(r) Establishment of Renovation/Upgrade Capital Fund

The Board and Management of FNSW have sought to establish a capital fund as part of prudent financial management practices for costs of innovation and business improvement. Specifically, this capital fund identifies funds required for replacing the current Finance system with an Enterprise systems and in future years will include amounts for any significant innovation and business improvement projects.

(s) NAB Business Markets Loan Facility

The NAB Business Markets Loan facility has been extended to 31 October 2023. The facility limit reduces by $500,000 on the 31st of October each year. The interest rate applicable on funds drawn on the loan is 4.85% as at 31 October 2019.

The current facility limit is $2,500,000 as at 31 October 2019

(t) Contingent Liability

From time to time Football NSW is subject to legal claims. At this point in time, management do not believe any exposure would be material and therefore no provision has been raised.

NOTE 2: REVENUE AND OTHER INCOME

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 3: EXPENSES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE

NOTE

(a) Expected credit loss provision

the expected credit loss provision is as follows:

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

Investments held-to-maturity and held-for-trading are held to generate income through the receipt of distributions and capital gains.

NOTE 8: PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

(a) Valuation on land and buildings

NOTES TO THE

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

At 31 October 2019, an independent valuation was performed on the freehold land and buildings at Valentine Sports Park This valuation was conducted by Colliers International. The valuation was based on the fair value less cost to sell. The critical assumptions adopted in determining the valuation included the location of the land and buildings and the current strong demand for land in the area.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 8: PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT (CONTINUED)

Movement in the carrying amounts for each class of property, plant and equipment between the beginning and the end of the current financial year.

FINANCIALS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

The carrying value of plant and equipment held under finance leases and hire purchase contracts at 31 October 2019 was NIL (2018: $1,470). Additions during the year were NIL (2018: NIL) Leased assets and assets under hire purchase are pledged security for the related finance lease and hire purchase liabilities.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 12: PROVISIONS (CONTINUED)

(a) The provision balance of $897,734 represents the total annual leave and long service leave employee entitlement payable.

(b)

A provision has been recognised for employee benefits relating to long service leave. In calculating the present value of future cash flows in respect of long service leave, the probability of long service leave being taken is based on historical data. The measurement and recognition criteria for employee benefits has been included in note 1(g).

Non-cancellable operating leases contracted for but not capitalised in the financial statements.

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 15: KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL COMPENSATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

Key management personnel are those persons having authority for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the entity, directly or indirectly, including any director of that entity. Short-term benefits include salary & fees, superannuation and non-cash benefits.

NOTE 16: RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Transactions between related parties are on normal commercial terms and conditions are no more favourable than those available to other parties unless otherwise stated. Stephen Hayes is providing coaching services to Talented Support Pathway and his remuneration is estimated to be no more than $1,500 for the season. This is no more than what any other coach is paid.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTE 17: FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT

The company's financial instruments consist mainly of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, trade and other receivables, trade and other payables and borrowings.

The totals for each category of financial instruments, measured in accordance with AASB 9 as detailed in the accounting policies to these financial statements, are as follows:

Fair values of held for trading listed investments are based on quoted market prices at the end of the reporting period.

The fair values of finance leases are determined using a discounted cash flow model incorporating current commercial borrowing rates.

FINANCIALS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2019

The directors of the company declare that: The financial statements and notes are in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001 and:

1.

(a) comply with Australian Accounting Standards - Reduced Disclosure Requirements; and

(b) give a true and fair view of the financial position as at 31 October 2019 and of the performance for the year ended on that date of the entity.

2. In the directors’ opinion there are reasonable grounds to believe that the entity will be able to pay its debts as and when they become due and payable.

This declaration is made in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Directors.

ANTER ISAAC ROB LAWS Director Director

Dated: 17 December, 2019