ALL ABILITIES FOOTBALL

Football4all

Football NSW provides a wide range of football opportunities and programs for people of all abilities. The inclusive opportunities and programs available within Football NSW fall under the name of football4all.

Football NSW’s annual football4all Nova Employment Gala Day unfortunately could not go ahead in 2021 due to COVID-19. Although COVID-19 affected the football season, many of our 46 football4all programs managed to recommence playing for a shortened season. Positively, across all football4all programs, 1008 players (224 female and 784 males) participated.

Hills Football (HF), Northern Suburbs Football Association (NSFA) and North West Sydney Football (NWSF) came together late in the year on Saturday 4th December to run a gala day and inclusive coaching workshop to celebrate International Day of People with a Disability (IDPwD). The day consisted of small sided games with PINK football4all, Hills Knights Football4all, Spirit FC and Blind and Vision Impaired players, among more. There was also an exciting showcase match with players from the Australian Pararoos team.

CP Football

The National CP Football Championship was unable to run in 2021. This would have seen Football NSW sending two teams to compete on the Gold Coast. Although competition was disrupted, CP Football continued to strive to get back on the pitch with training camps at VSP.

The Pararoos Development Centre’s typical program was also affected by COVID-19. The centre is hosted by NSFA with monthly training sessions run for participants with Cerebral Palsy (CP), Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) or symptoms resulting from a stroke. Sessions are run by experienced coaches Ben Akins, Ben Sutton and Jeremy Boyce.

Some training sessions for the Female only CP program ran early in 2021. These sessions were delivered by experienced coach Charlotte Ercil out of Valentine Sports Park for female participants with CP, ABI or symptoms resulting from a stroke. NSW Powerchair Football 2021 Year in Review

The 2021 NSW Powerchair League season kicked off in late February at Valentine Sports Park. Competing across two divisions, Premier League and Reserve Grade, teams from the Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC, the Western Sydney Wanderers and Hills United locked horns over 15 rounds. Powerchair Football is a modified version of football for powerchair users, using an oversized ball with metal guards acting as the athletes’ ‘boots’. 2021 saw the standard of play increase once again, with a dynamic game style and highly competitive matches between all sides.

Abdullah Karim (Hills United) and Ben Keyte (Western Sydney Wanderers) compete for the ball

NSWPFA’s Reserve Grade competition became fully competitive in 2021, with all clubs fielding sides in both grades. Competition remained tight to open the season with all teams trading draws before the Newcastle Jets accelerated away from their opponents. Seven wins in a row saw the Jets claim the title with four rounds remaining in dominant fashion. The battle for second place continued long into the season, but a six match win-streak of their own to close out the season saw Hills United roll into second place after only recording their first victory in Round 10. The 2021 NSWPFA Premier League season saw Hills United and the Newcastle Jets neck and neck over the first few rounds, and right up to the midpoint of the season. Hills United held a slender two point lead after eight rounds. Eventually Hills United found their groove to round out the season with seven wins in a row to cement their first Premier League title in only their second season. The Newcastle Jets solidified their hold on second with the Wanderers and Sky Blues unable to keep up. Despite a difficult season, Sydney FC claimed their first win of the season over their cross-town rivals, the Wanderers, with two rounds remaining. 2022 sees Hills United in the Premier League and Newcastle Jets in Reserve Grade defending their titles when the new season kicks off in February.

Multicultural Football

In conjunction with Football Australia, Football United, Creating Chances and STARTTS, Football NSW ran an eight week program in early 2021 called Girls United. Girls United was a fun, safe and inclusive football program developed specially for women and girls within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities. The project was designed to support the participants’ holistic development and overcome unique barriers they may have experienced in sport. Starting with eight registered participants, the project grew to 22, and with the interest and demand from the community group, an additional program was run for boys. The Stand United program kicked off in March 2021, with seven associations participating in training throughout early 2021. Stand United is a program supported by Multicultural NSW and the project is designed to provide teams, clubs, associations, and the broader community with the tools needed to stand united against threats of violence, racial abuse and any other incidents that may arise. Football is a vehicle of change, and we are aiming to use it to increase levels of community harmony and social awareness. The program also seeks to increase cultural understanding, reduce levels of social and cultural hesitation and increase feelings of acceptance, belonging and understanding within Football. The delivery of the Stand United workshops was disrupted by COVID-19, although we are set to continue delivering training in collaboration with the Multicultural Council of Illawarra (MCCI) in 2022.

Indigenous Football Events and programs for Indigenous Football were heavily impacted by COVID-19, as Nations of Origin, NAIDOC Week Cup and the National Indigenous Football Championships (NIFC) were all planned and unable to go ahead in 2021. Football NSW is looking forward to the return of these initiatives in 2022.