FEMALE FOOTBALL

In 2022, Football NSW (FNSW) continued its move towards gender parity in participation through a further increase in the proportion of female player and non-player registrants. Boosted by the roll-out of the NSW Football Legacy Program and Australia’s co-hosting of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, the ongoing growth of the female game looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Female Football Week

Football NSW (FNSW) was proud to support and promote Female Football Week (FFW) in May 2022. The initiative celebrates the immense growth of women’s football at all levels of the game while acknowledging and promoting the important roles women play in developing football.

Throughout the course of FFW 2022, over 9,700 participants were involved in activations as players, coaches, administrators and officials across more than 35 different activations.

In 2022, Football NSW enlisted a dedicated Female Football Week Ambassador, Matildas player Chloe Logarzo, to provide a series of video clips promoting the event and encouraging Clubs and Associations to register their event.

Chloe also provided a personalised video for each Association who did register their event through the Football NSW website which was also accompanied by a social media suite for the clubs to utilise.

Association and Club Activations

2022 was a huge year for FFW, with some of the events activated across the community including:

• Female Football Festivals

• Free skills sessions, clinics and come’n’try days

• Female-only coaching courses and workshops

• All abilities matches

• Female trial and exhibition games

• Various promotions, including player appearances, previews, and media reports about events, and FFW-dedicated social media campaign on FNSW website and social media pages

FNSW was extremely appreciative of the initiative shown and support provided by Associations and Clubs to support the biggest year yet for FFW.

Football NSW Activations

Female Community Coaches Update: 9th May 2022

On Monday 9th May, Football NSW hosted the first of two coaching updates, targeted at community female coaches and coaches of female football teams. On the evening, the coaches in attendance were able to watch a variety of sessions delivered by an exceptional panel of coaching staff. Warren Grieve hosted a Skill Training Session, Isabella Nimmo & Annabel Meadley delivered an Inclusion Session for players with a disability, Eilidh Mackay delivered a Skill Acquisition Phase Session and Jackson Franich provided a Goalkeeper Session. Thank you to the Football NSW Institute U13s & U14s teams who participated as players for the sessions.

Female Referee’s Workshop: 10th May 2022

On Tuesday, 10th May, Football NSW Referees Department hosted an all-female referee training session at Valentine Sports Park. Referees from all levels of the game were invited to participate in the session, which involved drills working on key components of being a referee and assistant referee such as positioning, signals, concentration, and agility. The session was facilitated by FNSW’s Community Football Referees Coordinator and A-League Women’s Assistant Referee, Emma Kocbek, with assistance from NSW based referees, assistant referees and fourth officials on the A-League Women’s and NPL NSW Women’s refereeing panels. There were over 40 registrations for the session, and in attendance were match officials from a range of levels, including MiniRoos all the way through to FIFA Assistant Referee and 2023 World Cup candidate, Sarah Ho.

Female Advanced Coaches Update: 11th May 2022

The second of two Female Coaches Workshops was aimed towards Advanced Coaches of Female Football. This event was aligned with the 2005 Girls Elite TSP Match held at Valentine Sports Park. During this event, coaches were provided the opportunity to hear from Junior Matildas Head Coach Rae Dower and Football Australia’s Girls Youth Development Manager Debbie Fisher as they spoke about Talent Identification in Women’s Football.

Coaches were also shown the Talent Identification app used by coaches Australia-wide to identify talented players and log their information in a national database.

Concluding this presentation, coaches were then invited into the grandstand to observe and identify players from the 2005 GTSP Elite Match and put that information into the application.

2022 Female Football Round

Football NSW Female Football Week Round: 8th May 2022

This year, Football NSW held an official Female Football Round where the matches occurring in both League One Women’s and NPL NSW Women’s were highlighted and promoted for spectators to attend.

The program created for the event featured:

• A welcome message

• Women in football profiles (2x female administrators, 2x female coaches and 2x female referees)

• First Grade team sheets for both competitions

Football NSW Promotions

FNSW managed a significant FFW digital campaign, as well as promoting the event across the community. Articles were posted regularly, and FFW social media activities were also fed through the socials, including relays of Club and Association releases.

FNSW issued a social media suite for use by participating organisations, which included graphics, kids’ activities, a promotional video from Chloe Logarzo and social media assets for Clubs and Associations. There were also resources provided to clubs from FA that promoted and included graphics promoting their ‘Our Game’ platform that had been soft launched.

An extensive FNSW social media campaign was conducted in the leadup to and during the FFW activities, with many Clubs and Associations also implementing their own campaigns, which were amplified by FNSW.

Girls Love Football

In 2022, Football NSW launched the ‘Girls Love Football’ program, a skill development program delivered over six weekly sessions, focusing on engaging adolescent girls and encouraging them to remain in football. FNSW partnered with Associations and Clubs to deliver programs across the following locations/hubs during Term 4:

• Macarthur Football Association – Lynwood Park

• Granville Districts SFA - Rydalmere Park

• Nepean Football Association - Hickeys Park

• Russell Lea Women’s Soccer Club - Queen Elizabeth Park

• Chipping Norton - South Park

The 2022 programs also included an A-League Women’s matchday experience. Players, coaches and parents attended the fixture as a squad and a selected few had the added experience of being flag bearers for the game.

With Term 1 programs already locked in for 2023, FNSW is excited to see its continued growth over the coming years.

KICK-ON FOR WOMEN

Kick-On for Women is an introductory, low-impact football program targeted at women over the age of 16 with a focus on fun, football and friendship.

In 2022, programs were conducted in hub locations by North West Sydney Football, Northbridge Football Club and Macarthur Football Association with great success. FNSW looks forward to supporting more Clubs and Associations to deliver the programs in 2023.

2022 Female Coaching Scholarship Recipients

FNSW continued to support female advanced coaches in 2022, awarding 12 coach scholarships to undertake an AFC/FA C-Licence or AFC/FA B-Licence.

Designed to provide greater access for female coaches to obtain advanced coaching qualifications, the scholarships provide financial support, access to mentors and ongoing support via the Female Coaches Network. Congratulations to all successful scholarship recipients:

AFC/FA C-Licence

AFC/FA B-License

Angela Bottaro-Porter Brittany Anderson

Kate Cheyne

Saoirse Cobbe

Sophie Clarke Meaghan Kempson

Michelle Grigg

Tom Lane

Amanda Millgate

Genevieve Nisbet

Lauren Phelps

Fiona Smith