NSW FOOTBALL LEGACY PROGRAM

In June 2022, Football NSW secured government funding and signed a quadripartite agreement with the NSW Government, Football Australia (FA) and Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) to facilitate a $10 million investment into the NSW football community as a result of Australia co-hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

The NSW Football Legacy Program aims to improve football facilities and support infrastructure, increase participation opportunities, and improve female football pathways.

There are five main pillars:

• NSW Football Legacy Fund - Infrastructure and Participation Grants

• Daughters & Dads Active and Empowered program

• Women in Football Scholarship program for coaches, referees, volunteers, administrators

• Women in Leadership program

• First Nations football development

NSW Football Legacy Fund

Round 1 of the infrastructure and participation grants closed October 2022 and successful candidates are expected to be announced early 2023. With $3.1 million to be allocated, it is exciting that both streams were oversubscribed with a mix of Council, Club, and Association applications for the infrastructure grants and 79 applications for the participation grants.

Daughters & Dads Active and Empowered

During September, Football NSW hosted the University of Newcastle’s Professor Phil Morgan and his team to deliver facilitator training to upskill 18 new Daughters & Dads Active and Empowered facilitators.

With the facilitators in place, four Daughters and Dads Active and Empowered pilot programs commenced (two in FNSW and two in NNSWF). All programs were fully subscribed resulting in 100 dads and their daughters completing the first football specific program. Thirty programs are scheduled to be delivered in the next 18 months and Football NSW is excited to partner with Associations and Clubs to deliver this program that aims to use fathers and father like figures as the activists for supporting their daughters social, mental and physical wellbeing through football.

Women in Football Scholarships

In November and December 2022, the first group of scholarships were awarded and resulted in over 50 new female referees completing their Level 4 qualification, while an additional 21 women completed their Futsal Certificate or Licence.

Volunteers in clubs received online scholarships for courses including budgeting, conflict resolution and leadership with the bulk of scholarships to be awarded in 2023.

Women in Leadership Program

The Women in Leadership program will partner with Football Australia and Ebru Koksal and will result in over 60 women further developing their leadership skills in 2023/24.

First Nations Football

The First Nations tournament will see our NAIDOC Cup expand to include additional age groups in 2023. The tournament will be held at Valentine Sports Park from 3-5 July during NAIDOC week.