REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Season 2022 has been a very successful year for the Albury Wodonga Football Association (AWFA) with player numbers very close to pre-pandemic levels and experiencing an increased number of senior ladies teams.

While there have been some struggles with numbers in a few grades, the overall participation rate has been the envy of many rival codes in the area. The challenge is to ensure players are retained and new players are attracted to the sport for the 2023 season.

To facilitate this, 2022 has seen the development of a new strategic plan to guide the development of football in the Albury-Wodonga region through the next five years.

A Female sub-committee has also been formed to ensure a plan for the retention of great female talent and to attract new players to the sport as the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ in Australia approaches. Next year will also see the 50th Anniversary of AWFA which will be celebrated with the local football community.

The season began with the postponed final of the 2021 AWFA FA Cup and then continued with a successful 2022 AWFA FA Cup played alongside the normal League competition.

The introduction of a points system for the Division 1 men’s teams has resulted in the closest competition ever with the League Champions being decided on the last weekend.

For the first time, the Grand Final matches were held at the recently renovated Lavington Sports Stadium. This major facility provided unprecedented conditions, including a major grandstand and unparalleled player facilities, providing a new spectacle for the final playing day of the season. This was a hugely successful day culminating in the Women’s and Men’s finals being extremely closely contested with a thrilling atmosphere created by some enthusiastic supporters.

The league has been able to take advantage of great local media coverage and has continued the association with live streaming partner, All In Sports, to broadcast the AWFA FA Cup Finals and Division 1 Men’s and Women’s League matches each week. This culminated with all Grand Final games on ground 1 being live streamed.

The running of this competition cannot be possible without an army of volunteers who give up their time so that the world game can be played every weekend. Many thanks go to every one of the volunteers who selflessly give their time so that as many people as possible can play this wonderful game.

In 2022, the football season was a busy and successful year for Football Wagga Wagga (FWW). All events in 2022 were met with great positivity and engagement from local players.

School visits were a key focus point with contact being made with 4742 students this year across more than 20 schools. The annual Mini Matildas and Socceroos gala days for stage 2 and 3 were also a major success for FWW with over 190 teams and 1650 students in attendance over four massive days of football.

The Association had a large focus on player engagement and retention rates within the female football space, especially in the junior girls’ competitions. FWW expanded to add a third all-juniors girls competition which was a great success and will be hoping to build on this in 2023 to create four all girls competitions.

A major contributing factor to the slow but gradual growth for our junior girls was the successful Female Football Festival that FWW held in the pre-season which saw over 110 girls running around for the afternoon playing small-sided games, receiving many giveaways and having a great time. These types of events will become a regular occurrence especially in 2023 with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ on home soil.

The FWW representative SAP and Academy programs had fantastic years with weekly training and attendance at Football NSW Gala days, Forbes Gala day and Kanga Cup to name a few. The Under 10s girls team had a very successful year winning both the Forbes and Kanga Cup tournaments with Issy Rodney taking out the Under 10s Most Valuable Player at Kanga Cup. In addition, Harper Alderson was named the Under 12 Girls Most Valuable Player at Kanga Cup. FWW’s two academy teams also had great years with both teams’ highlight being crowned runners up at the Merino Cup in Goulburn.

Another highlight for 2022 was the amount of local FWW players who represented NSW Country in both the boys and girls TSP tournaments throughout the year. Special mentions go to Vaughn Jenkins, Dipkar Rai, Hannah Ferguson, Perri Nash, Maddy Angel and Megan Castle, as well as former FWW players Samantha Emms, Allyana Levy and Alethea Levy, who were all selected to represent NSW Country at either NYC or NTC competitions. FWW also had Liam Dedini, Andrew Mason and Michael Babic attend the NYC as coaches.

Overall, 2022 was a successful year for the Association with a total of 2837 registered players. Of these players, 1,374 were aged 5-11 in the Miniroos age bracket, 743 were aged 12-18 in the junior age bracket and 720 players aged 19+ in the senior bracket. Participation numbers will be a big push for 2023 to ensure the continued growth of the game and offer a suitable program for every individual in the Association.