Northern NSW Football invests in referee development

Liam Watson
Northern NSW Football
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Northern NSW Football has taken steps to improve the quality of refereeing, by establishing a Referee Development Panel and bringing in a new Schools Referee Program.

The state federation will begin to roll out the initiatives to get more people involved in the game and subsequently retain them to hopefully achieve higher honours.

The Northern NSW Football Referee Development Panel will directly benefit young referees, which strengthens the match official development pathway and provides tangible opportunities for high performing Level Three referees to grow and advance.

The Referee Development Panel not only allows match officials to learn and grow together, but they will also be taught by experienced referee instructors.

Nominations can be made as part of the application process to join, with the following criteria below:

  • Ideally aged 16 to 18
  • Ideally with a minimum of Level 3 accreditation (theory)
  • Have skills to be selected to referee at National Youth Championships within a maximum of the next three years
  • Will receive regular coaching to aid their progression
  • Nominations must be endorsed by the referee’s zone or branch before they can be considered
  • Nominations for the RDP are now open and will close on February 28, 2023.

To support the pathway towards achieving the minimum Level 3 accreditation, the Schools Referee Program by Northern NSW Football will look to increase participation of prospective referees.

The program will provide schools across the Hunter with the opportunity to offer in-house Level 4 introductory referee courses to students during school hours. It aims to boost the number of student referees and address the shortage of match officials available for school games.

Students will learn how to become a referee, gain a refereeing qualification and an opportunity to earn money while embarking on a rewarding career path.

In addition, they will receive all the officiating gear and resources to ensure they are well-equipped and ready to go.

Expressions of interest can be completed here for schools wanting to host programs.

The additions of the Referee Development Panel and Schools Referee Program will promote refereeing in a positive light, which often has the negative stigma associated with it.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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