Balga SC release book called ‘Together’

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Balga SC
Image via Balga SC

Balga Soccer Club of Western Australia’s State League Two has put out a book in which the club’s culturally diverse members, players, coaches, and other volunteers share their personal stories.

The book, written by Tom Jeffcote, features many inspiring stories, such as that of Grace Dawa and her three children, Curtis, Sean, and Zara, all of whom are South Sudanese refugees. Grace fled to Uganda with her family to escape the war and spent 11 years in a refugee camp before coming to Australia, where she has been made to feel very welcome at Balga.

“I have some writing experience,” the writer told us.

“Ken Shorto, the President of Balga SC, asked me to write the club’s story.

“I agreed to do it on a totally pro bono basis if it was about the people at the club rather than a history of results, etc. Ken agreed, and I put the book together. It is made up of a diverse group of officials, players, both past and present, and, most importantly, parents and their children from all over the world, many of whom are refugees from war-torn countries.”

Together also highlights the Fee-Free Football Programme, which they’ve put in place to get kids to play football without any financial barriers.

“We believe Balga is the only club in Western Australia and indeed Australia that has a Fee-Free Football programme; therefore, it is vitally important in allowing kids to play football when many of them would not be able to,” Jeffcote said.

Club President Ken Shorto explained:

“We have sponsors who support the ideology of Balga Soccer Club and parents and grandparents who help out doing jobs around the club as volunteers. This gets us through and saves us paying people to do these jobs,” he said.

Shorto exemplifies the culture and spirit of Balga as a club. Ken enjoys the club’s lack of egos, open honesty, and camaraderie. He has witnessed and driven the club’s culture change over the years, from a predominantly British membership to today’s multi-cultural community group membership.

“I don’t care what colour people are or ethnic or religious background they have, I just judge them by what they do, act and how they behave,” he added.

The book, which is available at the club for $10, is a worthwhile read for all and is a huge step in the right direction for giving volunteers their due credit while also recognising the purpose football serves for those who don’t have much.

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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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