“Big Brands Haven’t Truly Invested the Time for Women’s Boots” – Sam Turner on the lack of women-specific football boots

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Image credit: ThatFootballPodiatrist

In Episode 13 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast, podiatrist Sam Turner explored the topics of performance versus comfort in football boots, how important it is for professional and NPL athletes to have multiple pairs of boots and addressing the current long-standing issues in women’s sports footwear.

In this insightful chat, the topic of women’s football boots, more specifically the lack of sex-specific boots, was a hot topic and Sam Turner discussed the problems with the big companies ignoring this issue.

“This is a big one. It’s hard to determine whether it has an impact because we have no data. In terms of football boot research, since the 70’s there’s only been 500 papers on footwear and boots. Out of that, 10 have been on women,” Turner said.

“We’re going on a little bit of antiquated data that women’s feet are generally smaller and higher arched. We’re actually noticing that you can go to any women’s squad in the country, line them all up and you’ll have so many different feet.

“Most of the major companies will say it’s unisex which is a cop out and really have they actually invested the time? A lot of this is just marketing 101.”

The demand for women’s football boots is clearly there but Turner spoke about the lack of change in this area despite complaints from pro players.

“Is it the demand? Well half a million women are playing football in Australia at the moment; that’s a bloody big audience. Women’s Euros were huge and England won it again which is big,” he said.

“Out of the big companies, there’s only really four women’s based boots out there and there is 26 men’s based boots. So if you have a choice of four or 26, what are you going to choose? The one with more variety.

“There was a study in Europe which found that 82% of women found their current boots uncomfortable. This is of professionals in the top leagues in Europe. The question is: Why aren’t we doing more on that front?”

With the rapid growth of the women’s football space local and abroad, the need for research and boots that suit the differences in women’s feet become increasingly more important.

Click hear the full interview with Sam Turner, on Episode 13 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast – available on all major podcasting platforms.

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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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