Football Queensland launches new school partnership

Liam Watson

Football Queensland has maintained its commitment towards uniting football by announcing a new partnership with The Great Public Schools’ Association of Queensland (GPS).

The move comes as part of Football Queensland’s School Strategy, designed to improve the sporting experience for school participants.

After months of discussions, Football Queensland and GPS have reached a Memorandum agreement that will see match referees and fresh development opportunities for referees and coaching supplied to GPS schools across the state.

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“We are delighted to be working with GPS and school football and look forward to delivering quality outcomes for participants of school football,” Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci said.

“It is critical we continue to unite football in the state whilst constantly looking for innovative ways to improve the experience wherever football is played and this partnership enables us to do that, creating consistency in refereeing across school and club football.”

GPS was founded in 1918 and has been able to administer sporting and cultural activities for nine secondary schools in Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and Toowoomba. Football has been part of the association’s focus since 1991.

“The new partnership with Football Queensland will deliver tangible benefits for our member schools, allowing us to improve the quality and support of match officials and coaches across the GPS network and encouraging growth in participation,” GPS Competition Administrator Katie Veitch said.

“We look forward to working with Football Queensland to further strengthen the delivery of GPS football as we provide exciting opportunities for our participants and their football development moving forward.”

“One of Football Queensland’s strategies will be the delivery of free referee courses to build capacity within GPS schools and mentoring match officials during school games, reflecting FQ’s commitment to growing the number of referees in the state through increased development opportunities,” Cavallucci said.

“We will also be making coach education courses available to GPS school coaches to ensure their young players are benefitting from the best possible guidance.

“Football in Queensland United is a critical strategic objective, and we can only achieve this by bringing together and welcoming communities into the football family.

“A united game with a shared purpose, demonstrating we are the largest participation sport across Queensland, FQ will advocate football with a stronger position across all levels of government.”

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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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