Manly United announces training compensation reward for grassroots clubs

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Manly United have announced an agreement that will give grassroots clubs in the Manly Warringah Football Association a portion of any training compensation the NPL club receives for players who started their career in their local area.

The current FIFA rules state training compensation is allocated to clubs that play a role in a player’s development from the age of twelve onwards.

However, acknowledging the important role grassroots clubs have in the formative years of development, Manly United will reward all clubs that help develop young players.

“Manly United recognises the part grassroots clubs play in the Australian football pyramid and believes it is only fair that local clubs, who play a critical first part in helping football players to fall in love with the game, should be recognised,” said Manly United CEO David Mason.

“There has been a lot of talk lately about uniting football and bringing the entire football ecosystem together and if we are serious about that it has to include the grassroots football community, which is home to 96% of Australia’s football players.”

Wakehurst Football Club will be the first club to benefit from the agreement, with former Manly United and Sydney FC youngster Cameron Peupion recently signing for Brighton and Hove Albion in the EPL.

“Cameron started his football playing with Wakehurst and then joined Manly United as a 9-year-old, moved onto Sydney FC and is now about to live out a dream that started at Hews Parade and Lionel Watts Oval on the biggest stage of all,” Mason said.

“We would like to thank Danny Townsend and Sydney FC for the way we worked together on a fair Training Compensation arrangement with Brighton but we believe that cooperation should go all the way back to his junior club.

“The grassroots is always forgotten when Australian football thinks of the player pathway and just before he departed Australia Cameron came down to Cromer Park to spend some time with the SAP players and watched his mates play for Wakehurst before jetting off to England.”

17-year-old Peupion said: “This is fantastic that Wakehurst has been recognised. It is my first club, it’s where I started to play my football and along with Manly and Sydney FC have helped me get to the point that I’m about to chase my dream in the Premier League. It’s great that all the people who have helped me have been recognised.”

Wakehurst Football Club President Greg Dick was delighted with the news.

“This is a fantastic surprise and a great reward for Wakehurst Football Club. Cameron started his football with Wakehurst before moving onto Manly United and we think this new agreement is a tremendous recognition and reward for local clubs in the MWFA,” he said.

“Whilst training compensation applies from the age of 12 this agreement clearly demonstrates the MWFA’s leadership and commitment to the development of grassroots U6-U11 football.”

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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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Image Credit: Shutterstock

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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