Canberra United powerchair team receives funding for new wheels

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Canberra United’s Powerchair football team has received new sets of wheels, thanks to support from Rotary and Capital Region Muscular Dystrophy.

Powerchair football is a modified version of the round ball game for electric wheelchair users, including those with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and other spinal cord injuries.

Capital Football and Capital Region Muscular Dystrophy joined forces to form a local Powerchair football team, three years ago.

The team continues to grow, and to help them reach their full potential, Capital Football approached Rotary to ask for their assistance in raising $120,000 for nine new powerchairs.

Capital Football’s Game Development Manager, Kelly Stirton, believes the new chairs will be extremely beneficial.

“These nine new chairs are designed for competition with safety barriers, harnesses, headrests, and faster speeds,” she said.

“We have been overwhelmed with the support we’ve received getting the chairs to Canberra.

“It will be exciting to unveil the chairs to the team because our players will now have the opportunity to go further in the sport and to compete at levels that weren’t possible before.

“We want to remind everyone that there are opportunities for people with a disability. Regardless of your age, gender, or disability, there is a sport for you.”

Capital Region Muscular Dystrophy’s Rob Oakley stated: “It is fantastic that we have found a way to give them an opportunity to be like every other kid and get involved in a team sport.

“We want to make sure that their everyday life is a little easier. Sport is a great way for people to develop, build their self-confidence and blossom.”

Canberra United’s Powerchair team will now be able to play in the Australian Powerchair Football National Championships.

“As part of our Rotary Club Project, we wanted to provide funding assistance, so persons with disabilities in Canberra and surrounding districts can play Powerchair football competitively,” Rotary Club of Aurora Gunghalin (RCAG) chair, John Platten, said.

“Australia will be hosting the 2022 Powerchair Football World Cup so it would be great to see an ACT representative competing on the world stage.”

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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.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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