Football Australia launches new #EQUALISER campaign

Staff Writer

Football Australia today launched the #EQUALISER campaign, an initiative supporting the ‘Community Facilities’ Pillar of its Legacy 23’ Plan, to deliver adequate female-friendly facilities across the country.

It comes after a new Football Australia survey of its registered participants revealed that 65% of respondents said political commitments to fund improved football facilities in their community would influence their vote at the upcoming Federal Election.

Football is flourishing across Australia with more than two million participants and, in just over a year, more than one billion fans worldwide will be watching as Australia and New Zealand host the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM.

More than 6,000 people responded to the survey. Nearly two-thirds of all respondents said commitments to improve local facilities in their region, or at their club, would favourably influence their vote.

Further, as little as 8% of respondents also believe football actually receives a fair-share of government funding, compared to other sports.

A new Football Australia report has revealed that only 35% of football facilities across Australia are currently categorised as being female-friendly or gender-neutral.

To shine a spotlight on the urgent need for female-friendly facilities, and to celebrate where progress is being made, Football Australia, in partnership with its State and Territory Member Federations, has established the #EQUALISER campaign.

Several Ambassadors have joined the #EQUALISER team to advocate for change, including Stephanie Brantz and Tara Rushton.

James Johnson, Football Australia CEO explains:

“We are determined to be the centre of women’s football in the Asia-Pacific region and have achieved some significant milestones in the ‘High Performance’ and ‘Participation’ Pillars of our Legacy 23’ Plan since its launch in February 2021,” he said.

“The #EQUALISER campaign has the capacity to change female football across the nation in the lead up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM. Female-friendly facilities are not a privilege, they are a basic and fundamental need in offering women and girls a safe and comfortable environment in which to prepare for and recover from their sporting endeavours.

“With an anticipated 400,000 new women and girl’s targeted to play football over the next 5 years, Football Australia and the wider football community are highlighting a genuine need and looking to all governments to deliver an #EQUALISER for female football.”

The goal of #EQUALISER is for all football facilities to be equal, promoting equivalent services and access. Facilities will need to meet a minimum criterion defined by Football Australia and verified through an annual national facilities audit. Each facility will then be assigned an appropriate level of accreditation.

For the past five years, the participation of women and girls in football has been experiencing double-digit growth every year. Global experience and past trends show that by hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM will turbo-charge female participation in Australia. This aligns with Football Australia’s gender parity target of equal playing numbers by 2027, which in reality means the current infrastructure needs to have the capacity and capability to provide for another 400,000 new female players leading into and post the event.

Football Australia and the Member Federations have developed a list of facilities across electorates which are in urgent need of upgrades.

With the Federal Election imminent, Football Australia is calling on all sides of politics to deliver funding commitments to assist #EQUALISER in achieving its goal.

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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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