Hills Football plans submission for Caddies Creek – Stage 2

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Hills Football Association, in conjunction with its representative arm, Hills United FC, intend on providing an extensive submission to The Hills Shire Council regarding the masterplan for Caddies Creek Sports Complex – Stage 2.

With the support and endorsement of Football NSW and Football Australia, Hills Football endeavours to satisfy the growing interest in football within the Hills Shire.

A true community organisation, HFI provides football for all players of all ages and all abilities. Despite the recent challenges with COVID-19, the association still registered 13,000 winter participants.

Key highlights in 2021 included reaching the association’s highest ever participation numbers, female teams doubling from 2020 to 2021, the inclusion of a Women’s Premier League and Over-50s Walking Football League.

However, the facilitation of the area’s most participated sport is at the strategic forefront of the association, catering for not only participation and population growth but also providing the football community with its long overdue ‘Home of Football’.

HFI annually caters for over 20,000 members – inclusive of summer & winter participants, coaches, referees, as well as their hard-working volunteers and club officials. Notably, Hills remains the only Sydney-metro association without a defined ‘Home of Football’ for its vastly growing community.

“Hills Football significantly exceeded the state average player-to-pitch ratio of 189, with 224 players per pitch. This is only expected to increase following significant population growth and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup,” General Manager Matt Rippon said.

“The proposed masterplan allows the Association to accommodate all levels of football, coach and referee education, player development and pathway programs as well as key community fixtures and events. A long-term legacy to the people of The Hills and its most participated sport.”

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge added: “Football NSW completely supports Hills Football’s aspiration to have a ’home of football’ at Caddies Creek Sports Complex.

“The location is ideal to support the continued significant growth in participation that the region is enjoying and will provide a high-performance environment to assist in nurturing the next generation of Matildas and Socceroos.”

Facilities such as the Caddies Creek Sports Complex – Stage 2 not only enable growth in the game, but they also enable help community development. This ensures the Hills Football community has adequate spaces to actively and safely engage in the world game.

This was reiterated by Hills United FC Senior Football Manager and former Socceroo and Head of National Teams, Luke Casserly.

“Football is a unique sport, it is an enabler for people of all abilities, ages & cultures to come together and speak the one language whilst connecting us to the broader community,” he said.

The football community can get involved and support Hills Football’s submission by completing the form available here.

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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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