Melbourne Victory have announced the launch of a women’s and girls’ development fund to contribute to the growth of female football in all aspects of the game.
Victory are supporting this fund through female-specific projects that run across all levels of football, which is in line with the club’s key values of prioritising community participation and pushing towards gender equity in the sport.
The fund will help improve the pathways for female footballers within the club, provide educational opportunities for female coaches and administrators, and improve female football infrastructure and activation projects.
Former Melbourne Victory player Marco Rojas donated in May earlier this year, in support of women’s football for the club and this initiative comes off the back of it.
Melbourne Victory Managing Director Caroline Carnegie stated the Club’s goal is to lead, unite, connect, and inspire through football and the Female Development Fund is an important step in delivering the Club’s vision for the women’s game.
“Melbourne Victory wants to contribute to growing and enhancing the women’s game and supporting the growth and development of females in football, wherever they sit in the football community,” Carnegie said via Victory press release.
“Part of this is ensuring accessibility to the women’s game off the back of the Women’s World Cup and supporting the development of women to make the greatest impact on our game.
“This is the reason we decided to make our home games at the Home of the Matildas free for patrons to experience and support the A-League Women’s (ALW) team for the 2023/24 season and why the fund will be important to our success in the women’s space.
“We’ve worked to remove the financial barriers for anyone who was inspired by WWC23 to continue to enjoy watching elite domestic football and to give our young boys and girls every opportunity to see their stars in action week in, week out.
“The other factor that we know is key to growing the women’s game is investment which is needed at all levels of the game to develop the next generation of talent and to continue to grow and build participation levels in football.
“We see our strategy around making the ALW accessible, along with the launch of our Female Development Fund as the beginning of the journey and we’re encouraging others to contribute in a meaningful way through our Fund.
“We would love to see anyone attending our games to consider making a contribution to the fund in lieu of purchasing a ticket and also anyone passionate about women’s football to help us bridge the gap and build the future of the women’s game together.”
Melbourne Victory have ensured that all donations and any collaborations with partners and sponsors in the women’s space will be invested back into women and girls’ projects. A clear sign that they are trying to drive momentum into further growing that side of the game.
Eventually, the wider football community will be able to apply for specific grants in order to help improve their own female football situation.
The initiative to improve women’s and girl’s football is a brilliant one, off the back of record-breaking Liberty A-League membership numbers and the Matildas’ success in front of the entire nation.
Creating that foundation is absolutely vital is ensuring that the model is sustainable, and that Victory can continue to produce fantastic talents like they did with World Cup star Kyra Cooney-Cross.
