Northern NSW Football set to continue its Multicultural Settlement Program

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Northern NSW Football
Image provided by Northern NSW Football

Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) has announced the continuation of its MiniRoos Multicultural Settlement Program into term three.

NNSWF designed the free program to build social inclusion and connections with the community for new migrant families.

It aims to introduce organised football to new migrant girls and boys aged between four and 11-years-old from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Participants and their families will be encouraged to join local summer competitions at the program’s conclusion with the intention to join a local club in 2023. This is to help ensure a more gradual transition to club football for those playing for the first time.

NNSWF Programs Co-ordinator Joe Wright outlined the program had a number of benefits following its successful roll out in term two and was excited to see it continue heading into term three.

“The Multicultural Settlement Program is a great way for participants and their families to be involved with football in a fun, safe and inclusive football environment,” Wright said in a statement released by NNSWF,” he said via Northern NSW Football.

“This will help with their transition into club football where they can make new friends from a variety of backgrounds. Our goal is to transition 200 players from the program into club football.

“By helping them transition into a football club we hope it will help integrate them into the wider community even further and build that connection.

“The program is a great way for kids to be introduced to organised football in Australia because it uses game-based training to create a fun and safe environment where kids can meet new friends and find their passion for football.”

The program will run for eight weeks and be held at Jesmond and a new hub at Coffs Harbour, with each hub hosting manual registration days.

The Coffs Harbour hub will be delivered in partnership with RISE. Rise have been working with newly arrived members of the Coffs Harbour community for the last two and a half years. They are a not-for-profit organisation that have delivered football programs for boys and girls aged between five and 18-years-old.

Existing coaches at RISE will deliver the program in collaboration with NNSWF staff as part of the partnership.

The program features one-hour sessions run after school hours, with coaches and equipment provided. Coaches will also be from CALD backgrounds.

Each participant will receive a MiniRoos pack including a football, backpack and lunchbox at the end of the program.

For more information on when the program will run, click 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.

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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