TRANSCRIPT
Following the success of the CommBank Matildas at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and in preparation for their final Olympic Qualifier, Commonwealth Bank and Football Australia have joined forces to introduce the Growing Football Fund.
The fund is seeking to attract and retain 50,000 female participants and allocate grants, ranging up to $5,000, to community clubs and associations nationwide, with the specific goal of promoting the participation of women and girls in football.
The fund will support the development of coaching through scholarships, resources, technical training, and networking across the nation.
Monique McLeod is Commonwealth Bank’s Group Executive of Marketing and Corporate Affairs.
She says the FIFA Women’s World Cup win has had a major impact on the sport in Australia.
"FIFA Women's World Cup was such a moment in time. It really just captured the nation as everybody felt and wanted to be a part of the excitement from the bank Matilda's and they just did a fabulous job so they really put football on the radar for a new generation of girls who want to play the game."
Ms McLeod explains why Football Australia and CommBank are launching the new Growing Football Fund.
"We're launching the Growing Football Fund because it's so important to come back into Football Australia that we're involved from the grassroots right through to the elite level. For us, it's an opportunity to further our commitment, seeing that inspiration that came from the World Cup and actually just really do more to help young girls and women who want to play the sport. So it's, it's just a great opportunity for us to be able to do more particularly at that grassroots level."
Sarah Walsh is Head of Women's Football at Football Australia.
She is a former professional football player with a long history in the sport, having represented Australia on a national level at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup and the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Ms Walsh explains what the fund hopes to achieve.
"The fund has two key objectives. One is to provide community club grants designed to attract and retain women and girls and we have a bold target nationally to reach 50/50 through our legacy plan, and we really do believe that these grants will provide the kickstart of investment that clubs require to start to think differently about how they offer football to women and girls. The second part to the program is about getting 2000 coaches through training to be able to have them coach in an environment that's conducive to attracting more women and girls playing the game which will, which will really help us on our way to 50/50."
So how will this initiative help communities and women’s football?
Ms Walsh explains.
"We've done such a good job I believe at a national level with our CommBank Matilda's we just had sellout matches in Perth, we're driving greater awareness for women in football through our CommBank Matilda's and, you know, their amazingness on the pitch. We brokered gender pay with the players in 2019, and I think that we have a really good framework for what football could look like, you know, working back from that at a grassroots level. There's no reason why we can't apply the same principles we have with our national team. I believe this Growing Football Fund is going to go a long way to accelerating this change over the next two years and I'm pretty excited about how we can build on it with CommBank."
She has some advice for people who want to get involved.
"If you are a community club or you're a player, make sure that you're knocking down the door of your community club, more information becoming out in the next couple of weeks. But second, if you're a mom or a girl thinking about coaching, please I encourage you to put your hand up to be a part of this program because we need more women coaching and there's plenty of opportunities for for you to get involved. So reach out to your club, and there will be more announcements coming soon."
Application for grants open on the 8th of November and recipients will be announced in February of 2024.
