The Matildas effect has helped drive growth in girls’ and women’s football sign-ups by around one-third ahead of the coming winter season, and even higher in some areas.
But the avalanche of interest means clubs face a heightened challenge in keeping players happy in often inadequate facilities and with substantial registration costs.
Early figures from state federations suggest participation in women’s football will grow by around one-third, with Football New South Wales (FNSW) and Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) both reporting 29% increases compared with this time last year.
FNSW’s fastest growing segment is senior women, where registrations have increased 34%, and women’s sign-ups in the Southern Districts region of Sydney are tracking at a 74% rise.
In the NNSWF, where women now represent close to 30% of all players, the general manager for member services, Ross Hicks, said the boom – driven at least in part by the Matildas’ popularity – was stretching resources.
“The main issue we’re facing with our influx of female participation is infrastructure that can cater for all genders,” he said.
“Despite extensive advocacy from football and other sports and the increased investment from various levels of government into infrastructure projects, many facilities are not gender neutral or have the capacity to cater for all participants.”
At the Strathfield Strikers in Sydney’s inner west, female football co-officer Alexandra Georgopoulos has been driving women’s interest for five years, and had already seen a huge uplift in registrations last season.
She said her club’s major challenge is retention, particularly when registration costs $480 for the season.
“Learning the skills if they’ve never played before – it’s easier for kids, but for adults, that’s what holds them back,” she said.
“We’ve also got female cut uniforms and – it’s not looks if I’m being honest with you – I’ve got women who love wearing the cute tiny little shorts, so you’ve got the ones that want it to fit right and then I’ve got girls because of religious beliefs don’t want it to be too skin tight, and we can accommodate that.”
To help ease the transition into playing, Georgopoulos said the club had introduced a $50 introductory program.
“It’s really accessible, all they need is a pair of football boots, they turn up and it’s just this eight weeks to teach them the basics so that when the season does roll around, and they might be thinking about registering, they’re not sitting there going, ‘no I’m not going to do it,’” she said.
In Victoria, the Preston Lions president, David Cvetkovski, said there has been a 30% increase in girls’ sign-ups so far this year, stretching club resources.
“The investment in infrastructure is light years behind, so there’s the growth in the game but poor clubs,” he said.
“Our junior facility doesn’t have enough female toilets, through no fault of the council, we need investment in ground and infrastructure to manage this growth.”
Near Newcastle, Swansea FC’s president, Billie Price, said the club had seen 41% growth in women’s sign-ups last year, and was tracking at a similar level this year.
The club has three fields, but only two with lights, meaning training space is limited and the two lit fields degrade over the season.
“Once you destroy your fields, it becomes unsafe and then a little bit of rain means that we can’t open the fields for training,” she said.
“If we could get that grant to be able to get lights on field three, we can then have more surface area for training and games to relieve that pressure on our two main fields.”
She said while the facilities are important, retention mostly came down to how inclusive the club is.
“They enjoy the atmosphere, they enjoy the people being approachable, including their coaches, they enjoy all of that,” she said.
“So if we have all of that in place and keep it a happy and exciting club, the retention just comes naturally.”
