NSW Government set to invest $25 million into female sporting facilities

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Image provided by Football NSW

The NSW Government is set to invest $25 million in a new female sport facility program that aims to get more women and girls playing sport.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean acknowledged that the Community Female Friendly Sport Facilities and Lighting Upgrade Grants Program will see community sports facilities across NSW transformed into safer and more inclusive venues for females.

The grant program will allow community clubs to apply for funding to deliver female friendly change rooms, amenities, and lighting upgrades at sporting facilities across NSW.

Minister for Women, Bronnie Taylor, explained the program was a game changer for women’s sport in NSW.

“Women’s sport is going from strength to strength across our state and this program will provide safer, more inclusive community sports facilities that our female athletes need and deserve,” Taylor said via Football NSW.

As representative body for the largest team-based sport in the state, Football NSW have rejoiced at the NSW Government’s new initiative for female sport.

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand less than 12 months away this new Female Friendly Sport Facilities and Lighting Upgrade Grants Program is the ideal program to assist in catering for the expected increase in demand during and post the Women’s World Cup.

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge commented:

“This is fantastic news for football and all community sport across NSW.

“Female football continues to rise, in 2022 there was close to 60,000 registered female participants that’s an increase of 15% from 2020.

“This fund will play a pivotal part in achieving football’s goal of 50/50 gender equality in participation by 2027.

“In NSW, only 24% of changerooms are female friendly.

“1 in 2 football fields across NSW either don’t have lighting or have lighting that is below the minimum standard for training (50 lux).”

Minister for Sport Alister Henskens added that women’s sport is growing in popularity and this investment in community infrastructure and facilities will accelerate the number of girls and women playing sport.

“By investing in our sport communities to help boost female participation, we will ensure any young girl or woman who wants to lace up a boot, pick up a ball or run around a track, will do so in a supportive environment,” he said via Football NSW.

The NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy has five key priorities, two of which feature Inclusive Football Facilities and Improving Existing Venue Capacity which is exactly what the Female Friendly Sport Facilities and Lighting Upgrade program is targeting.

Community infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the growth of community sport, particularly for females.

Facilities not only enable growth in the game, but they also enable broader community development. Ensuring females have adequate spaces where they can actively and safely engage in sport and recreation can provide improved social, health, educational and cultural outcomes for all.

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South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

Football NSW announces 2026 First Nations Scholarships as pathway access program enters new phase

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has announced the recipients of its 2026 First Nations Scholarships, with ten emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players from metropolitan and regional NSW receiving support designed to reduce the financial and structural barriers that have historically limited First Nations participation across the football pathway.

The scholarship program, developed and assessed in collaboration with the Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group, targets players across both elite and development environments – recognising that talent identification alone is insufficient without the resources to support progression once players are identified.

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group Bianca Dufty said the calibre of this year’s recipients reflected the depth of First Nations football talent across the state, and the importance of structured support in converting that talent into long-term participation.

“Their dedication to football and the desire to be role models for younger Aboriginal footballers in their communities is to be celebrated,” Dufty said. “I’m confident we will see some of these talented footballers in the A-League and national teams in the future.”

 

Beyond the pitch and into the pipeline

The 2026 cohort spans both metropolitan clubs and regional associations, an intentional distribution that acknowledges the particular barriers facing First Nations players outside major population centres, where access to development programs, qualified coaching and pathway competitions is more limited and the cost of participation more prohibitive.

The next phase of the program will introduce First Nations coaching scholarships, extending the initiative’s reach beyond playing pathways and into the coaching and administration pipeline – areas where Indigenous representation remains among the lowest in the game.

The structural logic is clear. Scholarships that reduce financial barriers at the entry point of elite pathways matter most when they are part of a sustained ecosystem of support rather than isolated gestures. Football NSW’s collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group provides that continuity, ensuring the program is shaped by the communities it is designed to serve.

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