Football Australia confirms Legacy ’23 Final XI with addition of Tony Armstrong

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Tony Armstrong
Image credit: Football Australia

Football Australia has unveiled the final ambassador to join the Legacy ’23 line-up, welcoming ABC News Breakfast Sports Presenter and former professional athlete, Tony Armstrong.

A proud Gamilaroi man, Tony Armstrong was born in Paddington, Sydney before moving to country NSW. He has been inspired throughout his childhood by amazing role models from within this diverse community, including his mother, whose encouragement and unwavering support was pivotal in him achieving his goals both on and off the sporting field.

Armstrong hopes that in his role as a Football Australia Legacy ’23 Ambassador, he can leverage what he has learnt from his own lived experiences and empower the next generation to have the confidence to stand for what they believe in, go after their own goals, and help shape the future of football in Australia.

Of the opportunity to be involved with Legacy ’23, Armstrong said in a statement:

“I’ve always been a football fan throughout my life, so when I had the opportunity to become a Legacy ’23 Ambassador I was humbled. The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023TM is going to be a moment in time that we always look back on, where we took the game to the next level and built the foundations for the next generation of women and girls, and boys, to come together and move forward.”

“I was very lucky to have access to high-performance facilities and coaches early on in my career, so I know how important it is to have clear pathways and infrastructure to support the growth of our game. Coming from a diverse background myself, sport was always a way in, and we are now seeing this transition to the women’s game, with more young girls looking to sport as a career, not just as a player but through media and administration roles as well.”

Football Australia CEO James Johnson added via press release:

“We are so excited to have such a genuine and passionate advocate for our game in Tony Armstrong to join as our eleventh and final Football Australia Legacy ’23 ambassador. Tony represents everything that is great about football – from the drive, passion, and humility to his commitment to high performance, diversity, and inclusion.”

“With authentic voices like Tony amongst our influential Legacy ’23 ambassadors, we have a wonderful opportunity to drive meaningful change and create a legacy for our sport and community, which endures long after Australia has hosted one of the largest sporting events in the world,” Johnson said.

Previously announced Football Australia Legacy ’23 ambassadors making up the Final XI include:

  • The Hon. Julie Bishop, Chancellor of Australian National University
  • Elizabeth Broderick AO, Special Rapporteur and Independent Expert to the United Nations
  • Julie Dolan AM, Matildas cap #1
  • Kurt Fearnley AO, Paralympic champion
  • Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director of Tourism Australia
  • Azmeena Hussain OAM, Director Football Victoria and social justice advocate
  • Narelda Jacobs, NIAG Member and Network 10 Presenter
  • Kate Jenkins, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner
  • Awer Mabil, Subway Socceroo
  • The Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Queensland State Premier

The Legacy ’23 Plan, developed by Football Australia, will ensure Australia can realise the long-term benefits of hosting this prestigious global sporting event can have on every community across the country. From economic, social, physical, and mental health benefits to its promotion of social cohesion and multicultural inclusion, Legacy ’23 will introduce new and expand existing programs to ensure the future of football in Australia is stronger than ever before.

The programs will aim to increase participation, improve community facilities, optimise high-performance offerings, drive leadership and development of the sport as well as encourage local and international tourism as Australia and New Zealand recover from the global pandemic.

As the world’s biggest women’s sporting event, it is expected that over a billion people across the world will tune in to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023.

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JH Allan Reserve in Keilor East to undergo lighting upgrades

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Image credit: Football Victoria

After strong backing from the community and Football Victoria, Moonee Valley City Council confirmed the green light for upgrades to proceed later this year.

Resounding support

Ahead of the council meeting on Tuesday 24 March, Football Victoria and five Moonee Valley Council clubs created a petition backing lighting improvements at JH Allan Reserve.

What followed was an astounding 624 signatures – a demonstration of the power of united, community support. As a result, main tenants Moonee Ponds United SC and four addition clubs (including Essendon Royals FC, Avondale FC, FC Strathmore and the Moonee Valley Knights) will all benefit from the developments.

“As one of the only facilities within Moonee Valley not shared with other codes, ensuring that JH Allan Reserve meets the needs of our participants is crucial for Football Victoria,” said FV Head of Government Relations and Strategy, Lachlan Cole.

“It was fantastic to see participants and officials from those five clubs come together, support this project, and unite to speak on behalf of their needs. And it was even more heartening to see the wider football community throw their support behind the development by signing the petition.”

 

A long-awaited verdict

The decision comes as a huge step forward for the local football community, arriving after an extended process of consultations and surveys.

In September 2022, Moonee Valley City Council endorsed the Moonee Valley Soccer Strategy, which sought to identify potential upgrades at JH Allan Reserve.

Furthermore, during the community consulation between March and April 2023, 365 people participated in a survey regarding the developments. In the end, 65% of responses supported or strongly supported the installation of sports lighting at the ground.

It is therefore clear that, for much of the community, this was a cause worth fighting for. Over three years since the initial endorsement from Moonee Valley City Council, JH Allan Reserve is now set for a vital upgrade.

Final thoughts

More importantly, however, are the current and future athletes who will feel the benefit from these developments.

Football participation is growing and will continue to do so, in Moonee Valley, Victoria and Australia as a whole. That is why developments like this are so vital.

They are not merely nice to have, but are fundamental to supporting future footballers in the community by providing them with the facilities and environment to play.

Football SA Commits $100,000 to Referee Fuel Subsidy as Cost-of-Living pressure Mounts

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Football South Australia has announced a fuel subsidy scheme for match officials across its semi-professional competitions, allocating up to $100,000 for the remainder of the 2026 season in response to rising fuel costs that the governing body says are threatening the delivery of fixtures across the state.

The subsidy, effective immediately, covers referees officiating across the RAA National Premier League, Apex Steel Women’s National Premier League, Apex Steel Women’s State League, HPG Homes State League 1 and State League 2. The subsidy spans senior, reserves and under-18 competitions across both men’s and women’s football.

Under the metro scheme, reimbursements will be tiered against the average Adelaide unleaded petrol price recorded each Friday, applying to all matches played in the following seven-day period. Officials will receive $30 per match day when the average price sits at $3.25 or above, $25 between $2.75 and $3.24, and $20 between $2.35 and $2.74. No subsidy applies below $2.34. For regional matches, referees travelling to Port Pirie, Barossa and Whyalla will see their per-kilometre reimbursement rise from 88 cents to $1.26 when petrol prices exceed $2.35.

All subsidy payments will be funded directly by Football SA, with no cost passed to competing clubs.

The Economics behind the Whistle

Fuel prices in South Australia, as across much of Australia, have been running at elevated levels against the backdrop of an ongoing imperialist war on Iran that has sent shockwaves through global oil markets. Iran’s targeting of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant proportion of the world’s oil supply passes, has disrupted shipping and contributed to price surges that are being felt at service stations in Adelaide as acutely as anywhere.

For match officials, who are overwhelmingly volunteers or low-paid part-time workers travelling to multiple venues across a season, those price surges are not an abstraction. They are a direct financial disincentive to take on appointments, particularly in outer metropolitan and regional areas where travel distances are significant and the cost of attending a game can approach, or exceed the payment for officiating it.

The consequences are cancelled fixtures, forfeited points, disrupted seasons and players who stop turning up to clubs that cannot guarantee them a game.

“This initiative recognises the critical role match officials play in delivering competitions,” CEO Michael Carter said in the announcement, “and aims to reduce the impact of travel costs across the 2026 season.”

A Structural Problem, a Seasonal Solution

The subsidy applies only to the 2026 season. Football SA has been careful to frame it as a response to current conditions rather than a permanent structural change. The $100,000 allocation is described as subject to fuel prices remaining at current levels, with the final amount invested likely to vary as the weekly threshold calculations play out across the season.

That framing is honest about what the scheme is and isn’t. It does not resolve the underlying question of whether referee payments in community and semi-professional football are adequate relative to the demands placed on officials. It remains a question that transcends the current fuel price environment and will outlast it. What it does is buy time and goodwill in a moment when both are in short supply.

Sport, and football in particular, depends on a volunteer and semi-volunteer workforce that is increasingly being squeezed by the same cost-of-living pressures affecting every other part of Australian life. When the price of petrol rises, the people who feel it first are not the players or the clubs, it’s the officials, the committee members and the volunteers who make the infrastructure of community sport function.

Football SA’s decision to absorb that cost rather than pass it to clubs is a recognition that the referee pipeline is fragile in ways that are not always visible until it breaks. The SAPA review into South Australian football, released earlier this month, identified referee development and retention as one of the most pressing structural challenges facing the game in the state, recommending greater investment in recruitment and suggesting affiliation fee subsidies for clubs that bring new officials into the system.

Friday’s announcement does not go that far. But in a season already defined by uncertain economic and geopolitical circumstance, the levy sends a clear enough signal about where Football SA’s priorities lie.

The fuel levy will be calculated each Friday using average Adelaide prices listed on Fuel Price Australia, with payments made to officials on the regular weekly schedule.

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