SGM and TX Football partner in support of grassroots football

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In an announcement made last week via social media, Sports Group Melbourne (SGM) revealed that they will collaborate with TX Football to strengthen the grassroots game.

Dedicated to grassroots development

In the latest collaboration between SGM and TX Football, the focus will be on strengthening local grassroots football through local investment and community engagement at SGM competitions and events.

The alliance will see TX Football provide high-quality match balls for SGM tournaments and leagues including the Youth Super Cup, Junior Champions League and Junior Academy League. With TX Football backing multiple tournaments and leading event-day activations to unite players, families and clubs, the partnership stands as a testament to a mutual commitment to the grassroots game.

We spoke to Managing Director at SGM, Rolando Navas, about the ongoing work with TX Football for young footballers across Australia.

“The partnership with TX Football has been really good. We started partnering with them last year – they’ve supported us in the (Junior) Champions League and the Shepparton Cup,” Navas outlined.

“The feedback from all the kids, supporters, players [and] coaches was unbelievable.”

It is clear that SGM and TX Football are an alliance founded on a love for growing the grassroots game. Their history of work together is a testament to both parties’ dedication to supporting the next generation of players.

Responding to increasing participation

Football, despite its challenges and critics, remains a hugely popular and fast-growing sport. In fact, out of all the team sports played in Australia, football is clear at the top as the most participated at 1.93 million people.

Such immense growth at junior level is hugely promising for the sport’s future in Australia, and hasn’t gone unnoticed by the team at SGM in recent years.

“We have seen a massive growth in junior football in popularity, participation and skill level as well,” Navas continued.

Therefore, the team at SGM have committed themselves to creating more opportunities for the ever-increasing number of boys and girls playing the beautiful game. Through their hardwork, and with the backing of organisations like TX Football who share this commitment to supporting grassroots football, youth players are able to enjoy the sport they love all year round.

“Kids are playing all year round; whether it’s futsal, tournaments, the league, academies or for the school, they just want to keep playing,” Navas explained.

“We aim to provide an environment where the kids can compete at their level, get exposed to winning and losing, to development, to pressured times when they have to perform, but at the same time enjoy themselves.”

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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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