Football Queensland hosts unique futsal referee course

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Football Queensland hosted a first-of-its-kind referee course over the weekend, supporting match officials who are transitioning to futsal officiating.

20 football referees attended the course at Mt Maria College, which was designed to give outdoor referees the knowledge and qualifications to apply their skills to the small-sided game.

“The referee course delivered over the weekend was an innovative way to support a group of match officials to broaden their skillset and pursue a new pathway with an introduction to the futsal Laws of the Game,” FQ State Referee Manager Jacqui Hurford said. 

“Football Queensland developed this concept for our referees after discovering that the existing two-day futsal referee course model was prohibitive for some match officials. 

“This provided an opportunity for us to get creative and come up with a new form of futsal referee course for existing match officials, created in collaboration with established referees Dion Bradley, Zac Keenan and other members of the Futsal Referee Working Group. 

“Dion and Zac also delivered the course on Sunday, which was attended by 20 match officials from across Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. 

“Members of the Football Queensland referee department were also in attendance alongside a number of experienced referees assessors and instructors who will help to develop these match officials as they transition into refereeing futsal. 

“After a successful course over the weekend, we’re excited to continue providing more opportunities for our outdoor referees to gain experience in futsal to support the growth of the sport. 

“For this reason, Football Queensland has recently released a Futsal Referee Information Pack to provide new and existing outdoor referees with information on the benefits of refereeing futsal, and we encourage any match official interested in broadening their skillset to register for an upcoming Futsal Referee Course.”

The next Futsal Convention Course will be held in Brisbane in February 2021, with a Futsal Referee Course to be held on the same weekend.

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

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Image Credit: SCFC

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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