APL designates JAM TV and EMG/Gravity Media as partners

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory website

The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) has named JAM TV and EMG/Gravity Media as the new production partners for the A-Leagues.

Under the appointment, both companies will produce all Ninja A-League Women and Isuzu UTE A-League Men matches for the next two seasons, airing on Network Ten and Paramount+.

The new collaboration provides the APL, its clubs, and fans with high-quality match production, increased resources for the Ninja A-League Women, and more content for APL and club platforms.

Previously partnered with the APL, JAM TV is one of Australia’s leading live sports producers, handling over 300 live broadcasts annually for the NBL, AFLW, State Leagues AFL, and golf.

EMG/Gravity Media returns to Australian football after serving as the A-Leagues’ broadcast provider from 2010 to 2016.

Recently, they supported UEFA by providing advanced workflows for the UEFA European Football Championships in Germany and also handle football production for the EPL, FA Cup, and FIFA.

JAM TV and EMG/Gravity Media also collaborated to deliver the successful Host Broadcast for the AFC Asian Cup when the tournament was held in Australia in 2015. Their joint efforts helped showcase the event to a global audience, contributing to its overall success and setting a high standard for sports broadcasting in the region.

A-Leagues Commissioner, Nick Garcia, commented the excitement of the appointment via press release.

“We are excited to be partnering with JAM TV and EMG/Gravity Media for the next two seasons, to deliver a premium broadcast of our game, and increase the amount of A-Leagues’ content for our fans,” he said.

“This is a highly credentialed combination between one of Australia’s most proven creative sports production enterprises in JAM TV and the global football powerhouse of EMG/Gravity Media.

“Along with the production of over 320 A-Leagues’ games through the seasons, this partnership also gives the league and our clubs more content to engage fans and showcase the great stories of our game.”

JAM TV CEO, Cos Cardone, added further insight by ensuring fans access to more content via press release.

“Our involvement with the APL over the last two seasons gave us great insight into the amazing stories that exist in both men’s and women’s football. This partnership is not only about great match production, but ensuring fans have access to more content than they have had before.”

EMG/Gravity Media Executive Chairman, John Newton, expanded on the topic with further comments.

“At the heart of EMG/Gravity Media is a DNA of delivering high-end content and live production across the full spectrum of world football,” he said via press release.

“We have worked with some of the biggest names in football for decades and are very excited to be providing new broadcast production services to the A-Leagues once again.”

The Isuzu UTE A-League Men will celebrate its 20th anniversary season starting October 18, while the Ninja A-League Women will begin their 2024/25 season on November 1.

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Football South Australia renews partnership with Datacord as Community Football Commitment Deepens

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Image Credit: Football SA

Football South Australia has announced the renewal of its partnership with Datacord, continuing a relationship that has grown steadily since the South Australian print and document solutions provider first entered the football community as naming rights sponsor of the Collegiate Soccer League Division 1.

That initial agreement, which saw Datacord align with one of Adelaide’s most historic amateur competitions, marked the beginning of what has since developed into a broader commitment to South Australian football at every level. The renewed partnership extends Datacord’s involvement beyond the CSL and into the wider Football SA ecosystem, with clubs across the state now able to access exclusive offers and preferred pricing on photocopying, managed print services and tailored business solutions.

The practical value of that access should not be understated. Community football clubs operate on tight margins, relying heavily on volunteer administrators managing everything from registration paperwork to grant applications. Cost-effective print and document solutions reduce the operational burden on those volunteers, a small but meaningful contribution to the sustainability of clubs that form the backbone of the game in South Australia.

“George is a great supporter of sport in South Australia and we are delighted to have Datacord as a supporter of football,” said Football SA CEO Michael Carter. “Service is second to none and we highly recommend their services to the business community within the Football Family.”

For Datacord Managing Director George Koutsoubis, the renewal reflects a genuine investment in the community rather than a transactional commercial arrangement. “It is important to support the local community, and Football South Australia is the perfect place to start spreading the word about Datacord and what we do for the South Australian community,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated, and I think it is a great partnership to be part of.”

Football NSW releases $600,000 towards Grassroots Grants to meet Participation Pressure

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The Victorian State Government has announced new grants and funding for 11 new community infrastructure projects for local football clubs, totalling $3.8 million.
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Sixty-five football clubs across New South Wales have secured a combined total of nearly $600,000 in funding through the NSW Office of Sport’s Local Sports Grant Program. It follows as a result of Football NSW’s scale of demand for community sport support and the growing pressure on clubs struggling to keep pace with surging participation.

The grants, covering 69 individual projects across the Football NSW footprint, will fund facility upgrades, equipment purchases, participation programs and accessibility improvements: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure that determines whether community clubs can function at the level their members require.

The Local Sports Grant Program made up to $4.65 million available statewide in 2025, with $50,000 allocated to each electoral district and individual grants capped at $20,000. Football’s share of nearly $600,000 reflects the sport’s status as the largest participation code in NSW, and the degree to which that status has not always been matched by corresponding investment in the facilities and resources required to sustain it.

Volunteers carrying an unsustainable load

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the volunteer workforce that keeps community football operational. Across NSW, thousands of volunteers dedicate significant unpaid time each week to administration, ground preparation, canteen operation and the logistical demands of running competitive junior and senior programs. As participation numbers climb, driven in part by the sustained visibility of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, those demands have intensified without a corresponding increase in the resources available to meet them.

“As the largest participation sport in NSW it is pleasing to see almost $600,000 will be reinvested back into supporting our players, coaches, referees and volunteers to improve the football experience across our community clubs,” said Helen Armson, Football NSW’s Group Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Affairs.

The equity dimension

The distribution of the grants across 65 clubs and 69 projects also speaks to the geographic breadth of football’s footprint in NSW, and to the uneven distribution of resources that has historically characterised community sport in this country. Clubs in outer metropolitan and regional areas tend to operate with smaller budgets, older facilities and thinner volunteer bases than their inner-city counterparts. Grant programs structured around electoral allocation, rather than club size or existing resource base, provide a degree of equity that market-driven funding cannot.

The kinds of projects funded under this program disproportionately benefit clubs serving communities where the barriers to participation are highest. A club that cannot offer adequate facilities or equipment is a club that turns players away, often without intending to.

Football NSW has used the announcement to call on the NSW Government to maintain and extend its investment in the sport. “We urge the government to continue to invest in football,” Armson said, in the midst for a nation-wide push for a $343 million decade-long infrastructure fund to address the facilities gap across the state.

The nearly $600,000 secured through this round is meaningful. Against the scale of what is needed, it is also a measure of how far the investment still has to go.

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