Brisbane Roar and Schools Premier League to nurture more talent

Liam Watson
Brisbane Roar
Image credit: Brisbane Roar

Brisbane Roar and Schools Premier League (SPL) will carry on into a fourth year of their partnership, after agreeing to continue their collaboration.

Having first begun working together in 2020, the two parties have combined to look at talent identification, player pathways and coach development.

Currently, there are 14 state schools running elite football programs, with the following for 2023:

  • Albany Creek SHS
  • Aspley SHS
  • Cavendish Road SHS
  • Chancellor State College
  • Cleveland District SHS
  • Corinda SHS
  • Harristown SHS
  • Helensvale SHS
  • Kawana Waters State College
  • Kelvin Grove State College
  • Marsden SHS
  • Murrumba State Secondary College
  • Palm Beach Currumbin SHS
  • Southport State High

Crucially, SPL are offering a pathway for talented players to make their way onto the Brisbane Roar playing roster.

“It provides another pathway for players outside of the Queensland NPL and FQPL to play through school and provide to them the opportunity to be seen by programs like ours,” Roar NPL Head Coach Chris Grossman said via press release.

“Probably too often in football or elite sports we get caught up in one pathway and that there’s only one way we can get to the top.

“Not everyone is as fortunate as the ones that make it, there’s some that are doing it tough whether it be financially or through lack of opportunity.”

As the only professional football club based in Queensland, the partnership is an important step to help players become noticed and lead to higher honours long-term. It signifies Roar’s vision to be an ambassador for the sport throughout the region.

“As our only A-League club here in Queensland, Brisbane Roar are committed to continue connecting with its local community and providing the best possible opportunities to experience professional level football in our region,” SPL Chairperson Shane Robinson added via press release.

“We are excited to be working with the Roar again this year and are looking forward to all the ways we can work together with our collective of schools in 2023.

“We are looking forward to bringing SPL students closer to the professional game by attending Roar training and match day experiences with our students.”

Interested students for the SPL school program are encouraged to apply by lodging an expression of interest through their school’s website or by contacting their school’s Football Coordinator.

Soccerscene would like to personally thank FeedSpot for including the publication in their 60 Best Australian Sports News Websites, ranked as #41. You can view the full list here.

Previous ArticleNext Article

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

Avatar
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

Avatar
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.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend