Capital Football launches academy for players with a disability

Avatar

Capital Football have launched the first dedicated football academy for people with a disability in the ACT.

Aligned with the state’s W-League team, The Canberra United All Abilities Academy is open to players who have cerebral palsy, a brain injury or symptoms as a result of a stroke.

The academy will provide participants with opportunities to represent Capital Football at national tournaments, including the FFA National Futsal Championships.

Academy coach Kelly Stirton said: “AWD or all ability athletes don’t get the same options as other athletes so it was Capital Football’s goal to provide them with an option and to make their sport equal with everybody else’s.

“We want to make sure that each and every one of these footballers are supported 110 percent, regardless of their ability on and off the pitch.

“We want to give them an option so they can chase their dreams, whether that be playing football for the very first time or representing the Pararoos at the IFCPF World Cup.”

Capital Football CEO Phil Brown stated: “Capital Football has a united goal to create opportunities that enable everyone to participate in our great game.

“The academy is open to all; from experienced players like Jason Driscoll, who was part of the inaugural Pararoos squad in 1999, to some of our youngest footballers like 10-year-old Jayden Wallace-Bourne.

“We also have Tilda Mason who moved over from Perth to pursue her footballing career with the academy.”

Mr Brown believes the creation of the academy builds on the governing body’s work to make football more inclusive in the state.

“Last year, Kelly was the first female head coach of a team at the National CP Football Championships, leading a Capital Football team which had three female footballers, the first three to ever play in the tournament,” he said.

“While COVID-19 delayed our launch, it has been great to see our footballers join the academy and we hope to see the numbers grow over the coming years.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

Capital Football Introduces Pink Armband to Protect Junior Referees

Avatar
Image Credit: Marist Canberra FC

Capital Football has launched a visible identification program for referees under 18, requiring them to wear a pink armband during matches. It’s intended to build awareness surrounding the concern across Australian football about the abuse driving young officials out of the game.

The Pink Armband Initiative, effective immediately across Capital Football’s competitions in the ACT and surrounding region, makes junior referees identifiable to players, coaches and spectators. The federation says the marker is designed to set clear behavioural expectations and signal that many match officials are minors still developing their skills.

Capital Football acknowledged a referee crisis as far back as 2022, at which point it restructured its entire referee department in partnership with Football Australia. The pink armband program is the latest layer of that response; this time by targeting the cultural conditions on match day rather than systems of recruitment and pay.

A problem that spans codes and states

Research has consistently linked referee abuse to declining retention rates, with officials quitting in growing numbers due to sustained mistreatment, a trend researchers warn will reduce the pool of skilled match officials available at all levels of the game. Studies also show that young, less experienced referees are disproportionately likely to be subject to abuse.

Capital Football is not alone in reaching for a visible solution. Similar programs operate across Football Queensland, Football South Australia, Football South Coast and several other federations, while Basketball Victoria and Basketball South Australia have adopted comparable measures through the Green Whistle initiative. The spread of these programs across codes and states reflects a shared administrative problem: many grassroots referees are teenagers and volunteers who do not officiate for money but because they love the game, and abuse is eroding that foundation.

For a federation overseeing nearly 29,000 registered players, fewer referees means fewer matches. Fewer matches means reduced participation. The pink armband is a low-cost intervention with structural consequences if it works.

Football Victoria Backs Campaign to Shield Junior Players from Gambling Harm

Avatar

More than 600 sporting clubs across Victoria have enrolled in a state government program designed to limit young players’ exposure to gambling, with Football Victoria now urging its community clubs to join before a late-July registration deadline.

The Love the Game initiative asks clubs to formally commit to a set of principles: refusing sports betting sponsorships, developing internal harm prevention policies, and building environments where coaches, parents and players are equipped to discuss gambling risks with children.

The program’s public health rationale has a sharper statistical edge than its community-facing materials suggest. A 2025 study of Victorian secondary school students aged 12 to 17 found that nearly 30% had gambled at some point, and among those who had gambled in the past year, 7.5% met the criteria for problem-gambling and a further 26.8% were classified as ‘at-risk’. The research, commissioned by the state government and published earlier this year, also found that students exposed to gambling venues and advertising were more likely to gamble or to do so in a risky manner.

The most recent Victorian Population Gambling Study found that Victorians aged 18 to 24 are the group least likely to gamble overall, yet carry the highest rates of harmful gambling across all age groups. Young people aged 18 to 34 are around five times more likely to bet on sports than older cohorts.

When the data lands at the clubhouse door

Football Victoria’s support for the program reflects a broader recognition within community sport that participation rates and club culture are connected. The environments clubs create shape whether young people stay in sport and what norms they carry with them into adulthood. For football specifically, which draws participants across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, that responsibility is not evenly distributed. Approximately 440,000 Victorians, or 8.5 per cent of the state’s population, are classified as being at some risk of experiencing problem gambling.

The Victorian Government’s program gives clubs more than symbolic membership. Registered clubs receive practical tools to develop governance frameworks around gambling harm, resources for coaching staff and volunteers, and standing as part of a growing network of clubs taking a formal position on the issue.

Researchers have described the current framing of gambling harm as a matter of personal responsibility as inadequate, arguing it is a public health issue requiring a systemic response. Community football clubs, with their reach into households across the state, are one of the institutional levers available to make that response visible.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend