English FA and Leeds Beckett University announce innovative project with Playermaker

Staff Writer

After a successful two years working on a project that explores the demands of the women’s game, a partnership between Leeds Beckett University and the English FA has been extended for a third year. This will see further development and even more in-depth insights into the locomotor and technical demands of the game.

Playermaker, a world-leader in football performance tracking technology, is providing support for the initiative.

The research aims to better understand the demands on players within the women’s game, and what learnings can be taken from the insights obtained to drive the game forward.

The research programme instigated by the English FA includes a collaboration with Leeds Beckett University to appoint a PhD student and a Post-doctoral researcher. They are using insights gathered from the data to answer performance questions the FA gave, whilst offering data insights directly back to clubs involved in the project to inform their training strategies.

“Understanding the demands and developments within the women’s game is crucial to offering the relevant support to players as they seek to fulfil their full potential,” Project Lead Ryan King said.

“Our pioneering project looks to answer a key performance problem; How physically demanding is the game and how can we best develop and prepare players? Using the innovative Playermaker technology and the brilliant minds at Leeds Beckett we will be able to provide performance solutions that help maximise player potential and avoid load related injury issues – it is phenomenally exciting.”

As part of the project, players have been granted the opportunity to access and use the innovative Playermaker wearable technology in matches through the FIFA Innovation Programme. It will enable a wealth of data and insight to be captured on match characteristics and leveraged to better understand the demands of the women’s game and to inform training prescription.

Football boots with the Playermaker technology attached.

For the first year of the project, a number of Barclays FA Women’s Super League Senior teams, Academies and FA Women’s Championship clubs wore the Playermaker technology in training, offering world-first insight into how clubs train and prepare teams.

Following acceptance into the FIFA Innovation Programme, the second year of the project allowed clubs to use it in games, giving a unique perspective of the demands of elite women’s football and how we prepare and develop players to maximise their potential.

“This is a really exciting project to be working on with the FA and Playermaker. The acceptance of Playermaker into the FIFA Innovation Programme is a big milestone in the project as this allows us to better understand the physical demands of the game,” Dr Stacey Emmonds, a Reader in Sports Performance at Leeds Beckett University’s Carnegie School of Sport, said.

“As part of the research project, Leeds Beckett have developed interactive live training and match dashboards for each club in the project and an overall dashboard for the FA. These provide clubs with live analysis of their training and match data, and it also allows them to make comparisons to anonymised league averages.

“This enables the clubs to directly integrate the project research findings into daily training practices at the club and further develop evidence informed practice in women’s football.”

The project aims to better inform coaching staff, multi-disciplinary practitioners and athletes, who as a result will be able to make educated decisions about training priorities and managing injuries, and to better understand training load and match intensity.

This is coupled with the ongoing club-specific live data visualisation and feedback tools developed by Leeds Beckett on a raft of performance metrics against league averages. These provide live training insights which clubs can use to enhance physical development strategies.

Thanks to the work being conducted by the organisations, the resulting research programme and the participation of clubs; the data will help to innovate, support, and invest in the already phenomenal talent within the women’s game.

“We are thrilled that professional female footballers will now be able to use Playermaker technology in both game and training environments, as a result of the support and efforts of The FA, Leeds Beckett University and FIFA’s Innovation Programme,” Playermaker CEO and Co-Founder Guy Aharon said.

“The research that is being carried out is crucial to driving forward the women’s game, and we are proud to play a part in investing in and raising the bar for female football athletes overall.

“Beyond this, having the Playermaker wearable device approved for the first-time in professional matches is a huge milestone as our vision is for our technology to be available at all levels of the game, providing the ability for anyone who is passionate about the game to improve using our insights and data.”

Leeds Beckett University will be hosting a Football Exchange Research Conference on Saturday May 21, 2022 – where further insights from this research and similar projects in other professional football organisations will be shared.

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The Man Who Built a Women’s Football Program from Nothing is now an Award-Winning Gender Equity Leader

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Image Credit: Football Victoria

Eight years ago, Spring Hills Football Club did not have a girls’ team. Today it has one of the most recognised women’s programs in Melbourne’s west, a senior NPLW side, and a head coach who has just been named Gender Equity Leader of the Year at the Melton City Council Volunteer Achievement Awards.

Tom Markovski, Spring Hills’ NPLW Head Coach, received the award at a ceremony coinciding with National Volunteer Week, recognised for his community leadership, promotion of gender equality and commitment to advancing the status of women and people of all genders in sport. The recognition comes from outside the football community entirely, awarded by a local council celebrating volunteers across every sector of civic life in one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing regions.

Building from scratch

When Markovski arrived at Spring Hills, women’s football at the club did not exist. His first act was to champion the establishment of the club’s first all-girls team, a process that required persuading a club culture built around men’s football that the investment was worth making.

Women’s football in community clubs has historically struggled to access the same facilities, scheduling priority, coaching resources and institutional support as the men’s game. Clubs have been slow to invest in programs whose return is less immediately visible than a senior men’s premiership, and in a growing outer-suburban community like Melton, where volunteer capacity is finite and demand across every program is high, the case for building something new always has to compete with the urgency of maintaining what already exists.

Markovski made the case anyway, and kept making it across eight years of coaching senior and junior NPL teams while simultaneously building the structural foundations of a women’s program designed to outlast any individual’s involvement. The club’s first all-girls team became multiple junior girls teams. Those junior teams created the pipeline for a senior women’s side. The senior women’s side created visible pathways for younger players to see where the game could take them within their own club.

The outcome is a program that Spring Hills now holds up as central to its identity rather than supplementary to it. The club has become a leader in female participation in Melbourne’s west, and recently made history within the NPLW Victoria structure by fielding junior teams coached entirely by female coaches, a milestone that reflects the depth of the program Markovski helped build.

What the Award Recognises

The Melton City Council’s decision to name Markovski its Gender Equity Leader of the Year places his work in a frame that extends beyond football. Melton is one of the fastest-growing local government areas in Australia, a diverse and rapidly expanding community where the institutions that bring people together, like schools, councils, sporting clubs, carry an outsized responsibility for social cohesion.

Mayor Cr. Lara Carli, speaking at the awards ceremony, reflected on the role volunteers play in communities like Melton’s. “Volunteering creates friendships, strengthens communities and builds a sense of belonging,” she said. “It helps people feel connected, supported and valued, and those things are more important than ever in a growing and diverse community like ours.”

For the girls now playing football at Spring Hills who were not playing anywhere eight years ago, Markovski’s contribution is not abstract. It is the specific and concrete fact of having somewhere to play, someone to coach them, and a pathway that leads somewhere.

Aussie partners with two A-League clubs in cross-state alliance

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

Australia’s largest retail mortgage broker will team up with Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers, representing Aussie’s commitment to supporting and connecting people through football.

 

Opposing teams, United partners

The alliance between Aussie, Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers reflects a unique approach to investing in Australia’s football landscape.

It encompasses both communities and supporters across Melbourne and Sydney, with Aussie’s presence in both cities now firmly embedded into local, grassroots networks.

“We’re excited about this partnership because it represents much more than a traditional sponsorship,” explained Aussie National Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Ryan Ferguson via press release.

“It’s about connection, community, and being part of something that reaches people in a meaningful and authentic way.”

Both Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers also commented on the unique nature of the partnership.

“The joint venture is a game-changer in how brands and sports teams can collaborate beyond the traditional instruments of a partnership and stands apart from the existing relationships in our sporting landscape for the betterment of our stakeholders,” said Melbourne Victory Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie.

“For the first time, two iconic clubs are coming together in a joint-venture sponsorship that delivers unmatched reach, community impact and business innovation,” added Western Sydney Wanderers CEO, Scott Hudson.

 

National stage, local commitment

As Australians grapple with soaring property prices and financial uncertainty, having access to a platform like Aussie is immensely valuable.

So now that Aussie will begins its venture alongside Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers – two clubs with extensive fanbases – it now has the means to make real, local impact.

Two major cities. Two footballing identities. All aligned under the same vision for community reach, growth and innovation.

“Aussie is a national brand, but at our heart, we are built on local relationships,” continued Ferguson.

“Every day, our brokers are working with customers in their communities, helping them navigate the journey of finding, buying and owning their own home. That’s why this partnership feels like such a natural fit.”

Ultimately, while the alliance will build on the business and community networks of the two A-League outfits, the impact will extend far beyond the boundaries of the pitch.

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