Filopoulos takes up senior role at FFA

Avatar

FFA have announced Peter Filopoulos has been appointed Head of Marketing, Communications and Corporate Affairs at the organisation, taking up the role from September of this year.

Filopoulos joins the FFA following a two-year stint as Football Victoria CEO, after previously being Perth Glory’s CEO for three years.

Current Football Victoria president Kimon Taliadoros will assume the position of CEO at the state governing body.

FFA CEO James Johnson claimed he was delighted to appoint Filopoulos to such an important role.

“Peter will bring an outstanding set of skills, experience, football knowledge and acumen to FFA. He was the stand-out candidate during an extensive recruitment process. Peter is the ideal person to help us take control of and reset the Australian football narrative, and create a strong and unified voice for football, as outlined in the XI Principles,” he said.

“His 25 years’ experience covers leadership roles across a number of sports, but most importantly, Peter has excelled at every level of football, from his time at Football Victoria, Perth Glory and South Melbourne in the National Soccer League.

“He will join the FFA Senior Management Team and lead the development and execution of FFA’s Marketing, Public Relations, Digital Content and Media strategies.

“We want to tell Australian football’s story in all its diversity, and part of Peter’s responsibilities, as envisioned within the XI Principles, will be to develop a comprehensive Communications Strategy for FFA, on behalf of the whole football community.”

Johnson added, “Peter made a significant contribution to Victorian football over the past two years, and we are extremely pleased we have been able to appoint from within the deep pool of talent that exists within Australian football for this role. We look forward to him starting with us on 1 September, at such an important and exciting time during the transformation of Australian football.”

Filopoulos claimed he was excited by the challenges that lay ahead at the FFA, whilst thanking members at Football Victoria.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to Kimon (Taliadoros) and the board for the vision and backing they have demonstrated in my time with FV and, of course, to the clubs and everyone across the game who has embraced what we’ve set out to do,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to being part of the team at FFA and supporting James in bringing to life the vision and strategic priorities he and the board have laid out.”

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