Football Australia launches new #EQUALISER campaign

Staff Writer

Football Australia today launched the #EQUALISER campaign, an initiative supporting the ‘Community Facilities’ Pillar of its Legacy 23’ Plan, to deliver adequate female-friendly facilities across the country.

It comes after a new Football Australia survey of its registered participants revealed that 65% of respondents said political commitments to fund improved football facilities in their community would influence their vote at the upcoming Federal Election.

Football is flourishing across Australia with more than two million participants and, in just over a year, more than one billion fans worldwide will be watching as Australia and New Zealand host the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM.

More than 6,000 people responded to the survey. Nearly two-thirds of all respondents said commitments to improve local facilities in their region, or at their club, would favourably influence their vote.

Further, as little as 8% of respondents also believe football actually receives a fair-share of government funding, compared to other sports.

A new Football Australia report has revealed that only 35% of football facilities across Australia are currently categorised as being female-friendly or gender-neutral.

To shine a spotlight on the urgent need for female-friendly facilities, and to celebrate where progress is being made, Football Australia, in partnership with its State and Territory Member Federations, has established the #EQUALISER campaign.

Several Ambassadors have joined the #EQUALISER team to advocate for change, including Stephanie Brantz and Tara Rushton.

James Johnson, Football Australia CEO explains:

“We are determined to be the centre of women’s football in the Asia-Pacific region and have achieved some significant milestones in the ‘High Performance’ and ‘Participation’ Pillars of our Legacy 23’ Plan since its launch in February 2021,” he said.

“The #EQUALISER campaign has the capacity to change female football across the nation in the lead up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM. Female-friendly facilities are not a privilege, they are a basic and fundamental need in offering women and girls a safe and comfortable environment in which to prepare for and recover from their sporting endeavours.

“With an anticipated 400,000 new women and girl’s targeted to play football over the next 5 years, Football Australia and the wider football community are highlighting a genuine need and looking to all governments to deliver an #EQUALISER for female football.”

The goal of #EQUALISER is for all football facilities to be equal, promoting equivalent services and access. Facilities will need to meet a minimum criterion defined by Football Australia and verified through an annual national facilities audit. Each facility will then be assigned an appropriate level of accreditation.

For the past five years, the participation of women and girls in football has been experiencing double-digit growth every year. Global experience and past trends show that by hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM will turbo-charge female participation in Australia. This aligns with Football Australia’s gender parity target of equal playing numbers by 2027, which in reality means the current infrastructure needs to have the capacity and capability to provide for another 400,000 new female players leading into and post the event.

Football Australia and the Member Federations have developed a list of facilities across electorates which are in urgent need of upgrades.

With the Federal Election imminent, Football Australia is calling on all sides of politics to deliver funding commitments to assist #EQUALISER in achieving its goal.

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Capital Football Introduces Pink Armband to Protect Junior Referees

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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

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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.

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