Football Australia partners with Penguin Random House

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In the lead in to a massive 12 months for Australian football, Penguin Random House Australia (Puffin) has acquired an eight-book publishing program with Football Australia to promote football and the Australian senior national teams, the Socceroos and CommBank Matildas.

The eight-book publishing program for young readers includes junior fiction, non-fiction, board books and a picture book, with something to engage and entertain every junior football fan. In addition, it will feature CommBank Matildas and Socceroos players who are set to partake in World Cups over the coming year.

The first book in a four-book junior fiction series in partnership with the Matildas and Socceroos is set to publish on August 30, with book two slated for release on December 29. Penned by author and broadcast journalist Kristin Darell, the series will follow the ups and downs of a talented junior team.

Holly Toohey – Head of Brands, Partnerships and Audio Director at Penguin Random House Australia – said the following in a statement via Football Australia:

“We are so thrilled that Puffin will be the publishing home of football in Australia. The sense of passion and excitement that surrounds the CommBank Matildas and Socceroos, as well as football at a grassroots level in Australia, is incredible. It’s these emotions that have formed the inspiration for our expansive publishing program.”

Football Australia CEO James Johnson added via Football Australia:

“Football is the largest and fastest-growing team sport in Australia and, in working with Penguin Random House, we will be able to reach a diverse audience that will help us to inspire young children across the country to get involved with our great game and support our beloved senior national teams.”

The CommBank Matildas were crowned Australia’s favourite sporting team in 2019 and their popularity boomed during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics when they became Australia’s most-watched women’s sporting team in television history, with a record-breaking 1,468,747 viewers tuning in across the nation to watch them take on Sweden. Meanwhile, on June 15 of this year, the Socceroos qualified for a fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout against Peru, with media from around the world and at home celebrating the team’s success.

The books will feature current Australian squad members, including Ellie Carpenter, Mary Fowler and Joel King plus respective national team captains, Sam Kerr and Mathew Ryan.

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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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