Football Coaches Australia and XVenture announce John Moriarty Football scholarships

Avatar
In National Reconciliation Week 2021, Football Coaches Australia is pleased to present FCA XVenture Essential Skills program scholarships to Tiffany Stanley and Bryce Deaton, who both coach for John Moriarty Football.

In National Reconciliation Week 2021, Football Coaches Australia is pleased to present FCA XVenture Essential Skills program scholarships to Tiffany Stanley and Bryce Deaton, who both coach for John Moriarty Football (JMF).

Australia’s Reconciliation theme for 2021 is ‘More than a word’. Reconciliation takes action, action which urges the reconciliation movement towards braver and more impactful progress.

Providing Tiffany and Bryce with this FCA XV scholarship opportunity will support them to achieve their goals on their coaching journey.

In awarding the FCA XV scholarships FCA Glenn Warry said: “FCA strongly believes that much more can be done to encourage and support Indigenous Australians to become qualified coaches. At the moment, there are very few Indigenous coaches in the Australian football ecosystem. This is a concerning reality and one we would like to help address now and in the coming years.”

JMF is Australia’s most successful and longest-running Indigenous football program. A transformational skills mastery initiative for 6–18-year-olds, JMF uses football for talent and positive change, improving school attendance and achieving resilient, healthier outcomes in Indigenous communities.

Each week JMF reaches nearly 2,000 Indigenous children in 18 communities across four regional hubs in Dubbo (NSW), Kuranda (QLD), Tennant Creek (NT) and Borroloola (NT).

JMF Co-Founder and Co-Chair and the first Aboriginal to be selected to play football for Australia, John Moriarty, said: “We are very proud of Tiffany and Bryce and their achievements. One of JMF’s biggest strengths is our local coaches of which 63 percent are Indigenous and 40 percent are female.

“Local employment and capacity building is at the heart of what we do and Tiffany and Bryce are wonderful ambassadors for us. Both have achieved a great deal and it is because of their hard work we’ve been able to change the lives of so many Indigenous children and their families,” Mr Moriarty added.

A key focus of JMF is “building local staff capacity through mentoring, education and skills development to access best practice ideas and experience”. These scholarships will support that focus.

Wiradjuri woman Tiffany Stanley is a Community Coach at JMF’s Dubbo hub and is currently the holder of the AFC/FA C License.

“I’ve been coaching for almost two years and I believe it’s only the beginning for me. I want to become the best coach I can be and I believe that this scholarship will give me the opportunity to better myself, help my football coaching knowledge and to help me achieve my educational and coach career goals which are to have a positive mindset and attitude,” she said.

“I want to become a great leader and role model for young Indigenous kids. My biggest goal would be to become the first Indigenous woman to coach the Matildas.”

Aniwan man Bryce Deaton is Head Coach and Mentor at JMF’s Dubbo hub and is currently the holder of an AFC/FA Youth C License.

“This scholarship would give me the opportunity to expand my understanding of how I can improve the way I interact with players and coaches to ensure that I am able to give them the best support they need to succeed in what they want to do, especially in football,” he said.

“I am a huge advocate that coaching has evolved where we are no longer coaching a team, but a group of individuals, where everyone learns, strives, and understands at completely different levels, and as coaches we need to ensure a player is developing continuously.

“I would love to continue through my Coaching Qualifications (including GK levels) to strengthen my contribution to regional NSW football and then on to the elite club level as a GK coach. My biggest goal would be to develop elite programs to continually produce the next players to bring success to the national team.”

Founder of XVenture Mike Conway works with, and mentors, elite players and coaches worldwide.

“We are delighted to be able to support the future of Australian coaching talent with these scholarships for the John Moriarty Foundation. Their work is so important,” he said.

“The more we can provide positive learning, growth and development opportunities for young coaches, the brighter their lives and the future of our game will be.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

Off the Pitch Podcast: Cavallucci On the Importance of FQ’s Future Club+ Initiative for Local Clubs

Avatar
Image Credit: Football Queensland

On Episode 16 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast, it was a special episode with FQ CEO Rob Cavallucci ahead of the all-important 2025 Queensland Football Convention.

Many topics around the issues in Queensland football were discussed including Futsal’s incredible growth, update on Perry Park’s upgrade plan and driving player retention in certain youth age groups.

On the topic of administration, FQ’s new Future Club+ is a ground-breaking initiative designed to strengthen the foundations of football clubs across the state.

The concept of this began after last year’s convention and through interactive club lab sessions and ongoing consultation, FQ are continuing those discussions and driving practical change.

Cavallucci discussed the current volunteering and administration issues that are plaguing local football clubs.

“Future Club+ is in line with what I talked about earlier in regard to what we need to do to best position this sport for the next 20 years,” he said.

“Clubs are run by volunteers and volunteerism is waning. A lot of clubs can’t get the administration right because they also can’t get the governance right.

“The sport is run by volunteers and when you look at the fact that volunteerism is declining in Australia across every sport, you know it’s a problem we have to solve right now.

“From a governing body point of view, when you look at that, that’s actually a limiting factor on the success of our sport.”

He also gave a solution on how FQ are going to tackle this in the future, specifically in regards to what  Future Club+ will offer in the 2025 Queensland Football Convention and beyond.

“We need to start to work with clubs to transform how they manage themselves and that means a whole series of things. Hence the Future Club+ concept is looking at that and rethinking about best practice of how a club should operate,” he said.

“What we’ve been doing over the last 18 months through a series of webinars and in the last convention, and even in this upcoming one, there’s three Future Club+ sessions and it’s all about best practice at a club.”

In this convention, the three Future Club+ sessions are:

#1 What data reveals about your club future

#2 The amalgamation playbook: Real stories from the clubs forging the future

#3 The growth engine: your tool kit to fund staff and empower volunteers.

“Those three subjects should be very appealing to any club.”

Click hear the full interview with Rob Cavallucci, on Episode 16 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast – available on all major podcasting platforms.

Why La Liga and Serie A’s Overseas Ambitions Miss the Mark

Avatar
Image credit: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com

There’s something special about a home game. The walk to the ground, the echo of chants through narrow streets, and the sight of familiar faces in the stands all weave together to form football’s cultural heartbeat. It’s the essence of what makes the sport local, communal, and deeply personal.

So when a domestic league decides to move one of its regular-season fixtures to another country, it feels like a breach of that bond. La Liga’s recently cancelled plan to stage a match in Miami is a case in point, a move that was ambitious in its intent but misguided in its execution.

The proposal, initially set to feature Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami this December, was meant to mark the first time a Spanish league match would be played outside of Spain. It was to be a significant moment in La Liga’s international expansion, yet, this week, La Liga confirmed the game would no longer go ahead. 

La Liga announced the cancellation in a statement on October 22nd, stating, “the decision has been made to cancel the organisation of the event due to the uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over the past few weeks.”

The explanation might sound clear and logical, but the underlying tone was clear: resistance from players, clubs, and supporters had proven too strong for the league to ignore.

Football’s global reach has never been greater, and the appetite for elite European football across North America and Asia is undeniable. But not everything that makes sense commercially aligns with what makes football special.

A home fixture isn’t just a logistical concept; it’s a symbol of identity. It represents the connection between a club and its community, between the stands and the city they inhabit. When that connection is uprooted for the sake of marketing, the league risks diminishing the very qualities that make it engaging in the first place.

It received extreme backlash…

The backlash from both fans and players was immediate and significant. Across Spain, supporters’ groups voiced anger that such a fundamental change to the league was being discussed without meaningful consultation. Many saw it as a betrayal of local supporters who invest time, money, and passion into following their clubs week after week.

Players, too, made their objections clear. Earlier this season, La Liga footballers staged coordinated on-pitch protests, pausing for 15 seconds at kick-off to highlight their frustration over the lack of dialogue and respect shown by league officials.

The Spanish players’ union publicly condemned the proposal, warning that taking competitive fixtures abroad undermines not only the integrity of the league but also the players’ physical welfare due to travel demands and congested scheduling. Together, fans and players presented a united front, a strong display of solidarity that ultimately helped force La Liga to reconsider its plans.

These objections were more than emotional reactions, they were grounded in the structural logic of sport. The home-and-away format exists to ensure fairness, balance, and authenticity. A club’s “home advantage” is not merely a cliche or superstition; it’s a reflection of support and identity. 

La Liga still chasing the Premier League’s revenue records

However, it’s easy to see why the idea was tempting. La Liga faces an uphill battle to keep up with the Premier League’s global dominance.

Broadcasting revenue gaps continue to widen, and both La Liga and Serie A are seeking creative ways to reach new audiences. The Miami match would have been a global showcase, a polished event designed to generate headlines, sponsorships, and international attention.

But if the aim is to build sustainable global engagement, staging a regular-season game overseas is the wrong mechanism. Fans abroad are not asking for borrowed fixtures; they’re asking for connection.

They want access to content, insight, and a sense of belonging, all of which can be achieved through digital outreach or pre-season tours, both of which can be done  without disrupting the league calendar.

Serie A should definitely take note. The league is awaiting conformation from FIFA for a proposed competitive league match abroad, with Italian giants AC Milan set to take on Como FC at Optus Stadium on the 8th of February, 2026.

Como FC, in a club statement released for its members, have said that the international fixture and the revenue generated from it will “help ensure survival” for the club and mentioned the enormous financial advantage in English football.  

The ambition mirrors La Liga’s idea to expand the league’s global footprint and revitalise revenue streams. Yet, the lessons from Spain are plain to see. If the goal is to grow, do so without compromising the supporters who form the league’s foundation.

Conclusion

Domestic football thrives on the local community, the ritual of weekend fixtures, the generational ties that bind fans to their clubs. When that structure is interrupted for the sake of revenue or global recognition, the game begins to lose its grounding.

That’s why the cancellation of La Liga’s Miami game should be welcomed as more than a logistical decision; it’s an important reminder that football’s heart still beats at home. It suggests that, even amid the relentless pursuit of global growth, there remains an understanding that tradition and community still matter.

Perhaps the idea of regular-season games abroad will resurface in the future, the commercial pressures will certainly persist. But when that conversation returns, it should begin with the fans, and players, not the investors. 

La Liga’s decision may have disappointed some executives and sponsors, but it has restored a small measure of balance to the sport’s ongoing tension between profit and culture

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend