Football Coaches Australia Granted Provisional FFA Membership

Football Coaches Australia (FCA) was granted the status of FFA Provisional Member at yesterday’s FFA Annual General Meeting (AGM), after the resolution was passed by FFA Members.

FCA President Phil Moss, who presented to the FFA AGM prior to the vote, was delighted with the outcome.

“This is a very proud day in the short history of our organization,” he said.

“If not for the coaches who have gone before us Football Coaches Australia may not have materialized. If not for our founders Glenn Warry and James Kitching, FCA most certainly would not have physically seen the light of day.”

Founded in 2017, FCA provides a collective voice for coaches by championing advocacy, well-being, and development.

The organisation has grown significantly since its inception, with its leadership team now optimistic of achieving full membership to the now ‘Football Australia’ by 2022.

“The people involved and the outstanding work done since day one at Macquarie University in November 2017 have allowed us to arrive at Provisional Membership of the FA Congress,” Moss added.

“I’m so proud of our special ‘dressing room’ that doubles as our ExCo & various sub-committees – a group of exceptional people who continuously go above & beyond for the love of the game & respect they have for what coaches bring to the code.”

“It is an achievement that our management, Executive Committee, members & supporters should rightly celebrate today!”

“Tomorrow, though, we go again. There is so much hard work ahead with our fellow key stakeholders to ensure the future of the game & coaching is where it needs to be. On behalf of Team FCA I’d like to thank all the members who recognised the importance of coaches to the future of Australian & international football by voting for us on this historic day.”

FCA Vice President Heather Garriock also weighed in on the news, echoing Moss’ excitement at the result.

FCA Vice President Heather Garriock

“This clearly is a representation of where our organisation should be, coaches front and centre of our beautiful game.”

“To all our current members who have supported us and the coaches that don’t yet know about us, we are the future for ‘ALL’ coaches in Australia, we are Football Coaches Australia.

“Kudos to the founders of FCA, belief is everything, the journey is only beginning.”

“As we work towards Full Membership, of the now Football Australia, in November 2022, on behalf of our member coaches, FCA looks forward to continued collaboration with all stakeholders to promote and strengthen the reputation of football in Australia and the reputation of football on the world stage.”

In line with this vision FCA has launched their ground breaking professional development programs, with partner X Venture, connecting community and professional coaches, through the delivery of the 2020 FCA XV National Mind Games Cup.

IT’S SIMPLE FOR COACHES TO REGISTER AND ENTRIES CLOSE NEXT WEEK

www.fcaxvmindgamescup.com

FCA are also pleased to partner FNSW at this weekend’s 2020 Australian Football Coaching Conference – XVenture’s founder Mike Conway will present the webinar “Emotional Agility and Mental Coaching Techniques for Performance Improvement”.

The FNSW Conference presentation will outline the significant FCA XVenture Essential Skills program for football coaches which will be launched in February 2021. (5 modules x 30 CPD points per module).

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Filopoulos: Football Must Move Beyond Campaigns to Win Fans for Good

Global marketing and advisory firm Bastion has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Peter Filopoulos as Managing Director, Experience. This decision brings one of Australian football’s most influential administrators into a new phase of the sports business landscape.

Filopoulos, who has held senior roles across Football Australia, Football Victoria and Perth Glory, will lead Bastion’s experiential and partnerships division, applying a football-informed lens to brand engagement.

Drawing on his time in the game, Filopoulos emphasised the importance of cohesion in building meaningful fan connections.

“For me, the biggest lesson is that fans don’t see brand, content and experience as individual silos, they experience it all as one connected ecosystem,” he said.

“At Football Australia, the work resonated most when everything was aligned; the team, the narrative, the partners and the matchday experience all working together to feel cohesive and authentic. That’s when engagement moves beyond interaction and becomes something far more meaningful.”

He added that too many organisations still treat fan engagement as short-term.

“Where a lot of organisations fall short is treating fan engagement as a campaign. It’s not, it’s an always-on system.”

Filopoulos’ move reflects a broader shift within football, where commercial growth is increasingly driven by experience-led strategy.

“At Bastion, we put experience at the centre—because it’s where the brand comes to life, where partners integrate in a way that adds real value and where fans genuinely connect,” he said.

“Our focus is on building platforms that bring fans closer to the brand… Get that right, and you’re creating something people actively want to be part of.”

Pushing for First Nations representation in the game with Football Queensland’s Murri Cup

Football Queensland has announced the inaugural FQ Murri Cup, a two-day tournament celebrating First Nations cultures and showcasing Indigenous football talent from across Queensland, to be held at Nudgee Recreation Reserve on November 28 and 29.

The competition, developed in close consultation with Football Australia’s National Indigenous Advisory Group and Football Australia’s General Manager of First Nations Courtney Fewquandie, will feature a Coles MiniRoos activation, a Charles Perkins XI Talent ID session and a community stallholder zone alongside the on-field competition. Expressions of interest are open now for individuals and teams across the state.

More than a tournament

The launch arrives at a moment when the structural underrepresentation of First Nations Australians in organised sport, at the administrative, coaching, and pathway levels, is under sustained scrutiny. Football, like most codes, has historically failed to build the kind of community-embedded structures that make sustained Indigenous participation possible rather than incidental.

The FQ Murri Cup is a direct response to that gap. By centering First Nations culture within the competition itself, rather than treating it as supplementary to a standard football event, the tournament signals a shift in how the game positions Indigenous participation as a community with its own relationship to the sport that deserves its own platform.

The inclusion of a Talent ID session carries specific weight. Structured pathways into elite football have not always been accessible to players from regional and remote Indigenous communities, where geography, cost and cultural barriers compound one another. Embedding that opportunity within a culturally safe environment lowers the threshold at the point where it most frequently closes.

“The FQ Murri Cup will bring together First Nations players, families and communities for a two-day celebration, providing a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of First Nations participants within our game,” said Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci.Mu

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