Football Coaches Australia unveil Football Coaching Life expansion

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Gary Cole FCA

Football Coaches Australia (FCA) have announced that The Football Coaching Life Podcast will make the exciting transition into video format and be available via YouTube from this week.

Since February 2021, The Football Coaching Life Podcast has steadily grown into one of the strongest sources of insight and information for professional, semi-professional, grassroots and aspiring coaches in Australia.

The Football Coaching Life Podcast reflects not just the range of Australian coaches located across the world, but also the variety of talented male and female coaches involved in the men’s and women’s game both domestically and abroad.

Hosted by legend of Australian football and recent inductee into the Football Victoria Hall of Fame, Gary Cole, the podcast has sought to give a platform to some of Australia’s most successful and brightest up-and-coming coaches, with guests including Tanya Oxtoby, Ange Postecoglou and Alen Stajcic.

“The podcast has been running for just over a year now thanks to the significant help of MAKING MEDIA, the podcast professionals. From day one we recorded them initially via Zoom because our intent was always that we would find a home for them. We’ve captured around 25 episodes now and have reviewed what we’ve been doing on an ongoing basis, and we’ve got well over 16,000 listens of the podcast now,” Cole says.

“I think the whole purpose of moving it to video is that it will touch more people – more people will watch and more people will listen. It’s a fantastic opportunity for coaches of any sport to learn because there’s so much knowledge and wisdom about leadership and culture being shared. There’s so much of the coaches telling their story, and we all have different stories. And the reason we started was because most of the stories haven’t been told.

“We believe that there’s not a ‘one size fits all’ for coaching, it’s something that is very personal and you’ve got to find your way. And across that journey, their coaching and approach to coaching changes. Now we have the opportunity to watch and listen, not just listen.

“At the end of the day, FCA was setup to help coaches at all different levels. That includes supporting their mental health, representing them and helping them with their ongoing education.”

Sarah West, Vice President of FCA and Assistant Coach/Analyst for Canberra United, expressed her excitement at being able to effectively reflect the values of FCA through amplifying the podcast’s reach with the new video format.

“One of our goals is to enhance the profile of Australian coaches, and the other is to provide Australian coaches with resources; whether that be educational, professional development and opportunities to have positive conversations about football.

“Effectively, through the work that we’re doing with MAKING MEDIA and Ralph Barba, packaging up those podcasts and having them delivered to our audio channels has been hugely successful.

“The diversity of FCA’s modern media and coach education platforms for coaches is not matched by any other Australian football coaching provider.”

Karen Grega FCA Executive Committee member and podcast editor stated:

“‘The Coaching Life’ provides an insight into the personalities of the coaches, as well as their own journeys (sometimes warts and all). This is something which obviously comes from them being in a comfortable environment. This makes for great viewing and listening for coaches at all levels and the football-loving public generally.  

The calibre of Australian female coaches making their mark (in often challenging circumstances) in the game both locally and oversees is impressive. It’s certainly a far cry from my days as a player and referee. I’m sure the content in ‘The Coaching life’ will resonate with coaches from many other sports as well.”

There are many ‘take-aways’ for those in the corporate sector as coaches share their views and experiences on topics such as Resilience, Leadership, Mentoring and even the impact of social media.

Gary’s own invaluable contribution to both the questions he poses and the coaches responses comes from his own football and teaching experience, empathy and of course, passion for the game and adds to the valuable lessons learned from each episode.

The Football Coaching Life Podcasts and YouTube videos are available now.

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Active Club Program offers South Australian football clubs a funding boost

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Image Credits: Shutterstock 2327752993

South Australian football clubs can tap into another round of government support, with the Active Club Program offering grants of up to $3,000 to help clubs improve participation and strengthen their local communities. The Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing (ORSR) opened its new round of funding on the 28th of August. Clubs have until midday on Wednesday, 14 October 2026 to apply.

The grassroots benefits

The South Australian Government has allocated $1.448 million to the round. Clubs with fewer than 100 members can receive $1,500. Clubs with 100 or more members can receive $3,000. The program targets grassroots sport, including football. It helps clubs purchase equipment and resources that make participation easier and more affordable.

Football clubs can use the funding for sporting equipment, uniforms and protective gear. They can also fund playing venue maintenance equipment, professional development, medical equipment and training. The program also supports projects that improve inclusion. Clubs can use grants for positive health initiatives and hardship subsidies. These measures can help remove barriers that stop people from playing sport.

That focus creates opportunities for football clubs to support more women and girls. It can also help clubs create more welcoming environments for players of different ages and backgrounds. Water and energy efficiency also form part of the program. Clubs can fund eligible initiatives that reduce water use or improve energy efficiency. That could prove particularly valuable for football clubs managing local playing venues and facilities. The program also allows minor club infrastructure upgrades and technology that directly supports participation or club sustainability.

Who is eligible?

To qualify, a club must operate as a not-for-profit sport or active recreation organisation in South Australia. It must have at least 20 members and have operated for at least 12 months.

ORSR will also consider a club’s participation profile when assessing applications. The assessment looks at female and male junior and senior participation, alongside factors such as the club’s affiliation and when it last received Active Club Program funding.

How to apply

The funding can make a direct difference at grassroots level. In the previous round, 558 South Australian clubs shared more than $1.4 million. The government says the investment helped clubs meet essential costs while supporting participation and inclusion.

For football, that support can stretch beyond the playing field. Stronger clubs create more opportunities for players, coaches and volunteers. They also provide places where people can build connections and stay active. Applications for Round 56 will be screened in November, assessed in December, with clubs notified in January 2027.

To learn more about the South Australian Active Club Program, visit their website.

The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

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If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

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