Heartbeat of Football raises awareness with Make it Red campaign

Staff Writer
Heart Health Round

Heartbeat of Football has launched its first Heart Health Round, with the Make it Red campaign to be held on April 28-30, 2023.

Heart Health Round is a national awareness campaign that will turn sporting grounds red to remind us of heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest.

By playing or participating in red, a club or organisation will be raising funds to support life-saving heart research and to achieve the ultimate goal of having zero heart-related deaths on the sporting ground.

A fundraising target of $200,000 has been set to address the number one killer for men and women in Australia.

HOF Founder Andy Paschalidis said via press release:

“We want people to keep being weekend warriors and playing the sports they love, but we also want them to be able to return home to their loved ones – so being aware, informed and taking preventative actions is a great start,” he said.

“We are so appreciative that Bing Lee is supporting this life-saving initiative as the Official Sponsor of the Heart Health Round – Make it Red campaign and we hope it’s part of a longer term community focused relationship.”

The initiative has also garnered the backing of Tim Cahill, Caitlin Foord and Heather Garriock – who provided messages of support and encourage everyone to get involved.

Bing Lee General Manager Peter Harris added via press release:

“One of our shop managers was playing a game of soccer a few years ago when someone on the field suffered a cardiac arrest on the field,” he said.

“Luckily there was a defibrillator at the ground and it saved his life.

“Too often we hear stories about fit and healthy people being active and doing what they love, and dying when they shouldn’t.

“This is our way of trying to eliminate those deaths and encouraging people to keep participating in sport without the fear that they might not make it through a game.”

Campaign Details

Date:  Friday 28 to Sunday 30 April 2023

Venue: Your Club. Your Ground. All sporting fields across Australia.

Fundraising Target: $200,000

Official Sponsor: Bing Lee

Funds Recipients: Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute; EndUCD and Heartbeat of Football

Supporters: Football NSW, Northern NSW Football, Football Victoria, Professional Footballers Australia, Football Coaches Australia, Heart Foundation, Heart of the Nation, Response for Life, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, EndUCD and more.

Community sporting clubs can register to take part in the Heart Health Round – Make it Red by visiting heartbeatoffootball.com.au/makeitred.

Or you can simply Donate to this campaign here.

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Football Victoria recognised in Pride in Sport Index 2026

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Image credit: Parilov / Shutterstock.com

The Silver Status shows Football Victoria‘s commitment to providing Victorians with a safe, inclusive landscape for all to enjoy the beautiful game.

Everyone’s game

Earlier this month, the Australian Pride in Sport Awards recognised several organisations and individuals across the nation who continue to champion inclusive spaces in the world of sport.

Among the nominees was Football Victoria, who received the Silver Status. FV Executive Manager Equity, Programs and Government Relations, Karen Pearce, expressed her pride at the achievement.

“Achieving Silver Status in the Pride in Sport Index is an important reflection of the work being done across Football Victoria to ensure LGBTQ+ people feel safe, welcomed and included in our game,” Pearce said via official press release.

“We remain committed to embedding inclusive practices across all levels of football, and continuing to create environments where everyone can belong, participate and thrive.”

 

Inclusion matters

While recognition is always a positive reflection of successful work behind the scenes, it is important to remember what the work intends to achieve.

Football – and sport in general – is a unique opportunity to bring diverse communities together, and to compete, spectate and enjoy the game on an equal playing field.

Furthermore, as custodians of ‘the world’s game’, governing bodies, fans and players around the world all share the responsibility to empower marginalised groups to feel included.

Two months ago, The Premier League introduced their own initiative – Premier League With Pride – reflecting their own commitment to ensuring football grounds, schools and academies remain welcoming.

 

Final thoughts

There is no place for hate or abuse in football, whether on a grassroots field or professional stadium.

Football Victoria will continue its journey and commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ community – at all levels of the game – for many seasons to come.

Football Queensland to celebrate Female Football Week with statewide events, awards and coaching programs

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Brighton women's football motion
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Football Queensland will mark the 2026 Female Football Week with a program of statewide events, competitions and professional development opportunities running from May 8-17, as the governing body continues to push for broader access and representation across all levels of the women’s game in Queensland.

The nationwide initiative, now a fixture on the Australian football calendar, provides a concentrated period of visibility for female participation across playing, coaching, officiating and administration: areas where structural underrepresentation has historically limited both the growth of the game and the opportunities available to women and girls within it.

“Female Football Week provides us with a valuable opportunity to celebrate the contributions of women and girls across our game while continuing to increase the accessibility of football in Queensland,” said Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci. “We encourage our clubs to host their own Female Football Week events and activations for female participants.”

 

Elite Competition Meets Community Access

The centrepiece of Football Queensland’s program is the return of the NPL Women’s Magic Round to Nudgee Recreation Reserve on May 8 and 9, featuring five NPL Women’s Round 13 clashes alongside a Girls United Junior Carnival and family-friendly activations. Each Magic Round game will feature an all-female refereeing panel, a deliberate and visible commitment to developing the next generation of female match officials at a moment when referee shortages are among the most pressing structural challenges facing the game nationally.

A Women in Football networking event will be held on the opening night of Magic Round, bringing together coaches, match officials and administrators. The inclusion of that event alongside elite competition is significant because it positions professional development and community building not as supplementary activities but as core components of what Female Football Week is for.

The Central Coast region will host its own Magic Round on May 16, featuring a Youth Girls game and three FQPL Central Coast Women’s matches, while a Darling Downs Junior Girls Day will take place at Captain Cook Park on the same day, extending the reach of the week’s programming beyond the southeast corner of the state into regional Queensland.

 

Coaching access as a structural priority

Football Queensland will deliver a series of female-only coaching courses around Female Football Week, with clubs also able to express interest in hosting their own. The initiative addresses one of the most persistent barriers to female representation in football administration- its coaching pipeline.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented at all levels of the game in Australia, and the barriers to accreditation, including cost, availability and the cultural environment of mixed coaching courses, compound one another in ways that individual ambition alone cannot overcome. Female-only courses create environments where women can develop without those barriers, and their delivery during Female Football Week signals that the commitment extends beyond celebration into structural change.

The Girls United Carnivals, running in both Metro and Far North and Gulf regions alongside the Q-League Schools program at Meakin Park, extend that access to players at the earliest stages of their football journey.

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