Historic Indigenous Football Australia Council launched by IFA

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Allira Toby of Canberra United
Allira Toby of Canberra United - provided by KEEPUP

The Indigenous Football Australia (IFA) Council has been launched to fully embrace young Indigenous players, with the Australian Professional Leagues and A-Leagues heavily involved to help facilitate determined change.

Overseeing the strategy and expansion of the successful John Moriarty Football program in Australia are APL CEO Danny Townsend and Liberty A-Leagues stars Jada Whyman (Sydney FC) and Allira Toby (Canberra United).

With AFL legend Adam Goodes also appointed to the advisory board, IFA and JMF will drive to create more equitable access to football for young grassroots and elite players, together with physical and mental health, wellbeing, education and community engagement for Indigenous girls, boys, their families and communities.

“I’m incredibly honoured and humbled to be a part of the IFA council,” said Wiradjuri/Yorta Yorta woman Whyman, who helped Sydney to the A-League Women Premiership last season, in a statement.

“It means the world to me to have the opportunity to share my insight and experience that can contribute to the growth of Indigenous football in our country.”

Kanulu/Gangulu woman Toby, who has also played for Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar and Sydney in the ALW, said:

“I aim to share my experience and knowledge to further the expansion and access to our game for grassroots and elite players.

“A long-awaited step in the right direction for our people, I can’t wait to get started.”

Townsend added:

“I am proud to join the Indigenous Football Australia Council on behalf of the Australian Professional Leagues.

“We look forward to working closely with the IFAC to create more equitable access to football and improved outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

“The power of football to create positive mental and physical health outcomes, to be a tool for education, and to bring together communities is unmatched, and we take seriously our responsibility to use football for social good.

“Working with John Moriarty Football and the illustrious Council members is a great privilege and we look forward to helping to drive real and lasting change.”

John Moriarty Football (JMF) is Australia’s longest-running and most successful Indigenous Football initiative for two to 18 year olds. JMF’s transformational skills program uses football (soccer) for talent and positive change, improving school attendance and achieving resilient, healthier outcomes in Indigenous communities.

“The diversity and strengths of this Indigenous-led Council are unparalleled,” said IFA council member, JMF co-founder/co-chair and the first Indigenous footballer to be selected for Australia, John Mariarty AM.

“Each member is more than a symbolic appointment. They all bring unique, lived experience plus skills, aligned values and goals for Indigenous football in Australia. Each member is committed to creating tangible, equitable and lasting change.

“After a decade of successful delivery, we’ve shown the transformational impacts JMF has on the skills, health, wellbeing, education and community engagement of our coaches and the many thousand young players in our program.

“With the guidance of the IFA Council we can create exponential social change through football, expand JMF and ensure more equitable access to the great game of football for grassroots and elite Indigenous players.”

A Sydney Swans legend, Goodes will now turn his football passion towards the development of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aspiring to represent the Matildas or Socceroos.

“I always had a love of football,” Goodes said via the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Today I’m enjoying playing for Waverley Old Boys. It’s great to be part of a team environment. I knew I was always going to play soccer again because the love for the game has never left me.”

“I am really excited to be able to share my life experience in sport and business to help others on a similar journey,” Goodes added in an IFA statement.

“I am looking forward to learning from other experts who are on the Council. But most of all it is about the young people and giving them the best opportunity to achieve their dreams.”

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Western Strikers Nominated FSA Club of the Month for Equity Outcomes

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Image Credit: Football SA

Western Strikers SC has been nominated for Club of the Month after a period of deliberate structural investment in its female program that is already producing measurable outcomes, and offering a model for how community clubs can drive participation growth through equity-focused planning rather than passive goodwill.

The nomination recognises a program that has moved beyond surface-level commitment to women’s football and into the kind of structural change that determines whether female players actually stay. Improved lighting across training and match pitches, equitable scheduling, extended training hours and dedicated pitch allocation have addressed the practical barriers that clubs often overlook. It’s conditions that tell players, implicitly or otherwise, whether the game was built for them.

 

Leadership as Infrastructure

Central to Western Strikers’ approach is a leadership structure that takes female football seriously as a technical and administrative priority. Women’s Coordinator Michelle Loprete and Technical Director Georgia Iannella, a former Matilda, provide the program with both organisational direction and the kind of visible role modelling that shapes whether younger players can picture themselves progressing through the game.

The presence of a former international player in a technical leadership role at a community level isn’t incidental. It signals to junior players that the pathway from their Friday night training session to elite football is real and navigable, and it gives the club’s coaching staff access to experience and credibility that most community programs cannot offer.

That pipeline is already functioning. Western Strikers’ Under-13 to Under-16 girls teams all qualified for finals in the Youth Premier League this season. Under-15 goalkeeper Sian Schopfer made her debut in the Women’s State League team which is a direct product of a club environment designed to move players upward.

 

The Friday-night model

One of the more quietly significant initiatives at Western Strikers is the scheduling of Friday night women’s matches, with junior girls training beforehand encouraged to stay and watch senior football. The structure is straightforward but its implications are meaningful. Aspiration in sport is not abstract. It’s built through proximity, through watching players a few years older doing what you want to do, in the same kit, at the same club.

The absence of that experience is one of the more consistent reasons girls disengage from football in their mid-teens. When junior female players cannot see where the game goes after their age group, the logical conclusion is that it goes nowhere. Western Strikers’ scheduling decision addresses that directly, at minimal cost, and whose effects are starting to manifest.

 

The Club Changer framework

The club’s participation in Football South Australia’s Club Changer Program has provided a structured framework for identifying and addressing barriers that might otherwise go unexamined. Pitch allocation, training structures and safety conditions are the kinds of issues that accumulate quietly in club environments; not because of deliberate exclusion but because the default systems were built around male participation and have never been comprehensively reviewed.

The Club Changer Program creates accountability for that review. Western Strikers’ ability to project an additional 146 female players over the next three years is a product of planning rather than optimism.

 

Industry implications

Western Strikers’ model matters beyond its own membership. At a time when women’s football in Australia is navigating the challenge of converting a participation surge into sustainable long-term growth, the question of what community clubs actually do with increased interest is among the most consequential in the sport.

Record crowds at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and sustained national visibility have opened the door. Whether players walk through it and stay depends on whether the club on the other side looks anything like Western Strikers

Melbourne City expand youth program with Hallam Secondary College

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Image credit: Melbourne City FC

The school will join the City Futures Program in its mission to consolidate pathways and community bonds for students.

From pupils to players

Hallam is the latest school in Melbourne’s South-East to join the City Futures Program. Also backing the program’s ambitions are Narre Warren South P-12 College, Gleneagles Secondary College and Timbarra P-9 School.

Partnerships between professional clubs like Melbourne City and local schools help to promote community connection, as well as providing pathways from the classroom to the stadium.

“City Futures is about creating genuine opportunities for young people to stay engaged in their education while feeling connected to something bigger,” said Head of Community, Sunil Melon, via press release.

“By bringing the Club into schools and providing access to our environment, we’re helping students build confidence, explore future pathways and see what’s possible both within football and beyond.”

Gone are the days when young players must choose between football and education. Through the City Futures Program, they can enjoy both worlds and still have the opportunities to develop.

 

What City Futures provides

Hallam sudents will be at the centre of the benefits provided by the connection to Melbourne City.

For example, high-quality coaching sessions delivered twice a week will instill confidence and teamwork skills into young participants. And as Melbourne City coaches are set to deliver the sessions, the students will truly learn from the best in Australia’s footbal landscape.

Furthermore, participants can visit Casey Fields, home to the City Football Academy, where they can experience the ins and outs of how an A-League club operates and trains.

“We’re proud to be part of the City Futures Program,” outlined Acting Principal at Hallam Secondary College, Shelly Haughey.

“Seeing our students come together and commit to their training is setting them up for success both on and off the pitch, and we look forward to building a strong and lasting partnership with Melbourne City FC.”

 

The future of football pathways

This isn’t the first – nor will it be the last – partnership to connect football and education in Australia.

Earlier this year, Queensland-based John Paul College embarked on an exciting journey with Spanish outfit, RCD Espanyol, to provide unique coaching support, player education, and pathway opportunities.

But these partnerships aren’t merely about giving young talents a place in the starting XI.

They are designed to ensure all participants develop into confident young people – whether their future lies on the pitch, in the dugout or in the boardroom.

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