How to use podcasting to boost your football club

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Image credit: PxHere website

With so many ways to connect to different communities, it is important to be able to understand and effectively use a range of mediums to reach your members and fans.

Podcasting stands as one of the most personal and intimate of these techniques and can allow your community to gain a deeper insight into and greater connection with your club.

Often thought of as a difficult or expensive form of media to create, podcasting can actually be quite simple.

Here are a number of tips and tricks to help you get started.

Tone and Content

Before diving into equipment or beginning recording, it is crucial to know what type of podcast you wish to create.

As an audio format, podcasts lend themselves well to interviews and conversations. Consider inviting players or coaches on for a chat before or after a game or during the week to discuss how the club is travelling.

Alternatively, you could incorporate members of your club’s community such as volunteers, former players and coaches or club historians to highlight special stories from your club’s past or present.

If you would prefer to create easily made quickfire content, your club could release match reports in the form of podcasts, which convey what happened to those who may have missed the game.

Similarly, a short club news podcast can update listeners about the upcoming fixture or club events, or important information such as administration or fee changes.

Furthermore, its essential to find ways to make your podcast more interesting and set it apart from others.

Natural sound provides one way to add spark. On gameday, try to get snippets of natural sounds such as crowd noise, or the kick of the ball to weave into your podcast to give it life.

Additionally, you can also choose to incorporate cameras to create an audiovisual podcast.

Above all, your podcast should draw in listeners and attempt to grow the club, so you need to avoid content which could degrade the club’s image.

Overly negative analytical podcasts can hurt the confidence of players and fans, while an ill-fitting tone will fail to garner an audience.

It is important when creating your podcast that you capture a tone that sounds authentic. If your audience finds you honest, they are far more likely to connect with your content and potentially listen to more of what you release.

After you have decided on what you wish to create, try to maintain a familiar style. If the form of your podcast frequently changes it can become difficult for your audience to remain attached.

Equipment and Software

Many people dread the costs of the equipment or software they need to begin podcasting but there are range of solutions available.

While professional cameras or microphones will deliver professional quality, it is possible to achieve sufficient results from modern smartphones.

However, your equipment will not matter if you do not set up your recording environment properly.

To get the best audio quality, always attempt to find a place where outside noise will not disrupt you or where your voice won’t echo. Noise will bounce off hard and sharp surfaces, so try to find areas with soft surfaces like curtains and carpets to dampen echoes.

If you do not have access to a good place to record, recording in a car or with a blanket over your head can provide makeshift solutions.

There are also a range of accessories available to help make your podcasting journey much smoother:

  • Pop filters, to help reduce harsh speech sounds.
  • Stands and mounts, to help set up your equipment comfortably.
  • Lights, to illuminate your face to your audience.

To record and edit your podcast you will need software programs.

Free options such as Audacity and GarageBand stand as good beginner options, while Adobe Audition, Hindenburg Pro and Descript provide professional alternatives.

For long distance audio visual recording between different parties, Zoom will allow you to record on a free plan.

Marketing Your Podcast

After you have created your podcast, try to release it on as many platforms as you can to reach your audience anywhere.

Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube are among some of the most popular podcast platforms available, but if you have a club website attempt to release your podcast there too.

You do not have to release your podcast frequently, but it should maintain a consistent release schedule, so your listeners know when to listen to it.

A bonus of podcasting is that it can also feed into your regular club media.

In your club newsletters, match reports and social media posts, consider quoting interviews or reposting clips from your podcast to continually build its following.

If you would like to know more, click here.

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The Man Who Built a Women’s Football Program from Nothing is now an Award-Winning Gender Equity Leader

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Image Credit: Football Victoria

Eight years ago, Spring Hills Football Club did not have a girls’ team. Today it has one of the most recognised women’s programs in Melbourne’s west, a senior NPLW side, and a head coach who has just been named Gender Equity Leader of the Year at the Melton City Council Volunteer Achievement Awards.

Tom Markovski, Spring Hills’ NPLW Head Coach, received the award at a ceremony coinciding with National Volunteer Week, recognised for his community leadership, promotion of gender equality and commitment to advancing the status of women and people of all genders in sport. The recognition comes from outside the football community entirely, awarded by a local council celebrating volunteers across every sector of civic life in one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing regions.

Building from scratch

When Markovski arrived at Spring Hills, women’s football at the club did not exist. His first act was to champion the establishment of the club’s first all-girls team, a process that required persuading a club culture built around men’s football that the investment was worth making.

Women’s football in community clubs has historically struggled to access the same facilities, scheduling priority, coaching resources and institutional support as the men’s game. Clubs have been slow to invest in programs whose return is less immediately visible than a senior men’s premiership, and in a growing outer-suburban community like Melton, where volunteer capacity is finite and demand across every program is high, the case for building something new always has to compete with the urgency of maintaining what already exists.

Markovski made the case anyway, and kept making it across eight years of coaching senior and junior NPL teams while simultaneously building the structural foundations of a women’s program designed to outlast any individual’s involvement. The club’s first all-girls team became multiple junior girls teams. Those junior teams created the pipeline for a senior women’s side. The senior women’s side created visible pathways for younger players to see where the game could take them within their own club.

The outcome is a program that Spring Hills now holds up as central to its identity rather than supplementary to it. The club has become a leader in female participation in Melbourne’s west, and recently made history within the NPLW Victoria structure by fielding junior teams coached entirely by female coaches, a milestone that reflects the depth of the program Markovski helped build.

What the Award Recognises

The Melton City Council’s decision to name Markovski its Gender Equity Leader of the Year places his work in a frame that extends beyond football. Melton is one of the fastest-growing local government areas in Australia, a diverse and rapidly expanding community where the institutions that bring people together, like schools, councils, sporting clubs, carry an outsized responsibility for social cohesion.

Mayor Cr. Lara Carli, speaking at the awards ceremony, reflected on the role volunteers play in communities like Melton’s. “Volunteering creates friendships, strengthens communities and builds a sense of belonging,” she said. “It helps people feel connected, supported and valued, and those things are more important than ever in a growing and diverse community like ours.”

For the girls now playing football at Spring Hills who were not playing anywhere eight years ago, Markovski’s contribution is not abstract. It is the specific and concrete fact of having somewhere to play, someone to coach them, and a pathway that leads somewhere.

Aussie partners with two A-League clubs in cross-state alliance

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

Australia’s largest retail mortgage broker will team up with Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers, representing Aussie’s commitment to supporting and connecting people through football.

 

Opposing teams, United partners

The alliance between Aussie, Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers reflects a unique approach to investing in Australia’s football landscape.

It encompasses both communities and supporters across Melbourne and Sydney, with Aussie’s presence in both cities now firmly embedded into local, grassroots networks.

“We’re excited about this partnership because it represents much more than a traditional sponsorship,” explained Aussie National Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Ryan Ferguson via press release.

“It’s about connection, community, and being part of something that reaches people in a meaningful and authentic way.”

Both Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers also commented on the unique nature of the partnership.

“The joint venture is a game-changer in how brands and sports teams can collaborate beyond the traditional instruments of a partnership and stands apart from the existing relationships in our sporting landscape for the betterment of our stakeholders,” said Melbourne Victory Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie.

“For the first time, two iconic clubs are coming together in a joint-venture sponsorship that delivers unmatched reach, community impact and business innovation,” added Western Sydney Wanderers CEO, Scott Hudson.

 

National stage, local commitment

As Australians grapple with soaring property prices and financial uncertainty, having access to a platform like Aussie is immensely valuable.

So now that Aussie will begins its venture alongside Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers – two clubs with extensive fanbases – it now has the means to make real, local impact.

Two major cities. Two footballing identities. All aligned under the same vision for community reach, growth and innovation.

“Aussie is a national brand, but at our heart, we are built on local relationships,” continued Ferguson.

“Every day, our brokers are working with customers in their communities, helping them navigate the journey of finding, buying and owning their own home. That’s why this partnership feels like such a natural fit.”

Ultimately, while the alliance will build on the business and community networks of the two A-League outfits, the impact will extend far beyond the boundaries of the pitch.

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