Manly United announces training compensation reward for grassroots clubs

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Manly United have announced an agreement that will give grassroots clubs in the Manly Warringah Football Association a portion of any training compensation the NPL club receives for players who started their career in their local area.

The current FIFA rules state training compensation is allocated to clubs that play a role in a player’s development from the age of twelve onwards.

However, acknowledging the important role grassroots clubs have in the formative years of development, Manly United will reward all clubs that help develop young players.

“Manly United recognises the part grassroots clubs play in the Australian football pyramid and believes it is only fair that local clubs, who play a critical first part in helping football players to fall in love with the game, should be recognised,” said Manly United CEO David Mason.

“There has been a lot of talk lately about uniting football and bringing the entire football ecosystem together and if we are serious about that it has to include the grassroots football community, which is home to 96% of Australia’s football players.”

Wakehurst Football Club will be the first club to benefit from the agreement, with former Manly United and Sydney FC youngster Cameron Peupion recently signing for Brighton and Hove Albion in the EPL.

“Cameron started his football playing with Wakehurst and then joined Manly United as a 9-year-old, moved onto Sydney FC and is now about to live out a dream that started at Hews Parade and Lionel Watts Oval on the biggest stage of all,” Mason said.

“We would like to thank Danny Townsend and Sydney FC for the way we worked together on a fair Training Compensation arrangement with Brighton but we believe that cooperation should go all the way back to his junior club.

“The grassroots is always forgotten when Australian football thinks of the player pathway and just before he departed Australia Cameron came down to Cromer Park to spend some time with the SAP players and watched his mates play for Wakehurst before jetting off to England.”

17-year-old Peupion said: “This is fantastic that Wakehurst has been recognised. It is my first club, it’s where I started to play my football and along with Manly and Sydney FC have helped me get to the point that I’m about to chase my dream in the Premier League. It’s great that all the people who have helped me have been recognised.”

Wakehurst Football Club President Greg Dick was delighted with the news.

“This is a fantastic surprise and a great reward for Wakehurst Football Club. Cameron started his football with Wakehurst before moving onto Manly United and we think this new agreement is a tremendous recognition and reward for local clubs in the MWFA,” he said.

“Whilst training compensation applies from the age of 12 this agreement clearly demonstrates the MWFA’s leadership and commitment to the development of grassroots U6-U11 football.”

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South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

Football NSW announces 2026 First Nations Scholarships as pathway access program enters new phase

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has announced the recipients of its 2026 First Nations Scholarships, with ten emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players from metropolitan and regional NSW receiving support designed to reduce the financial and structural barriers that have historically limited First Nations participation across the football pathway.

The scholarship program, developed and assessed in collaboration with the Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group, targets players across both elite and development environments – recognising that talent identification alone is insufficient without the resources to support progression once players are identified.

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group Bianca Dufty said the calibre of this year’s recipients reflected the depth of First Nations football talent across the state, and the importance of structured support in converting that talent into long-term participation.

“Their dedication to football and the desire to be role models for younger Aboriginal footballers in their communities is to be celebrated,” Dufty said. “I’m confident we will see some of these talented footballers in the A-League and national teams in the future.”

 

Beyond the pitch and into the pipeline

The 2026 cohort spans both metropolitan clubs and regional associations, an intentional distribution that acknowledges the particular barriers facing First Nations players outside major population centres, where access to development programs, qualified coaching and pathway competitions is more limited and the cost of participation more prohibitive.

The next phase of the program will introduce First Nations coaching scholarships, extending the initiative’s reach beyond playing pathways and into the coaching and administration pipeline – areas where Indigenous representation remains among the lowest in the game.

The structural logic is clear. Scholarships that reduce financial barriers at the entry point of elite pathways matter most when they are part of a sustained ecosystem of support rather than isolated gestures. Football NSW’s collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group provides that continuity, ensuring the program is shaped by the communities it is designed to serve.

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