Member Federations throw support behind Football Australia’s #VaxxedToBeBack initiative

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Australia’s Member Federations have thrown their support behind Football Australia’s ‘#VaxxedToBeBack’ initiative.

The initiative features representatives from across Australia’s large, diverse, and multicultural football family, providing amplification of Federal, State, and Territory Government COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

Included in the video are Commonwealth Bank Matildas players Sam Kerr and Alanna Kennedy, Socceroos number one goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, former Socceroo Joel Griffiths, elite referee Kate Jacewicz and prominent Australian football personality, Stephanie Brantz.

The #VaxxedToBeBack initiative seeks to encourage members of Australia’s broad football community to share the reasons why they’ve been vaccinated as football and Australia as a whole strives to emerge from the global pandemic.

“I haven’t been back to Australia in almost two years so I am doing my part to protect myself and my family,” Kerr said in the video. Kennedy reflects that her nieces and nephews have grown so much over the past year, so she “can’t wait to be home and give them a big hug”.

Spain-based Socceroo Ryan is #VaxxedToBeBack “to help try and create a healthy and safe environment out there for all of us to be able to thrive in.” Leading match official Jacewicz, who refereed in the recent Tokyo 2020 Women’s Football Tournament, is “’#VaxxedToBeBack’ to return to the pitch for your football matches.”

While Football Australia and Member Federations respect and acknowledge that vaccination is an individual decision, the organisations support Federal, State, and Territory Government advice that mass vaccinations is Australia’s pathway out of COVID-19.

James Johnson, CEO of Football Australia, applauded the initiative in the interests of the wellbeing of our Australian football community at large.

“The safety and wellbeing of the Australian football community is paramount to Football Australia. As Australia’s most diverse and largest club-based participation sport, Australian football will continue to play its part as a responsible and good citizen, as Australia looks to reopen and recover from the devastating impacts of COVID-19,” Johnson said.

Football Australia, in partnership with Member Federations, continues to work on and plan for a variety of competitions, projects and initiatives that will underpin the growth of football as Australia emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

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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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