Mt Isa football community receives new goals from PILA

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Image credit: Trafalgar Victory FC website

The Mt Isa Football Park has seen a huge upgrade to the facility with the installation of new goals as part of a partnership between PILA and Football Queensland.

PILA is a family-owned business that has grown into one of Australia’s largest companies specialising in sports equipment and streetscape solutions, with a focus on flagpoles and goal posts.

The Australian manufacturing business has provided goal posts to Australia’s major stadiums such as the MCG, the SCG and The Home of the Matildas.

PILA is also the official Goal Post Partner of the AFL and many football associations around Australia.

Confirmed back in March, PILA teamed up with Football Queensland to be its Official Goal Posts Partner and preferred supplier for clubs and communities in the Queensland region.

Football Queensland General Manager – Northern Region, Craig Ramage, said about the new and improved goal posts at Mt Isa Football Park:

“These new PILA goals will bring numerous benefits to the game and the region, including improved safety, enhanced playability and aesthetics to better accommodate the continued increases in participation seen across all age groups,” he said in a media release on Football Queensland’s website.

“The need for an upgrade was clear, as the previous goals had served the community well but were showing significant signs of wear and tear.

“The installation of these new PILA goals represents a significant leap forward in field hardware quality and design and will help take the game to the next level for all participants at the Mt Isa Football Park,” he said.

“This investment is a testament to the growing popularity of football in the region and demonstrates both Football Queensland and PILA’s commitment to providing top-notch facilities for players of all ages and skill levels across Mt Isa and Queensland.” 

PILA and Football Queensland also launched the PILA Goal Post Subsidy Program between May 1 to June 30 2024, where all clubs across Queensland can access discounted pricing and exclusive grants to help upgrade their goal posts.

Successful applicants of the program were announced in July 2024 and will receive a $500 subsidy towards new PILA goal posts for their respective clubs.

For more information about PILA and their goal posts, visit their catalogue here.

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Football South Australia renews partnership with Datacord as Community Football Commitment Deepens

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Image Credit: Football SA

Football South Australia has announced the renewal of its partnership with Datacord, continuing a relationship that has grown steadily since the South Australian print and document solutions provider first entered the football community as naming rights sponsor of the Collegiate Soccer League Division 1.

That initial agreement, which saw Datacord align with one of Adelaide’s most historic amateur competitions, marked the beginning of what has since developed into a broader commitment to South Australian football at every level. The renewed partnership extends Datacord’s involvement beyond the CSL and into the wider Football SA ecosystem, with clubs across the state now able to access exclusive offers and preferred pricing on photocopying, managed print services and tailored business solutions.

The practical value of that access should not be understated. Community football clubs operate on tight margins, relying heavily on volunteer administrators managing everything from registration paperwork to grant applications. Cost-effective print and document solutions reduce the operational burden on those volunteers, a small but meaningful contribution to the sustainability of clubs that form the backbone of the game in South Australia.

“George is a great supporter of sport in South Australia and we are delighted to have Datacord as a supporter of football,” said Football SA CEO Michael Carter. “Service is second to none and we highly recommend their services to the business community within the Football Family.”

For Datacord Managing Director George Koutsoubis, the renewal reflects a genuine investment in the community rather than a transactional commercial arrangement. “It is important to support the local community, and Football South Australia is the perfect place to start spreading the word about Datacord and what we do for the South Australian community,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated, and I think it is a great partnership to be part of.”

Football NSW releases $600,000 towards Grassroots Grants to meet Participation Pressure

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The Victorian State Government has announced new grants and funding for 11 new community infrastructure projects for local football clubs, totalling $3.8 million.
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Sixty-five football clubs across New South Wales have secured a combined total of nearly $600,000 in funding through the NSW Office of Sport’s Local Sports Grant Program. It follows as a result of Football NSW’s scale of demand for community sport support and the growing pressure on clubs struggling to keep pace with surging participation.

The grants, covering 69 individual projects across the Football NSW footprint, will fund facility upgrades, equipment purchases, participation programs and accessibility improvements: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure that determines whether community clubs can function at the level their members require.

The Local Sports Grant Program made up to $4.65 million available statewide in 2025, with $50,000 allocated to each electoral district and individual grants capped at $20,000. Football’s share of nearly $600,000 reflects the sport’s status as the largest participation code in NSW, and the degree to which that status has not always been matched by corresponding investment in the facilities and resources required to sustain it.

Volunteers carrying an unsustainable load

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the volunteer workforce that keeps community football operational. Across NSW, thousands of volunteers dedicate significant unpaid time each week to administration, ground preparation, canteen operation and the logistical demands of running competitive junior and senior programs. As participation numbers climb, driven in part by the sustained visibility of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, those demands have intensified without a corresponding increase in the resources available to meet them.

“As the largest participation sport in NSW it is pleasing to see almost $600,000 will be reinvested back into supporting our players, coaches, referees and volunteers to improve the football experience across our community clubs,” said Helen Armson, Football NSW’s Group Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Affairs.

The equity dimension

The distribution of the grants across 65 clubs and 69 projects also speaks to the geographic breadth of football’s footprint in NSW, and to the uneven distribution of resources that has historically characterised community sport in this country. Clubs in outer metropolitan and regional areas tend to operate with smaller budgets, older facilities and thinner volunteer bases than their inner-city counterparts. Grant programs structured around electoral allocation, rather than club size or existing resource base, provide a degree of equity that market-driven funding cannot.

The kinds of projects funded under this program disproportionately benefit clubs serving communities where the barriers to participation are highest. A club that cannot offer adequate facilities or equipment is a club that turns players away, often without intending to.

Football NSW has used the announcement to call on the NSW Government to maintain and extend its investment in the sport. “We urge the government to continue to invest in football,” Armson said, in the midst for a nation-wide push for a $343 million decade-long infrastructure fund to address the facilities gap across the state.

The nearly $600,000 secured through this round is meaningful. Against the scale of what is needed, it is also a measure of how far the investment still has to go.

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