Jenan Taylor
4 April 2024
More women and girls than ever have joined faith-based, grassroots soccer clubs in Victoria in the last year, a church sport governing body says.
Soccer has long been dominated by men but Football Australia reported the Women’s World Cup 2023 contributed to a surge in women participants in many grassroots clubs.
The Victorian Churches Football Association said the number of women’s teams launched at its clubs this year was the largest since the association started including women about two decades ago.
Women’s chair Christina Hanger said at the start of last year there were 14 women’s teams in the VCFA seniors competition section, and this year 21.
Ms Hanger said many women chose to play in a faith-based environment because of the meaningful connections it gave them, alongside safe opportunities to learn and exercise soccer skills.
She said participants ranged from driven young girls who felt inspired by the Matildas footballers to mums and older women who just wanted friendship, fun and some fitness.
Ms Hanger said the VCFA wanted more churches and Christian schools to consider starting women’s teams, because involving women in sport encouraged a more positive Christian culture.
She said it also created a pathway for more children to become involved in the sport and therefore in those communities.
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Despite the rise in participants, Ms Hanger said the women’s teams were clustered among only a handful of the VCFA clubs.
She said that meant there was a lack of space for training and competition matches for them, especially at peak tournament times on Saturdays.
A 2022 Monash university study found the lack of space was often the reason many women left grassroots organisations.
The researchers found it perpetuated gender inequities because what space was available was often allocated to men’s teams first.
Ms Hanger said one way the VCFA hoped to make it more sustainable for women was by encouraging existing clubs who had men-only teams, and faith communities, to start women’s teams.
New women’s club South East FC said it started in the hopes of offering girls both a social environment, and more opportunities to play more competitively.
Co-founder and president Sarah Neil said it was important for its members that they were able to play in tournaments rather than be side lined because of a lack of match space.
An independent club under the VCFA, Ms Neil said South East FC’s members had strong Christian values, but were also very aspirational.
“They’re competitive, and they want to be challenged and to be able to get better and reach a higher standard. They want to feel that that, and their talent is valued,” Ms Neil said.
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