St George focusing on female football
More women’s football competitions will be offered to St George Football Association in 2015 with an aim to increase female participation in the region.
The association runs girls football competitions in the under-12, 14, 16, 18 and all age divisions and are in the planning stages of extending their offerings.
St George Association’s Executive Director Sok Mallios believes growing the number of competitions for girls will mean more women get involved in the world game.
“We’d love to have competitions for girls starting from under-5s through small sided football and beyond,” Mallios said.
“In 2014 we introduced the Premier League women’s competition which coincides with another four all age women divisions.
“Our association is lucky enough to have the even age groups for competitions for girls but a lot of the time we need to combine teams and force the girls to play an age up which is a tough ask.
“We have been in touch with our clubs about offering more competitions for the younger girls and most of them are supportive of it so we are putting the feelers out now to see what we can come up with for 2015 and beyond.
"It would be absolutely fantastic to see more women involved in our game at a grassroots levels be it players or officials."
St George Football Association boasted a total of 8572 registered players in 2014 across 23 clubs. Those figures are also set to grow with another new addition to their stable this season.
Mallios confirmed a special needs team will be established in early 2015.
“We’ve been trying to put together a team for some time now but a lot of our people have ended up going to other programs,” she said.
“The special needs football program is now set up and we are hoping it will be a success for years to come.”
Players are also needed to expand the association’s over-45 competition.
