Football South Coast Girls’ Academy
Despite fighting an ongoing battle for better facilities in the region Football South Coast continues to grow with the launch of the FSC Girls’ Football Academy.
There was a time when “plays like a girl” was meant as a put down but that term is now worn as a badge of honour on the South Coast as females number nearly 3,000, a quarter of all registered players in the association.
“Female football is the fastest growing sport for women in the country and we have enormous numbers down here,” Football South Coast Technical Director Glenn Fontana said.
To ensure there’s not only quantity but quality Fontana initiated the FSC Girls’ Football Academy which already has 50 members aged between 8 and 15; “One of our players, one of the best players in the world, Caitlin Foord is the motivation and ambassador to our program which is designed as a pathway to the Illawarra Stingrays and ultimately the Matildas.”
While South Coast football grows apace, facilities are not keeping up. A site in West Dapto earmarked by Wollongong City Council as the location for a “Home of Football” on the South Coast has twice had government funding allocated, then withdrawn.
“We’re in the unique situation of having this 20 hectares of land but being unable to do anything with it because we need some funding to get it off the ground but unfortunately it’s not progressing as we would have liked,” South Coast Football CEO Ann-Marie Balliana.
A proposed development at West Dapto has formed part of a Football NSW submission to the NSW Department of Sport. It includes a synthetic field, which would be the first in the region, three other fields, lighting and an adequate amenities block. FNSW is also seeking a bipartisan commitment to the project.
8 year old FSC Girls’ Football Academy member Sienna Saveska is so good she’s in the Football NSW Skills Acquisition Program for boys, playing like a girl and proud of it; “I like playing soccer, I like scoring goals and I like learning,” Sienna said.
An investment in better facilities on the South Coast for Sienna and nearly 3,000 of her gal pals, not to mention 9,000 males, would pay dividends that transcend football.
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-By Mark Chester
