Jones hypes Female Football Week
Recognised as one of the up and coming rising officials in NSW, referee Kelly Jones has heaped praise on what has been a successful Female Football Week.
Jones highlighted the great significance Female Football Week has had on women’s football as a whole and what positives came from such a wonderful initiative.
“Female Football Week is a great opportunity to promote football.
“There are so many ways girls can participate, through either joining a team at school, playing for a club on the weekend or learning new skills by becoming a referee.
“Football NSW has held a female football week over the past 4 years.
“The program gives clubs and associations an opportunity to inform females what football has to offer and the benefits of being active.”
She also added that the week showcased females a pathway to further develop themselves be that playing, coaching or refereeing.
“I see Female Football Week being the first step on the pathway of either playing for the Matildas, coaching in the NPL or refereeing in the W-League.
“Anything that promotes football and encourages people to participate, whether they are male or female, is a good thing.”
Jones has also been placed on the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues NSW Mens referee list last year and has since excelled further with appearances officiating matches in the Westfield W-League.
“2015 saw Katie Patterson and myself officiating in the NPL, which is a first in the State.
“Refereeing at this level helped me improve my officiating and I was lucky enough to part of the W-League semi-final and grand-final referee team.
“By achieving these goals, I hope this can inspire other young females to pursue a career in refereeing.”
Jones started her refereeing career eleven years ago and has since hit many targets along with receiving countless accolades for her great work.
The young whistleblower indicated that refereeing, in particular the female category, has seen a large growth in a rise in numbers.
“In the past two years working at Football NSW, I have noticed an increased focus on female football, especially within the refereeing circles.
“Along with Canterbury Association, we have held female only referee courses which has helped with a 10% increase in female referee numbers in 2015 with the number of Female assessors and instructors also increasing.”
“Football NSW has now set up a Referee Academy involving 10 promising female referees who we hope will make the W-League within the next couple of years.
“This will help promote our referees to FFA and give them a greater opportunity to reach National and International competitions.”
-By Nikola Pozder
