Bankstown Women’s Football Festival
At a ceremony held at the City of Canterbury Bankstown Council Chambers in Campsie, Bankstown District Amateur Football Association (BDAFA) was the recipient of a grant under Councils’ Community Grant Program.
The program is part of the NSW Government Stronger Communities Fund which was established by the NSW Government to provide newly merged Councils with funding to kick start the delivery of projects that improve community infrastructure and services.
The Association will use the funding to create the “Bankstown Women’s Football Festival”.
The event based project will take place early in 2017 prior to the football season commencing.
The main objective of the project will to help increase female participation in football for the 2017 season and beyond. In 2016, only 16% of players in the Bankstown District were female (total of 1,122 players) and there were only 14 active referees in the District in the same year (approximately 11% of active referees).
“We held a women’s forum in August this year to help identify the needs of the area in terms of female participation. The Board has taken this feedback on and this event is one component of the 2017 strategy.” commented BDAFA General Manager, Shane Merry
“The project will incorporate several events including a Referees, Coaching, Running Your Club and a Coaches Professional Development Courses. The variety of courses ensures that all facets of the female participation in the game are covered. Participates of the game is not just playing the game but also officiating, coaching and administrating. These courses are aimed at recruiting more female participates to the game and upskilling our current crop of female participates. The grand finale of the event calendar will be a Female Gala Day which will include all kinds of activities including skills based drills and competitions and in turn we hope they will then register to play in our local competition.”
The planning process is underway and further details of the events will be announced shortly.
