Since 2019, MM Kembla has been a proud sponsor of Football South Coast’s Female Development Programs and are proud to continue our support and association with grass roots women’s football for the 5th consecutive year.
Off the back of the Matilda’s efforts in the Women’s World Cup last year and the subsequent rise of female participation in football, MM Kembla is proud to support the grass roots development of female football across the Illawarra and South Coast, as a major partner of Football South Coast (FSC). The focus of the partnership has always been on female programs to encourage participation in football, as well as provide an avenue for development within the game. MM Kembla proudly supports the Women’s Youth League and the free ‘MM Kembla Girls Come & Try’ clinics.
Since it’s inception in 1916, MM Kembla has been an integral part of the Illawarra and South Coast community, as Marketing Manager, Felix Velasco explains:
MM Kembla has always been passionate about supporting the Illawarra and South Coast region. Providing opportunities for people within the community is still important to us to this day and it is our hope that our support to Female Development Programs within Football South Coast will allow vital infrastructure to support women and girls in football from a grass roots level and allow development all the way through to representative levels.
Since FSC’s introduction of the Women’s Youth League in 2018 and the Women’s World Cup in 2023, female participation in the region has grown significantly. This year, FSC has seen 4,000 registered females and 71 new teams in their women’s league for their winter competition, which is a 30% increase from the previous year in the female space.
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Football South Coast CEO, Ann-Marie Balliana explains the rise in female participation has been enormous in terms of the growth this year since the Women’s World Cup in 2023. She explains representation in female football has proven the importance on pathways programs and grass roots football for females:
I’m sure that some of the girls playing have dreams to play in the A-League or for the Matilda’s one day, so it’s really important that we provide clear pathways to allow them to participate in football and develop within the game.
Isabella Coppola, player for University FC, says these pathways are doing great things for young girls in the sport:
Reminiscing on when I was younger, there were no girls’ teams to play soccer for. I had to play with the boys and now you can see all these young girls running around in Matilda’s jerseys and they are able to envision themselves playing at that level because there are clear pathways now that didn’t exist five-ten years ago, it’s great to see.
Our support in Female Development programs prior to the World Cup have equipped FSC with necessary infrastructure to support the rise in registrations and growth of the competition and will continue to do so in the future. As Ann-Marie explains gratefully:
With support from businesses like MM Kembla and our focus on female development, we are hoping to continue the growth of the competition, provide successful pathways for development and provide vital infrastructure for females so they continue to fall in love with the game and enjoy playing for many years to come.
