From grassroots clubs to football peak sporting bodies, everyone should be committed to improving women’s football in Australia, says Darwin Olympic women’s coach Alex Billeter.
Changing cultural attitudes towards increasing female football participation is a matter of leadership, according to Billeter.
“If you have a great leader, people will follow. Women are often not seen as equals in the playing environment of a club, however they tend to make up quite a few seats on club committees and are often very active volunteers within a club."
It’s a view that Billeter developed during her junior football years in Florida, inspired by her coach.
“He lead us very successfully through our development as young women playing football. He was always supportive and wanted us to perform to the best of our ability and provided us with the resources to do that," said Billeter.
However, Billeter is quick to point out that females are their best advocates for football.
“[When it comes to] playing, I think women are the best [advocates] for the obvious reason we play in the women’s game. But with coaching, I don’t think it’s gender specific. I was personally inspired by my male coach and wanted to mirror his dedication and enthusiasm," said Billeter.
The task of cultural change is not only confined to individuals, member federations also have their part to play by encouraging female participation across coaches and players, inspired by the FFA’s National Club Accreditation Scheme (NCAS).
With key stakeholders from the top and bottom understanding their role in working towards positive female football participation, Billeter is adamant grassroots clubs are the key drivers for change.
“It also takes people within the club to change the culture so there has to be strong advocates within each club to ensure it actually does change successfully or it will become a ‘tick the box’ exercise."
Despite this, Billeter is upbeat about women’s football, noting the Matildas achievement at reaching the quarter-finals during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Underpinning the success of the Matildas are the structures that channel our best players from the W-League, Young Matildas, Women’s NPL and junior girls NTC programs."
“This past Women’s World Cup is the prime example of how far the game has come over the past decade when the Matildas made it past the group stage for the first time.”
“With the passion and commitment that those women put into the game, it can only mean that they are creating role models for the young girls to aspire to."
In 2003 the Matildas were ranked 16th in the world and have garnered international respect with a current position of 9th, somewhere hidden in these statistics is the unmeasurable cultural change “metric” that keeps it all together.