Now's the time for the female football game to shine
Last year Southland Football was provided a significant boost in its quest to grow female participation numbers when the SBS Bank jumped on board as a sponsor of female football.
There’s never been as much attention on women’s football in New Zealand as there is at the moment.
Those at Southland Football HQ know it as well.
As the 2023 FIFA’s Women’s World Cup is held in New Zealand and Australia the sport has attracted a whole new wave of football followers.
It’s also taken a sledgehammer to those who may have still held the thought that football is a male-dominated sport.
The timing of that bright spotlight couldn’t be better for the likes of Football Southland's development and operations manager Iain Walker.
As well as development officer Brandy Brown who has taken the lead on growing the girl’s and women’s game in the deep south.
Last year Southland Football was provided a significant boost in its quest to grow female participation numbers when the SBS Bank jumped on board as a sponsor of female football.
SBS Bank recently extended that sponsorship partnership as Southland Football now looks to capitalise on the increased interest around the female game.
Walker said SBS Bank’s support had helped develop incentives for clubs to push them to boost their junior girls playing numbers.
As a result, for the first time this season, Southland Football has fielded an all-girls junior league in the nine and 10-year-old age groups.
“It’s an all-girls league, there's two teams from Wyndham, one from Old Boys, two from Thistle, and one from Waihopai. It’s good, it’s a start,” Walker says.
“I’ve just got to layer it up from the bottom and hope the clubs come with me on the journey because they’ll get the benefits from it.
“So, we just want to keep building on that… By the time you keep layering on that for a fourth year the ones we’ve got now are getting towards youth and senior football.”
The SBS Bank partnership has also assisted with the “Soccer Sisters” programme for seven to 12-year-olds.
Like many sports Walker says they often have a drop-off in girls’ player numbers because as they progressed through the grades many became uncomfortable playing in teams made up predominantly of boys.
The theory is the more all-girls teams that can be created the more chance females will stay involved in the sport.
They are also investigating the prospect of having more nine-a-side competitions to help with that quest to have more all-girls junior teams.
“If we keep trying the same stuff, we’ll keep getting the same results,” Walker says about the attempt to both attract and retain female players.
Southland Football also has an eight-team senior women’s league, which is up on the seven teams that took part last year.
Waihopai came back into the league this year, while Te Anau was also close to having the numbers to enter a team.
“It’s not impossible that some clubs could have two teams as well,” Walker says.
This article was published in partnership with the SBS Bank.