- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Despite the A-League’s recent boycotting dramas, it appears the beautiful game is well and truly flourishing in Australia, with a national audit by the FFA indicating a 20 per cent participation increase in organised football in 2015.
The audited formal numbers of 1,188,911, together with informal participation levels, put the total size of participation at almost 2 million people, giving football the largest participation base of any Australian team sport.
Community football clubs saw an increase of seven per cent in the past year to reach 499,361 players in 2155 clubs across every state and territory.
Perhaps most impressively, and for the first time, the number of registered female players in outdoor club competitions has passed 100,000.
The MiniRoos introductory program for boys and girls aged 4 to 11 years has jumped 10 per cent to 214,414.
FFA CEO David Gallop praised football organisations and A-League clubs for their work in harnessing the booming interest in football.
“The heroes of this story are the thousands of volunteers in clubs across Australia, the suburban associations and zones,” said Gallop.
“Guiding their efforts are the management teams in the state and territory member federations and A-League clubs. This huge increase would not be possible without a coordinated and integrated effort.
Gallop said that space was the priority, acknowledging that councils were under extreme pressure to find enough space to accommodate the growing demand for fields which could result in players being turned away from participating.
“The boom in football is putting enormous pressure on the available grounds, school pitches and indoor centres,” the CEO said.
“The installation of floodlights, artificial pitches and better amenities is a constant challenge for our stakeholders.
“We will be using the evidence of our growth to show all levels of government that an investment in football should be a top priority in building a social infrastructure in Australia.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.