A 2019 participation survey found that only 20 per cent of registered coaches in Australian football were women.
Aish Ravi, the co founder of the Women’s Coaching Association and a member of the Executive Committee of Football Coaches Australia, is hopeful this number increases in the lead up to the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Ravi, who is completing a PHD at Monash University on Women in Football, has long advocated for women to be given more opportunities in leadership roles in sport, especially in senior coaching positions.
With 916,000 Australians tuning in to watch the Matildas on Wednesday night in their Olympics opener against New Zealand, there is clearly increased interest in the women’s game.
Ravi believes this needs to be matched by a commitment from authorities to increase the role women play off the field.
“We need more women in positions like Mel Andreatta in the national team set up, for our women and girls to see that a future exists for them outside of playing the game,” said Ravi, who coaches Cobras FC in State League Two in Victoria.
“At the moment, there are very few women coaches at all levels and this needs to change. We need to see more women in the W-League and Matildas set-ups.”
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
The 2021/22 W-League season will see three women coaches. Vicki Linton will be in charge at Canberra United, Ash Wilson returns for Newcastle while Catherine Cannuli will make her senior coaching debut at Western Sydney.
“The increase in numbers is encouraging in the W-League and football in general, but we need to ensure these women are supported to succeed in their positions and there is a visible pathway for others to follow,” said Ravi. “Vicki, Ash and Cath are all fantastic and deserve their chance.
“The key is to improve the pathways for women by investing in women’s coaching programs, complemented by providing opportunities and roles for them. We need investment in women coaches at all levels starting at grassroots/community and NPLW level.
“There are some excellent women coaches coming through the NPLW, and we need to give them every chance to learn their craft and importantly, be given an opportunity to then perform at a higher level.
“Football Australia’s legacy program can hopefully change the landscape for women coaches by investing in their development.
“We have a huge interest in women’s football and in sports in general, it’s great to see more players participating, but we need more women in coaching positions to show women there is more to sport than playing.”
A comparison between football and Australian sport in general is interesting.
The 2021 Australian Olympic team will see 254 women (53per cent) out of 482 athletes. However, the lack of women coaches stands out in proportion to the number of women athletes. Less than 10per cent of the coaches in the Australian Olympic team are women.
At the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, only 9per cent of Australia’s coaches were women, with a similar number in Tokyo. When looking at all countries, only 11per cent of coaches were women over the last four Olympics.
When comparing other domestic sports Down Under, in the AFLW in 2021, only one of the 14 senior coaches – Peta Searle at St Kilda – was female. She quit her post last month.
In cricket’s WBBL, only two of eight coaches are women, including Perth Scorchers coach Lisa Keightley, who is also coaching England at the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup. In basketball’s WNBL, it’s three out of eight.
“We need to improve these numbers to show we value women leaders in sport,” said Ravi.
“We invest a lot of money in sport in Australia, so there is every chance now and going forward to invest in women’s coaching programs. Just striving for success on a playing field is not good enough.
“With the 2023 World Cup and 2032 Olympics coming to Australia, we have a wonderful platform to show women have a voice and are visible as leaders.”
Waz
Roar Rookie
Campbell There are impediments, I’m not sure I’m qualified to address what they are (being a man) but I have witnessed them in the club rooms over the years - coaching appointments are generally made by men who typically appoint men. There’s one … While there may well be some justifiable reasons for this (and no doubt some not so justifiable reasons) what I’m saying is effort needs to be made in the women’s side of the game to bring through a generation of women players in to coaching - the games growth demands it.
Campbell Ross
Roar Rookie
Excellent point stu. I understand your point Waz, but there is no impediment to women involving themselves in coaching. As for bricklaying... well, it's a fact that more men lay bricks. Do we need action to address that as well?
Waz
Roar Rookie
“ Better that than legislation” Legislation is typically the last resort - it is up to women to take the opportunity BUT if they find the opportunity is blocked, then legislation is a must.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Not quite a fair analogy using bricklayers - but it is a fair point to say that not everything can, should be, or needs to be equal (other than opportunity). In the case of women’s football we have an explosion in girls/women participating in football that is not mirrored (yet) in women in coaching. Football coaching is historically male orientated so some kind of action is required to redress that. The reality is discrimination exists in our society and where that leads to lack of opportunities it needs to be addressed. In football we have the ability to open pathways for women and we should. Bricklaying on the other hand, I have no experience with …
stu
Guest
Agree with full opportunity, not totally sure on the artificial restriction. In this case, if it is simply a case of women not wanting to embrace this opportunity do we continue to assume it is the fault of others. The most blatant example is why we have more make brick layers than female is it not.
Waz
Roar Rookie
It’s illegal to speed in a car, but people do it lol. You get my point though - in stating ambition for women coaches let’s not set some kind of artificial restriction
stu
Guest
Ben....balanced comment. Provide the opportunity, it is then up to women to take the opportunity if they want too. Better that than legislation.
stu
Guest
Waz.....you state that women should not be restricted to coaching women. The statement is clear, however it is illegal to discriminate.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Agree wholeheartedly. More women in A-League coaching spots is a must
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
It all begins at the grass roots. We need more women at that first level so that kids grow up with the notion that coaches and officials come in all shapes and sizes. A long-term investment in gender equity. For now there needs to be pro-active measures to create pathways and encourage those that wish to make a career in football, however in the long-term we need it to be normal.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“We need to see more women in the W-League and Matildas set-ups”. Can we just extend that slightly to: “ We need to see more women in the W-League and Matildas set-ups and the A-League” Brisbane Roar employ almost 50 coaches and theres no reason why a significant number of those can’t be women, including the senior coaching team - women should not be restricted to coaching women! My club has 1,600 players with a third of those girls/women and we put women’s-only teams out at all age groups, same in Futsall competitions. Over the last ten years I’ve witnessed an increasing number of these teams being coached by knowledge women (this is not yet translating through to C-Licence qualified women coaches but that’s hopefully changing as course availability improves). That said there are still too few coaching opportunities for women and too few entry points for them to “cut their teeth” in a coaching role to see if they like it - coaching is not for everyone after all. At my club this year we introduced an initiative where every team in the the development pathway of ages U18 to U23 would offer an assistant coaching position to an aspiring coach from within our women’s playing group - typically a senior women’s player likely to move through to coaching in the next season or two. At the back end of that, we would then offer financial support to do their FA C-Licence with FQ in Logan. I coach the U20’s and have a women assistant coach and it’s gone extremely well; she will move on next season in to the women's program but not before doing her C-Licence in November. Next season we will do the same again. Hopefully with even more women coaches and hopefully more staying within both men and dimension side of football. Great article :thumbup: