Women make up 27% of community coaches across Australia, so chances are that at any Saturday or Sunday morning game, you could see a woman leading one of the teams from the sidelines.
In addition, women and girls’ community football has seen record growth in recent years. In 2024, there was a 16% growth in women and girls’ participation and a 24% growth of women in coaching roles.
To support this growth, the Growing Football Fund - a partnership between Football Australia and CommBank - is continuing to look for more ways to support the players and coaches of tomorrow.
In 2025, a first of its kind all women’s Coach Education Tutor Workshop was held with the support of Football Australia and CommBank to address the gender imbalance in our coach educator workforce. This is one of the many ways that CommBank is helping to grow the game at every level, from grassroots to the elite.
A Coach Educator Tutor, known as a CET, is vitally important for upskilling our coaches across the country. However, only 10% of CETs were women, which has been identified as one of the barriers that women face when deciding to progress through the coaching ranks.
“The message we hope this sends to other women coaches and players is that there’s room in this game for them, and we want them to be in this game for a long time,” said Louise McColl, one of the Coach Education Tutors who helped to deliver the workshop.
“With the support of CommBank, we’ve been able to boost those numbers [of female CETs] and hopefully do more in the future.”
Coaches were flown in from around Australia for a two-day workshop to learn the required skills to become a CET. These women will now be able to return to their communities to run coach education workshops for up to 80 other coaches per year. The flow on effect from this could mean that thousands of players annually could be impacted by this program, with coaches returning to communities with enhanced capabilities to improve the playing experience.
Amy Crawford, a current player at Victorian NPL club Alamein, emphasised the importance of representation in coach education.
“It’s important because you need to have that representation, as well as inspiring other women who want to take on that educator role,” she said.
Izzy Foletta from Football West was one of the women who were involved in embarking on their coach education journey.
“This workshop is amazing,” she said.
“It’s really empowering to see so many women in this space and passionate about the game, just to develop the coaching education.”
A lack of women in CET roles is a barrier for grassroots coaches taking the next step in their coaching education.
“What I’ve loved about this course is that it’s really safe, when you’re surrounded by women and being able to talk and deliver in a way that’s safe for us to have a discussion,” expressed Renee Crilly, a Wulli Wulli woman from Queensland.
Capital Football’s Carol Harper explained what she found most valuable from the program.
“I’ve gained quite a lot of knowledge now about the difference in being a coach educator rather than just being a coach,” she said.
This program will lead to the continued breaking down of barriers that limit female engagement within coaching and the coach education system in Australia.
By increasing the number of women in educator roles, Football Australia and CommBank are helping drive meaningful progress towards gender equity.
You can find more information about the Growing Football Fund here.
The Coaches Hub, which contains information to support coaches along their journey, can be also found here.
