Girls leading the way with strong growth in football
Girls are kicking plenty of goals at Pagewood Botany Football Club
Southern Courier
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Girls are kicking plenty of goals at Pagewood Botany Football Club (PBFC).
PBFC, which was founded in 1976, has such a big contingent of female players, 411 of their 1555 members are female, that Bayside Council has added two female change rooms to its plans for a new sporting amenities building at the club’s home ground, Pagewood’s Jellicoe Park.
Club secretary Julia Chernoukha said the PBFC girls’ program kicked-off in 2004 with one team and has grown to field multiple teams in all age groups starting from the three-four year-olds in the Puma program.
“The sport for girls has become more and more significant, with the success of the Matildas internationally, more girls aspire to figures like Sam Kerr,” she said.
“Historically we have also been strong leaders in our senior women’s teams, with a strong history of grand final triumphs.
“Our retention rates from our girls under 16-18s lead into women’s teams to provide a path for continuation and culture. We have always been and will always be a community and family club and our player retention rates are very high.
“The eastern suburbs is going to grow in female participation numbers expedientially due to both PBFC and Dunbar Rovers joining the Girls Conference League and UNSW being promoted to NPL2 for their girls/womens.
“In 2018 we will see pathways like never before created for girls in football (soccer) - 2018 will be a very big year for PBFC in general with a new facility being built for the new season which has been specifically modified by our council to accommodate extra girls bathrooms due to such large participation numbers.”
PBFC was established in 1976 at Jellicoe Park, Pagewood. From this humble beginning the club has grown from having four teams and 58 players to being the largest football club in the eastern suburbs. Today, the club boasts close to 1,600 players with 300 volunteers such as coaches and managers.
In August 2017 the club applied for Football NSW State Competitions and it was invited to be a founding member of the newly formed Girls Conference League. This is a statewide competition and one tier down from the NSW Premier League competitions. The age groups will be girls U14, U15 and U17.
GET INVOLVED
Trials for the Pagewood Botany Football Club’s Conference League are underway at
Heffron Synthetic Field. For details go to pbfc.com.au