The 2023 NSW football season kicks off with record numbers of participation across all associations

Early registration numbers indicate a bumper season is on the cards for football in NSW. With growth in west Sydney and the women’s game, officials are quietly confident of a boom in the sport.

Eschol Park FC U14 girls' team

ON THE back of the success of the Socceroos’ FIFA World Cup success and the upcoming Women’s World Cup on home soil, excitement for football has never been bigger.

Football NSW has benefited massively from this hype, with a record number of 5-12 year olds signing up for the season which kicks off today.

Head of women’s and schools’ football at Football NSW, Hayley Todd, said the increase in junior registrations has been incredible, with 176,000 sign-ups across 660 clubs.

“We’ve had a five per cent growth on the 2022 numbers, and we’ve still got registrations coming in,” she said.

“So we’re really proud that football is heading in a really good direction.”

The Western Sydney association has seen the largest growth, up 6.1 per cent on 2022 numbers and a year-to-date growth of 20 per cent.

“Western Sydney associations have led the way with the growth,” Todd said.

“The year-to-date numbers are just phenomenal.”

Macarthur Association club Eschol Park FC has been one of the top growth clubs in NSW, and has seen a nine per cent increase in girls registrations for this year.

Eschol Park FC at a fundraiser for breast and prostate cancer research.

Club secretary Aimee Besgrove has been involved with the club for over 25 years, and has been a passionate advocate for getting more young girls into the sport.

“Five years ago, we only had 550 members, and only six female teams,” she explained.

“This year, we have 957 members, and we have 16 all female teams, pure female teams ranging from under sixes all the way up.”

Besgrove said ensuring young girls have the opportunity to play with and against all-girl teams is so important to building a love for the sport.

“We were finding that at the age of 12, when we were about to make those all girls teams, we didn’t quite have the numbers, because you’re pulling from five different teams to build an all girls team,” Besgrove said.

“So we made a decision as a club and as a community in the MacArthur football, to try and start building from the ages of five and six, just all girls teams.

“And now it‘s it’s really been like pushed against all clubs, and all communities and numbers are rising.”

Todd said Football NSW has a lot of participation and community initiatives running throughout the year to ensure passion for the sport continues to grow even after the Women’s World Cup later this year.

“I think this is our biggest opportunity to really drive the growth of the game, both on and off the field,” Todd said.

“We’re driving a number of programs targeted at specific age groups that can help set a bridging program between the Women’s World Cup and being able to register for community football in 2024.

“And some of those programs such as Miniroos, Kick-On for Girls and the Girls Love Football program will help with providing an opportunity for participants to breach the game and experience the game in a non competitive and soulful environment before they then can transition into community football.”

Todd said these initiatives are hoped to build love for football from grassroots all the way to our national teams, with support only set to grow throughout 2023.

“It’s an exciting time for female football and football in general.”