Kicking goals for equality in grassroots sports

Fast forward to 2024, Megan is the Club’s President and Middle Park FC now hosts seven girl’s teams.

Megan was recently a guest speaker at Port Phillip Council’s Celebrating Women in Sport event where she shared Middle Park FC’s achievements in breaking down barriers for women and girls in grassroots sports.

She also had her own “fan moment”, speaking alongside fellow panellists Melbourne AFLW premiership player Tayla Harris and former WNBL and AFLW player Chantella Perera.

“It was incredibly inspiring to sit there next to these amazing athletes and hear their stories and the things they have done,” Megan said.

Over the past few years, Middle Park FC has worked to source grants from Football Victoria and the Victorian Government’s Change our Game initiative to fund programs to support girls and women playing soccer.

The Club has also delivered its first female kit and implemented an ambitious strategy to see equal representation for its girls’ and boys’ programs by 2027.

“We’re sitting at just over 30 per cent for our girls’ program now, so we’ve got a couple years to hit that 50/50 target,” Megan said. “Initially we thought it was purely aspirational, but I have full faith that this is something we can achieve.”

The movement kicked off when Middle Park FC started a Soccer Mums program in 2019. The mums involved brought their children, including daughters, to the club. This led to the creation of an intraclub program opening the door for girls to play, and an initiative called Women’s Wednesdays, which saw a safe and female-friendly environment to welcome women and girls to the sport of soccer.

“The thing with the girls is that they’ll keep bringing their mates down and it just built from there,” Megan said.

The Celebrating Women in Sport event coincided with Council adopting a Fair Access in Sport Policy & Action Plan in June. This Plan sets out how Council will further support women and girls to achieve better outcomes in sport.

“Receiving this award means we’re on the right track and that honour is for the club to share in that recognition,” she said.

“For a club that is 55 years old, we didn’t have a junior’s program until 2010 and then in the last five years we’ve really forged a significant path around our female participation.

“You can’t do these things by yourself. We have a wonderful board and group of directors behind us to support our initiatives and we’re excited to be a part of this special community in Port Phillip.”