The Macarthur Bulls are facing growing pressure to field a team in the A-League Women’s competition, almost six years after they were granted their men’s licence.
The club has repeatedly pushed back plans to join the senior women’s competition, and this week declined to provide a timeframe for entry despite the Bulls being awarded a $1m federal government grant from the $200m Play Our Way women’s sports fund.
Expansion club Auckland sit on top of the A-League Men ladder and chief executive Nick Becker confirmed planning was “already under way” for its entry into the ALW next season. Every other club in the men’s competition also has a side in the women’s competition.
“We have seen a year on year growth of 25% in women playing football [in Auckland],” Becker said. “Next season’s launch of the women’s team is the second phase of our football journey and demonstrates our commitment to be a club that creates talent pathways and is embedded into Auckland’s vibrant community.”
South-western Sydney has produced football talent such as Matildas veteran Alanna Kennedy, and local National Premier Leagues outfit Macarthur Rams have won three straight women’s state titles.
Rams coach Stephen Peters, who after winning another NSW championship with the Rams in September has taken charge of Perth Glory in the ALW, said the region deserved to be part of the national league.
“It’s an area that needs to be represented,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is look at the players, a lot of them play for Western Sydney Wanderers and there’s actually one that carved us up on the weekend, [Melbourne City’s Rhianna] Pollicina who’s from Fairfield.”
City defeated Glory 5-2 in Peters’ first match in charge on Sunday, and Pollicina scored twice. “It’s a bit of a breeding ground for female footballers,” Peters said. “I think we’ve proven that there’s definitely enough quality in the area to have a team in south-west Sydney.”
Macarthur is one of 64 Play Our Way funding recipients that have so far been published on the national grants website Grantconnect.
Minister for women Katy Gallagher said in announcing the first round of funding in September, “we are putting money on the table to ensure women and girls’ sporting clubs have the facilities they need and deserve”.
A Bulls spokesperson said their grant was not for an ALW team, and was instead a “community engagement grant to expand community programs over three years aimed specifically at CALD [culturally and linguistically diverse] groups within society”.
Player payroll for an A-League Women outfit is around $500,000 per year, and clubs must also meet coach, travel and associated costs.
The Bulls declined to say when the club was planning to join the ALW, but that it was talking to public bodies who might back the women’s team. “The club is in active dialogue with governments and councils in order to secure infrastructure to support entry of an A-League Women’s team in the future.”
Labor’s federal MP for Macarthur, Mike Freelander, posted on Facebook celebrating the grant, saying “I’m proud to support local female footballers by delivering federal government funding”.
The Bulls maintain a program which involves club staff running football clinics at primary schools, and they were pledged $8m by NSW Labor as part of an election commitment to support the initiative.
The club already has close ties with Campbelltown City Council. The Bulls’ $500,000-per-year sponsorship deal with the council ended this year, and a new one was due to be discussed at a meeting in May, but was withdrawn when it looked set to be rejected by council.
Funding for a high-performance centre adjacent to Campbelltown Stadium has already been pledged by council, state and federal government.
Peters, whose Glory side takes part in a double header at HBF Park on Sunday, said he hoped a Bulls women side was just a matter of time. “I’m sure the Macarthur Bulls are working hard to have that A-League Women’s presence and I’m sure they can get it off the ground at some stage.”
