Catherine Cannuli on the growth of women’s football ahead of Female Football Week.
The rise of the women’s game has been fantastic.
It’s become popular with all the different communities and the success of the Matildas has really put women’s football into the limelight.
The public knowledge of who they are and what they’re doing on the international stage has more and more young girls aspiring to be Matildas and that’s driving women’s football as a whole.
You can certainly see the growth of women’s football by looking at the increased support the Westfield W-League had this past season.
Personally, it was great to be involved with the Wanderers’ Westfield W-League team this season as an assistant coach.
It was a challenge transitioning from being a player to a coach but I feel like as a past player, I was able to be someone who the girls could look up to and come to for advice, especially for some of the younger girls.
This season also saw the launch of the inaugural W-League Mentoring Program here at the club and I know that the girls took a lot of positives out of the program and were very appreciative of the support away from the pitch.
Aside from my role at the club, I’m also involved in the game at a grassroots level with Southern Districts and it’s fantastic to see the amount of young girls and even older ladies still playing the game.
Hopefully in the next couple of years we can see the Matildas go on to more successes, watch the West eld W-League grow and grow, and continue to push women’s football into the mainstream where it belongs.
Catherine Cannuli
Westfield W-League Assistant Coach
