The Springfield United Football Club (SUFC) community is looking to keep up their momentum after seeing women’s participation increase by 20 per cent in the wake of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Springfield United has grown every year since their inception in 2008, and now have over 95 teams with over 1,400 players.
Now seeing female sign-ups at a record high, many at the club have attributed the spike to the Matilda’s strong performance at their home 2023 tournament.
Springfield United coach and referee Dean Butler believes the impact of the recent Women’s World Cup on girls’ participation can’t be understated.
“We have people waiting to get into the club, there’s so much demand,” he said.
“All of the games today were girls’ games, apart from one U14 boys’ game.”
“We can barely get enough coaches for all the teams we have.”
Dean believes that what really makes Springfield United tick is the volunteers, who are critical as club involvement surges.
“With the growth we’ve had, it’s volunteers that keep the club together,” he said.
“You can see the participation grow just from our canteen sales, the club’s getting bigger and bigger. Just last week we had a match on during the rain – we still had hundreds of people watching with umbrellas.”
Expanding Opportunities for Female Footballers
Under 17 Girls coach Mark Gill agrees with Dean’s assessment of the World Cup’s impact.
“We had 220 female players last year, this year we have 276,” he said.
“There are three new divisions for girls now; with a few new lower leagues added in.
Mark said Springfield United’s plans moving forward aim to continue their community input whilst pushing for Football Brisbane to accept their best junior teams in the upper leagues.
“Our target is to get our best junior teams from the under 9’s to the under 18’s into the top regional leagues,” he explained.
“The women’s first team just got promoted to FQPL 2 (Football Queensland Premier League 2), that’s their highest ever division. The men’s first team also just went up a div. Our goal is to push them through the leagues.
“We improve our junior teams by gradually bringing in some talent from around the local area. Often, our most skilled players go to other clubs because we’re not in the top junior leagues yet.
“We do want to remain a club who can accept players with little to no experience into our lower league teams – we don’t want to lose that community side to the club.”
SUFC’s Mission Statement is to ensure the continued promotion of football in Greater Springfield, principally through the provision of sporting and social activities for people of all ages and abilities.
SUFC supports the communities of Springfield, Springfield Lakes, Spring Mountain, Brookwater and Augustine Heights.
