Football is well and truly back.
You can feel the hum of excitement surrounding the thousands of girls, boys, women and men who have embarked upon their 2023 season.
It’s a big year for football and this is reflected in our winter football registration numbers. In 2023, more than 77,000 players are lacing up the boots to take part in organised outdoor football activity – a record number.
This is an incredible result leading into the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023TM and one that everyone should be proud of.
As our football family grows, it’s important to reflect on the many and varied roles that support our game. Players, coaches, referees, administrators, fans and volunteers. Every role is required for football to exist and to flourish. And each needs our support and our respect.
Accompanying the return to football has been a corresponding increase in incidents at games and on social media. We’ve seen disturbing altercations involving spectators, referees, coaches and players – threatening behaviour, verbal abuse and alarmingly, even isolated incidents of physical abuse. This type of behaviour at times is also directed at FV staff who are simply doing their job.
These acts have NO place in our game. The damage anti-social behaviour does to our game cannot be understated.
We’ve seen too many referees leave our game prematurely, too many young players driven away by the behaviour of adults, and too many fans who feel unsafe to attend the game they love.
Although we’re determined to stamp this behaviour out, we need your help.
We are asking each and every spectator to offer their support “the right way”. Only you can make the decision to be supportive rather than critical, only you can be the spectator that holds your tongue when you perceive a poor decision or penalty has been made, only you can consciously recognise that nothing you do or say will change a call once made, only you can discourage and refrain from anti social behaviour. With this level of support more children, more players, more referees and more volunteers will find reasons to stay in the game they love rather than being given reasons to quit.
If you witness anti-social behaviour, please call it out, to stamp it out. You don’t need to intervene. Every club is required to have a visible, dedicated supporter marshal on site. Report any incidents directly to them. If you don’t receive a satisfactory response, please report it to FV by completing the Match Incident Report Form.
Everyone has the right to enjoy our beautiful game regardless of level, gender or race. We all have a role to play, to ensure our football community is safe and welcoming to everyone in our game. We wish everyone the very best of luck for a big season ahead and a wonderful year celebrating our beautiful game.
Antonella Care
Football Victoria President
Kimon Taliadoros
Football Victoria CEO