Middle Park Football Club spotlights its journey towards equality in grassroots sports

Over the past few years, Middle Park Football Club, based in Melbourne’s inner south suburbs, 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 football (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.

When Megan Drysdale joined the Middle Park Football Club Junior Committee in 2018, the Parkers had just seven female members.

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

Drysdale 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.

Drysdale shared “it was incredibly inspiring to sit there next to these amazing athletes and hear their stories and the things they have done.

“They shared their own experiences and connections to grassroots sports, and it really resonated with me and made me look at our club and think that we could be setting our young players up on that same pathway for success.”

While many local soccer clubs continue to enjoy an influx of registrations off the back of the Matildas’ journey at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Middle Park FC’s growth stems from its leadership off the field.

Drysdale notes “we’re sitting at just over 30% for our girls’ program now, so we’ve got a couple years to hit that 50/50 target.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.

Drysdale adds “the thing with the girls is that they’ll keep bringing their mates down and it just built from there.”

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.

“That Action Plan being rolled out really encompasses a lot of the core things we have been doing or talking about over the past few years,” Drysdale said.

Her leadership in the development of Middle Park FC’s women’s and girl’s programs saw Megan recognised by Football Victoria as its Community Champion of the Year for 2024.

Drysdale continued “receiving this award means we’re on the right track and that honour is for the club to share in that recognition.

“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.

Image top: Middle Park Football Club girls; Image centre: Annette Maloney, Megan Drysdale, Chantella Perera, Tayla Harris and Rana Hussain speaking at the Port Phillip Celebrating Women in Sport event; Image below: Middle Park Football Club President Megan Drysdale. Credit: Port Phillip Council