Busselton City FC and Australind Girls’ Soccer Carnival win big at Football West’s 2022 Community awards

Two South West soccer clubs have received some well-earned recognition on the State stage in the midst of a strong field of finalists. Busselton City Football Club and Australind Junior Soccer Club’s Girls’ Soccer Carnival won big in the 2022 Football West Community Awards, winning regional club of the tear and the championing female football award, respectively. Dunsborough Town Football Club was a finalist for regional club of the year, and Geoff Wright from Georgiana Molloy Anglican School in Busselton was a finalist for the junior community football coach of the year award. Busselton City FC president Sami Ryan said the club was “really overwhelmed” and “really grateful” to be named the regional club of the year for 2022 in a milestone. “It’s a pretty special one to receive the award during our 100th year,” she said. “We’re feeling really blessed and grateful that we were even nominated in the first place.” Ms Ryan said this year had been a “momentous year” for the club, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary earlier this year and its league men’s team winning the Southwest Soccer Association Premier League for the first time in seven years. “Taking a walk down memory lane has been really enjoyable and exciting,” she said. “It’s also been pretty different this year with us having multiple events throughout the year where we’ve invited past club members down and it’s been amazing to see the whole club past, present and future coming together to celebrate the occasion and look forward to the growth of the club and reflect on how we got there as well.” Ms Ryan also said the amount of South West representation within the Football West Community award winners and finalists was “amazing”. “We’ve got such an amazing region of football down here and sometimes we definitely get undervalued but this year has been great to see the support from Football West come through,” she said. “It just shows how much recognition and growth they have been able to see down here with people getting deserving recognition. “It’s great to see that the South West is being recognised on a big scale.” Since 2017, the Australind Junior Soccer Club has been running the Australind Girls’ Soccer Carnival, providing girls in the South West an opportunity to be under the spotlight and experience friendly competition at their doorstep. Over the years, the carnival has gained the attention of Football West and soccer clubs based in Perth, resulting in the rapid growth in participation numbers. This year’s carnival, held earlier this year, was its biggest year yet with more than 500 players competing in the one-day carnival at the Leschenault Recreation Ground. Australind Girls’ Soccer Carnival co-ordinator Sarah Cornwall said the win was very exciting and the club was “very proud” to have been recognised with the championing female football award. “For a club that is relatively small compared to other clubs, particularly in the metro area, it’s very exciting to receive the award,” she said. “The carnival was started in 2017 by Steph Garner and in that time it did grow as it became known and when I took over as co-ordinator last year, we then got the support from Football West and that’s when it all really took off. “We went from about 320 players in 2019 to 470 players in 2021 so we had a massive jump and then this year we had over 500 players which was about the maximum we could cope with in terms of the ground space and keeping it to a one-day carnival. “It has become well known across metro clubs as well as other clubs in the South West and we are well supported by them. “We hope to promote the game as one that girls can play into their adult years.” Fellow Australind Junior Soccer Club committee member Kevin Cornwall said the club hoped to expand their Girls’ Soccer Carnival to be a multi-day carnival in the future. “We’ve been approached by other clubs, particularly from Perth,” he said. “Some of those clubs also come down for the Bunbury carnival where they can bring their boys and their girls so they are used to having a weekend in Bunbury. “It’s more about us as a club getting organised and being able to make that happen because it’s such an enormous organisational feat to make it happen in one day let alone over several days.” Mrs Cornwall said it was also fantastic to see other South West clubs represented in the awards with the game continuing to grow in the region. “It’s great to see the game growing in the region and being supported by parents as a great game for so many people, girls and boys,” she said.