PENINSULA soccer clubs are experiencing an increase in female participation, driven by national success and community engagement. But as numbers grow, there’s a question of whether clubs have the facilities and resources to accommodate.
At Mornington Soccer Club, where they just celebrated their 60th anniversary, the growth in female players has been promising but the outdated infrastructure is proving a challenge. “The quality of the surfaces is not great; the building itself was built in 1975 and it’s not very female friendly,” said Mornington Soccer Club CEO Craig Riley. “Every changeroom, every toilet has a urinal in it. So, attracting female participation becomes challenging with that dynamic.”
The current gender spilt at the club sits at roughly 70:30; an improvement from previous years. “We had a push to grow the female side of the club, and we’ve been quite successful with that over the last decade,” Riley said. “I think a lot of it is the uptake of the game across females, right across the country. The success of the Matildas underpins that.”
Riley said increased participation, however, isn’t possible without improved facilities. “It’s a double-edged sword. Improving female participation is all well and good but if you don’t have facilities and changerooms, it’s hard to attract them,” he said.
Works for new grounds begin soon but the club is currently lobbying council to try and receive funding to improve the club rooms. “I’m pushing that envelope, because it is a growth area, and we’ve got to have facilities that are female friendly,” Riley said.
At Mt Eliza Soccer Club, new facilities are currently being built at Emil Madsen Reserve and are expected to be completed around October 2026. The project includes four universal changerooms and additional toilet facilities. Despite these upgrades, the club still faces challenges.
“Once we have the club rooms built, we’re at capacity in terms of players and teams,” Vice President Fernando Cortes said. “We need to find a second venue with facilities to be able to grow, especially on the girls’ side and the womens’s side, because we know that the growth is there.” The club is looking at potentially partnering with Mt Eliza High School to use their fields and build new facilities, but being a state school, it falls under state funding, which complicates things.
The club has grown 60% since 2022. This year they have 250 registered female players, up from 140 in 2022. “For the first time, we had two under-14 girls teams, and an under-18s girls team as well,” Cortes said. “We’re seeing bigger numbers in the younger age groups but are still a bit lacking in the 11, 12, and 13-year-olds.”
Beyond facilities, there are other barriers when retaining girls, especially in the teen years. Cortes said girls at that age are often participating in multiple activities and eventually feel the need to drop something. “You need those role models to show them that there is a pathway here, that they can continue playing this sport,” he said.
The club has faced issues with finding female coaches who can help provide the younger players with role models and a clear pathway to stay in the game. Support and coaching are offered, but uptake has been limited. “It’s hard to attract female coaches,” Cortes said. “Every year we try and push females to coach a bit more, to get more involved with the girls. But it always seems a bit of a struggle to find the right fit.”
Despite the challenges, both clubs are clear on one thing; female soccer is on the rise. “It’s a game that girls can play at the same level, at the same standard,” Riley said. Both clubs are working to ensure girls are provided equal access and facilities from a young age. “It’s just trying to support the girls as much as we do the boys and give them an equal playing field, and opportunity to play,” Cortes said.
As clubs prepare for a busy summer season, it is clear female soccer on the peninsula is on the rise, but without proper facilities and resources, it may struggle to reach its full potential.
First published in the Mornington News – 14 October 2025
