Not many women’s football teams get to walk out into a stadium of 52,000 people but this Western Australian organisation is not just any club.
The Northern Redbacks in Perth have existed in their current form since 2003 and as a club since 1991 when they formed as the Morley Windmills. Even a bulging trophy cabinet provides no guarantees in women’s football.
The Redbacks are renowned in women’s football and the most successful women’s club in Western Australia. They boast among their ex-players, Chelsea assistant manager Tanya Oxtoby and Matildas legend Lisa De Vanna.
It would make sense that on-field success and off-field prestige would mean that life has gotten increasingly more comfortable or at least secure for the club. But the reality in women’s football is that nothing comes easy.
The landscape for women’s football is constantly changing as the profile of the sport grows but nothing is taken for granted.
Not even survival.
“I think, the struggles are still there as a female-only club,” says Director Of Football Neil Bennett.
“We’ve really had to scrap for every morsel we can get off the table, that hasn’t changed.
“But I think what has changed in the last five or six years is the recognition that the women’s game is growing and it needed some support.
“The women’s game was almost forgotten, it was pushed to the back and was treated as a second class game, but now I think that has changed.”
The struggles he speaks of have been continuous and significant. The Northern Redbacks do not own their own ground and in 2011 were forced to relocate from one council-owned pitch to another after a men’s team required it for training.
Although a new home was found it is a far from ideal solution as Bennett recalls.
“It had changing rooms, they were all male facilities, there were no lights. The council installed three lights, not four. We couldn’t train on the full area.”
There were no clubrooms for the players to relax after the game or for the community to bond and committee meetings were held under the car park lights.
“We were the most successful women’s team going around and we were reduced to that.”
If you were to look only at the game-day results, there would be little indication of these hardships. The premier team won the league and cup double despite the off-field turbulence.
The club made every effort to be competitive off-field and lobbied the then-premier Colin Barnett to provide $500,000 to upgrade the facilities.
In 2012, two decades after their formation, the Northern Redbacks had the support they needed to build clubrooms and female-specific change rooms.
“That made a big difference,” reflects Bennett.
“But we’re still in a situation where our ground is a public park.
“It cannot be fenced off, as a result of that in 2022 we cannot host NPL games at our home ground.”
“We had no home advantage at all, but we keep punching and we keep winning.”
In 2020 the club became a founding side in the Western Australian NPLW. The league requires that a perimeter fence surround all grounds. The Redbacks’ current home at Celebration Park cannot meet these standards and as of 2022, their home fixtures are nomadic.
“[The regulations] for a fenced pitch has made it impossible for us to continue at that ground,” laments Bennett.
“We’re going to continue with our junior teams there. We’re expanding to u12s, we’ve got 14s and 16s and we’re hoping to get an 18s as well.
“We don’t have any control over the lighting and we can’t meet the minimum standard for lighting at any level of competition
“What that meant was for the top four semi-finals we had to play at our opponents ground
“We had no home advantage at all, but we keep punching and we keep winning.”
The current situation means that the Northern Redbacks are on the hunt for a home. They have found possibilities but the finances do not add up for the club.
One possible option meant that they needed to rent ground from another club. This leaves them with no gate takings, no income from the bar, and a rental fee on top of that estimated at about $7000 a year.
For the Redbacks, this would be unsustainable with no way of recouping any of their outgoing costs.
“We had only just signed our biggest ever sponsorship agreement with a multinational company,” recalls Bennett of the negotiations.
“Basically all the money that they gave us would have gone into that ground share agreement.”
As things stand, a merger with a men’s club remains a possibility. It is a proud club with a strong independent history but survival is paramount for everybody’s sake.
“The only sole female team is likely to be rolled up into a men’s team and there… which is dreadfully sad but that’s the reality.
“We’ve recognized that the writing is on the wall for a good two to three years.
“Without a huge financial backing, you can’t compete.
“With only two or three sponsors, the costs of referees fees, the costs of physiotherapists, the costs of the licenses, and increasingly the costs of players, we can’t compete.
“It makes sense for us to find an existing team that is prepared to treat women on an equal footing.”
“We have huge pride in players that played with us and we’re always trying to highlight that.”
It would be sadly ironic for such a historic women’s club to merge by the 2023 World Cup. The Redbacks have had a long dedication to promoting women’s football and developing players.
“It’s a recurring theme that a female-only club provides an environment that a parent feels that their daughters are the number one,” says Bennett proudly.
“You can’t just be a female-only club and expect success. You’ve got to work hard at it and where we’ve been successful is attracting coaches that recognize that the team that they’re looking at is not about winning.
“The only team that needs to win is the NPL team, the other teams are about developing players to play at the highest level.
“I think that does help us to produce the players that we have in the past.”
Bennett is a big advocate for the promotion of grassroots clubs by those at the professional level.
In the same way that an A-League men’s player might be announced in the lineup with their junior club listed on the screen, the same should always apply to A-League women’s clubs.
There is no direct financial benefit to women’s clubs developing high-caliber professional footballers. Bennett says that the little gestures will go a long way.
“Something as simple as the recognition of where you’ve come from, I think it’s an enormous benefit to those clubs that are working really hard in the background, sometimes against huge odds.”
Internally, the club celebrates its players and achievements, particularly with players reaching the 200 game milestones at the senior level.
“With the players who’ve made 200, we make that a special event, because that marks about 10 years.
“We give them a special award, a trophy and present that to them on the occasion or as close as we can possibly get.
“Their names go up onto an honor board and they’re given life membership at the club.
“We want to celebrate our players as much as we can, the fact that in the current squad we have four players (Larissa Walsh, Emily Dunn, Renee Leota, and Carla Bennett) all playing in the first team that have played 200 games each is a remarkable achievement.
“We have huge pride in players that played with us and we’re always trying to highlight that.”
The club endeavors to give every opportunity possible to its young players.
In 2019, they were approached by the Swedish Women’s Education Association to send a team over to the Gothia Youth World Cup.
The Under-16 team they sent over-performed admirably, finishing third in their group and only being eliminated by a penalty shootout to a U.S.A-based club.
“It was the only girl’s team from Australia,” says a proud Bennett.
“They were nominated as flag bearers, and they marched into the opening ceremony in front of 52,000 people. It was quite remarkable.
“They played friendly games against local Swedish teams as well and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
“From that chance meeting, we managed to snag this multinational sponsor (EPIROC) because they’re based in Gothenburg.”
“A sense of what it would be like as a professional player”
The tournament was a terrific opportunity for the club and the players and it took a lot of work behind the scenes to make it happen.
“Cost is the biggest issue when planning participation in a tournament of this stature,” recalls Tim Hodgson, a founder of the Redbacks and life member of the club.
The former Director of Football was an organiser and manager of the trip to Sweden.
“The first step was to identify players to represent our club and unfortunately, the cost can be a factor in determining who is available”
Beyond that first hurdle, the club had to plan carefully for player welfare.
“Appropriate clothing for the conditions had to be established as well as ensuring that player’s medical issues and allergies were understood.”
Leaving nothing to chance, the team was accompanied by two coaches, a manager, and a female support staff member in the interests of safety, organization, and security.
“Flights are probably the most challenging aspect,” recalls Hodgson.
“On this occasion, we had a nine-hour stopover in Istanbul.
“Although you wouldn’t think it, passports can cause you major problems. The details needed to be exact in terms of names.”
The Northern Redbacks were a grassroots club, effectively operating as an international side for the Gothia tournament.
Once they arrived, the tournament was a smoothly run event. The players had options of meal and accommodation packages and local public transport was included in the entry fee.
It was an environment in which the players thrived.
“Naturally, they loved it,” says Hodgson.
“[the] different culture, different scenery, and different food certainly add to the experience.
“In a football sense, they played teams from different countries and with different playing styles and some games on a synthetic surface which our players had not experienced.”
The Gothia Youth World Cup sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime event, but the Northern Redbacks are determined that will not be the case.
“The opportunity to travel and play the sport you love is a luxury that not many experience,” says Hodgson.
“This trip has given our players a sense of what it would be like as a professional player.
“The club prides itself on a commitment to provide opportunities for female players in Western Australia.
“This tour enhanced that reputation and has given us a profile overseas, our players have created everlasting friendships…We plan that this would be an annual tour for a U16 team from our club.
“In the future, we plan to take other age groups into Asia.”
Women’s football:” Front, and centre
The future of this 30-year-old independent women’s club remains unclear, but in any form, the commitment to the women’s game will remain.
“You hear things like ‘ladies night’ and you just cringe,” says Bennett of some men’s teams
“For The Northern Redbacks, it’s women’s football every single day of the year. We don’t do anything else.
“We are front and centre encouraging women players and young girls to be the best that they can be.”
Images Supplied: Northern Redbacks
