1959 Formation of The Sutherland Shire Soccer Ladies Auxiliary
Women’s Football began in the Sutherland Shire, with the Sutherland Shire Soccer Ladies Auxiliary in 1959, with Mrs. Riley serving as President, and Mrs. Harvey as Vice President.
1970 Shirely Yardly
In 1970 whilst managing her son’s Under 6 team, Shirely had a disagreement with a male official over the timing of the game. Throwing the rule book he snapped, “Lady, you’d better learn the rules.” Thus began Shirely 34 years of dedication to Football in the Shire.
SSFA Register 1988 – 2004
1976 First Women’s Football Competition
The first official Women’s football competition commenced within the Sutherland Shire Football Association.
1985 Sue Holloway
In 1985, Sue Holloway joined the Association office – marking a significant acknowledgement of women’s involvement in administrative roles within the soccer community. Sue retired from the SSFA in 2011, passing away shortly after, in December 2012. The SSFA Clubs unanimously voted to honour her by renaming the Junior Women’s Champion trophy, to the Sue Holloway Memorial Cup.
1998 Kay Stolzenberg
Kay Stolzenberg was awarded the Soccer NSW State Award, for her dedicated services to football with the Engadine Eagles Football Club, and the SSFA.
2005 Under 12 Women’s
The introduction of the Under 12 Girls competition in 2005 highlighted the acknowledgement, and the promotion of female participation in football within the Sutherland Shire.
2005 Eileen Ward
The NSW State Award was awarded to Eileen Ward, for her dedicated services to football over 22 years with the Gymea United Football Club.
2006 O30 Women’s & Under 13 Women’s
The introduction of an O30’s Women competition, and Under 13 Girls saw registration numbers rapidly increase to 4,404 in women’s football in 2006.
2007 Girls Skill Sessions
Karen Bradley introduced a weekly skills night session for U10 and U11 girls, that today forms our GSAP representative teams.
2011 Junior Women’s Football Moves to Saturdays
In 2011, Junior women’s competitions were moved from Sunday to Saturdays as capacity of fields hit its peak on Sundays. This saw the successful implementation of balanced field utilisation across the weekends.
2021 Laura Cowell VP
Keith Ward stepped down as Vice President, and Laura Cowell became the first female VP ever at the SSFA.
2023 World’s Oldest Female Footballer
Carol Askew began playing football in 1984, aged 37 for Sylvania Heights FC. She played for Sylvania for 10 years, until 1994 when she moved to Broken Hill. In 2005, Carol rejoined Sylvania Heights FC to play for a further 16 years until 2022 when the club could not field a full O40 Women’s team – so she joined Gymea United FC.
2023 SSFA Female President – Laura Cowell
The Sutherland Shire Football Association marked a historic moment in 2023 as the Association welcomed Laura Cowell, to be their first ever Female President.
2023 Women Participation
The SSFA played this year with the highest Women’s participation in Australia. 38% Female athletes in the MiniRoos competition, 36% in the youth, 27% in the seniors, and 34% overall which equals 6,482 Female athletes in total.
Also in 2023, there were higher numbers of Women recorded in non-playing participation. 38% of coaches were Female, 37% of committee members were Female, and 26% of MiniRoo referees were Female.
