It’s fair to say that COVID19 has wreaked havoc on the local football scene in New South Wales, particularly in 2021 when competitions were ended prematurely.
However, a new dawn is upon us in 2022, and with Hills Football now ready to welcome players back onto the field for safe and healthy sporting activity, there has never been a better time to get back into football.
Hills Football are doing their bit to make it as easy and affordable as possible for returning players by offering a 40% refund on all 2021 Hills Football registration fees (association component) for local players; confident once again participation growth and retention will be high in 2022.
Hills Football General Manager Matt Rippon said it was the least the Association could do to help players young and old get back into football.
“We want to demonstrate that value proposition to our players and ensure that we were able to give something back to players right across the board,” Rippon said.
“Last year, we had our highest ever registrations with just shy of 13,000 players in our Association.
“We actually grew by 2,000 players between 2020 and 2021, so that’s a massive leap forward for us and in 2022 we really want to see as many of those players as possible return.
“From our point of view we’ve taken a lot of measures to ensure the safety of participants, so parents and players alike can be confident that Hills Football competitions will be a safe and healthy place for them to enjoy their sport in 2022.”
Whilst Hills Football is one of Sydney’s newest football Associations, the growth the burgeoning organisation has enjoyed in such a short space of time has been incredible.
Undoubtedly, the growth of women’s football has played a major role in helping the sport grow within the Hills and beyond, and Rippon said with the FIFA Women’s World Cup set to land on Australian shores next year, interest is only going to boom further.
Last year we launched the Women’s Premier League, which really provided a buzz amongst our clubs. We also doubled female teams and grew female participation by 20%” he said.
Aside from simply encouraging female participation as players, Rippon said that Hills Football was committed to providing pathways for women who want to get involved in football coaching or administration as well.
Players, coaches and administrators of all genders wanting to get back involved in football – or get involved for the first time – in 2022 should head to www.register.hillsfootball.com.au, where you can use the Association’s Find A Club feature to find your local club.
