Ahead of Football Wagga Wagga grand final weekend, South Wagga footballers on why they play the game

Elizabeth Evers plays in not one but two female soccer teams.

The numbers weren't quite there to field an all-girls team in her age group, so the then 14-year-old prepared to play with an older group for the 2023 season.

But when Football Wagga Wagga (FWW) combined two leagues, for girls aged 12 to 15, the teenager's love for the game meant she signed up twice.

From April to September Evers has played on Saturdays in the Junior Madden with her peers and on Sundays in the women's second grade Madden Shield league.

She is one of 410 females aged 12 and over registered with FWW, compared with 1023 males.

New to Wagga this year, it's Evers' first season not playing alongside boys and she says it has been a different experience. She hopes more girls will take up soccer.

"In an all-girls team we're all friends and we all get along ... [but] particularly when I was younger, before boys got to know me, they wouldn't pass to me as much or if I told them what to do they wouldn't listen to me," she said.

"It's a lot of fun and it's a great environment and it's not as bad for your ankles and knees as netball."

Despite being the youngest member of the South Wagga women's squad, Evers - who is now 15 - has been playing the game longer than some of her teammates.

Jasmine Kefford, 41, was in her mid-30s when she began playing.

Kefford, who grew up in Ganmain, spent many weekends of her youth on the sidelines watching her brothers and friends play various codes of football.

While watching the Matildas at this year's FIFA Women's World Cup, Kefford said she felt regret that more opportunities and resources had not been available to female players when she was younger.

For teammate Molly Surian, 19, a pathway towards elite level football had been available to her. But she joined the South Wagga club after a "really competitive" season with Wagga City Wanderers because for her it's not all about winning: "It's about having fun."

Like the second grade side, her first grade South Wagga team finished the Leonard Cup season outside of finals contention, but Surian got what she came for.

"From the first training I knew it was going to be a good season," she said.

Kara Dyason, 40, commutes to the squad's Tuesday night training sessions from Coolamon, sometimes with children in tow. She has played for almost three decades, 17 of those years with South Wagga.

Like Dyason, Sophie Shephard, 27, grew up playing in Temora.

Soccer jumped out at her when she was younger as one of the sports that "people could be good at and enjoy if they weren't particularly fast or strong or the best athlete".

"So much of being good at soccer is more about how you work in with your team and your positioning and reading the play," Shephard said.

After a decade's break for medical reasons, she decided to return the game she had enjoyed in her youth when she moved to Wagga. She was relieved to find a club that was welcoming of players no matter their level.

"I've now been playing for three years and love it," she said.

"It's highlighted all the good stuff about having a club that is really social and welcoming.''

Caitlin Willcox, in her early 20s, has a similar story.

"Coming into playing soccer again and having only recently moved to a new town, I was terrified," Willcox said.

But at her new club she found a "passionate and kind group who always know how to have a laugh" and helped her find her love for soccer again.

Jessica Fordree, 28, traditionally plays as an attacker but, with the squad lacking a goalie, pulled on the gloves this season. She likes soccer's "mental component".

"It's kind of like a chess game but obviously also with that physical part," she said.

Fordree says soccer provides a distraction from what's going on in the rest of her life.

Teammate and mother to two junior players Deonie Burns, 43, agrees.

"It's a good outing to get out of the house and get some adult interaction...take your mind off work and life and get on the field and forget about what's happening for a couple of hours," she said.

Fordree and Burns - co-coaches of the 12 to 15-year-old girls - have tried to instil in them the sense that they are there to have fun and winning is not the main goal.

But the junior team has found its way into a grand final, to be played this weekend, a first for a South Wagga girls' team.

Stacey Collins, 36, is another South Wagga player and parent. Her 11-year-old daughter will play alongside Evers in the junior grand final.

This year Collins was also appointed as FWW's female development officer. She says there has been a huge increase in female players' interest in the SAP and Academy programs, with trials to be held next month.

For newcomers to the sport, Collins suggests the upcoming indoor and futsal competitions are a great way to start playing. She's hopeful there will also be summer competitions for those aged 16 and over in Wagga and Junee.

New fans of the game are also invited to attend this weekend's grand finals. Juniors will play on Saturday before the seniors take the main stage at the Equex Centre on Sunday.

"I am very much looking forward to an amazing weekend of football," Collins said.

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