NWSF capped off 2023 Year of celebrating women’s football with all the Association’s major awards going to many of our leading ladies.
2023 saw two NWSF Life Memberships awarded to two ladies that have been at the forefront of football within our community for over two decades.
Denise Robinson and Kathy Tracey have taken very different paths in getting to this point, but both were very deserving of their Life Membership accolades, especially when it came to promoting women’s football and the roles that women can play in the sport.
Denise, who is currently the Women’s Competition manager at NWSF, has administered women’s competitions for over 15 years and overseen a dramatic rise in the number of women and girls playing the game within the North West Sydney region. Firstly, as a mum supporting her daughter playing at West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook FC, then managing and coaching and then as the competition secretary for the North West Sydney Women’s Football, prior to the merger with Gladesville Hornsby FA (GHFA). Her dedication to the women’s game and making it available for all to play is unmatched within our region and she has no plans to slow down to help make football the sport of choice for young girls.
Kathy, has just recently stepped down from her role as President of Macquarie Dragons, where she has been a constant figure since her kids started playing at the club back in the early 2000’s. Kathy has filled just about every committee position at the Dragons in that time. As well as her club roles, Kathy was also a very active participant on the Disciplinary panels at the GHFA and filled the role as secretary for many years. She is still a member on the NWSF Disciplinary Panel. In more recent years, Kathy has driven the increase of female participation within Macquarie Dragons and aims to keep advocating football as the sport of choice for girls and women of all ages.
North Epping Rangers Nicki Walsh, Beecroft FC’s Isabella Nimmo and Normanhurst Eagles Natalie Mikhael were each put forward by their clubs for their outstanding contribution in promoting women’s football, each receiving an Association Medal, while Alison Lloyd was awarded the Roy Maggio Volunteer of the Year Award for her outstanding work with not just her club Epping FC, but also with NWSF. All four ladies, contributed greatly to promoting women’s football at their clubs, as well as promoting the Women’s World Cup which ultimately proved a huge success in New Zealand and Australia.
Other major award winners on the night, included Epping Eastwood taking out the Mixed Club Championship, while North Epping Rangers won the Women’s Club Championship. Epping O55/1 team won the Bill Plaskett Award for the best First Division team, while the Ryde Panthers 13/1 won the Keith Hillman Award for the Best Defensive U13 team.
The Fair Play Awards saw Old Ignatians win the Mixed, Beecroft FC in the Women’s, while the Premier League award was won by Eastwood St Andrews for a 5th straight time.
2023 also saw the introduction of new awards for our leading goalscorers in our three main competitions with Antionette Candy from Putney Rangers in the Women’s Premier League; William Gomez-Balestro from North Ryde in Super League and Kye McLean from West Ryde Rovers in Mixed Premier League.
The NWSF Board will maintain its status quo, with no new nominations received for the two positions, while the FMC will have a new Chairperson with Jeff Saul from Roselea FC heading what will be a predominantly new group. Existing FMC members Rohan Primrose and Mark Marriott, will be joined by Alison Lloyd (Epping FC), Peter Steel (All Saints Hunters Hill) and Warner Leung (Gladesville Ravens). The late withdrawal of foundation FMC member Steve Crawford, now means we have one position to be filled and we encourage anyone who wants to have a positive influence on how our competitions are run to come forward and nominate.
