Part big cat and part bird of prey: the logo of the latest all-female Capital Football club – the BellaMonaro Griffins – is representative of the partnership created two years ago between the Monaro Panthers (big cat) and the Brindabella Blues (bird of prey). The BellaMonaro club is an embodiment and realisation of that partnership as a new, separate entity.
While the Griffins have formed in time for the 2022 winter season, plans for the club’s creation stem back to 2020 and the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the Panthers and the Blues.
The creation of the club wasn’t a reaction to the 2020 decision by Capital Football to remove the Panthers from their NPL competition. Griffins president Michael Sutton (previously the junior girls’ co-ordinator at the Brindabella Blues, and with fifty years of football experience in Sydney, Newcastle, and Canberra) explains.
“We started to refer to ‘BellaMonaro’ internally from 2020. Externally in 2020, we were still known as Monaro and in 2021 while confirming the BellaMonaro concept we played as part of Brindabella. BellaMonaro was accepted by Capital Football in 2022 and for the first time, we’ll actually play under that name in the juniors and the state league competition.”
When Beyond 90 interviewed the Monaro Panthers in October 2020 some of those interviewed were already referring to the partnership between the Panthers and the Blues as “BellaMonaro”. The Panthers had announced a comprehensive women’s football plan and programme, replete with access to new sporting infrastructure that the NSW government had announced for the Queanbeyan/Jerrabomberra area. They were also facing the prospect of being axed from the Capital Football NPL competition after a review had determined that a bye round was undesirable and that competition quality was being diluted. All NPL clubs at that time were asked to reapply for their place in the competition, with the kicker being that at that time, there was no means – no promotion/relegation – to seek re-admission to the league.
History shows that Monaro Panthers were not able to secure an NPL licence. The 2021 NPL season was contested by eight clubs, and ex-Canberra United player Emma Stanbury withdrew from plans to coach the joint venture in 2021. Sutton sets some context behind the Capital Football decision, outlining that after subsequent meetings and consultation with the governing body, a doorway into the NPL competition would become open to any club meeting certain criteria. Capital Football NPL would no longer be a ‘closed shop’.
“[Monaro Panthers] was pulled out of the NPL competition mainly because we didn’t have the [required] licenced coaches. It wasn’t anything to do with actual team numbers. We had significant numbers of players and still do. We didn’t have enough C licence coaches, B licence coaches, which is something that we’ve focused upon as a new club.
“I can’t explain how devastating it was at the time. We did lose a number of players but I think it shows the commitment that the girls had to the club [in] how strong our teams were the following year, [and] the number of coaches that actually stayed on with us.
“Capital Football has listened to its stakeholders and has gone through this consultation process and come up with these two promotion and relegation frameworks for NPL Girls and NPL Women now.”
“Whoever wins the State League One competition this year … will have the opportunity to move up into NPLW next year. [If that occurs,] the team that finishes last in the NPLW will come down into Division 1.
“For both of the juniors and the seniors, you have to win the Club Championship [to be considered for promotion]. So for the juniors, that means trying to win the 12s, the 14s, the 16s and the 18s, which gives you the points.
“[BellaMonaro] Under 18’s won their [2021] competition, undefeated. Under 14’s won their competition, I think they had one loss. And almost all of our other teams finished within the top three or four. So we’re really strong, really competitive.
“[For promotion, clubs also] have to show cause that you have the infrastructure to support an NPLW team… which we do, even across Monaro and Brindabella now. You look at the quality of the fields that we’ve got, either at Googong, Riverside, or Calwell itself. We’ve got that South Jerrabomberra sports precinct that’s being developed.
“The other area that you’ve got to [demonstrate meeting criteria] is the coaches. We’ve got coaches that are undertaking their C licences at the moment, in preparation for us having an opportunity [to be promoted]. In State League it’s very similar, you have to … win the Division One State League competition, which is really, really competitive – you’ve got all the universities in there, as well. And then you have to show that you’ve got the infrastructure, and you have to show that you have a reserves team as well. At the end of this year, we’ll have our current Under 18’s coming through and going into the State League program. So our numbers will build over time.”
If all this sounds like a tilt back into NPL isn’t out of the question, you’d be correct.
“YeS, that [NPL] is our ambition. But we don’t want to rush it. It’s not something that we know that we’ll be able to do in 2023. Our target is 2024.”
Sutton goes on to describe the nature of the relationship between the Griffins, the Panthers and the Blues.
“So the concept really is that Monaro and Brindabella will build up the juniors in their local area, the MiniRoos, from Under 5’s up to Under 11’s. And then they will channel those that want to play, that want to continue on playing into our Under 12’s. So we’ve got two sources feeding into the club. We leverage their infrastructure. We train out at Jerrabomberra on one night, at Calwell on another. And we move our home grounds, so the MiniRoos that are there can actually see us playing at Calwell one week, and Googong the next. And for the State League teams, we’ve been able to [establish an agreement to use] the Riverside Stadium.
“The model that we were really looking at was what Belconnen United had done. As you know, they’ve got BelSouth, BelWest and BelNorth feeding into their club. The original concept was that we would bring Tuggeranong United in as well. And we’ve had a number of conversations with them. But at the moment, they want to try and keep their program separate.
“The idea of being able to have one southern-based club, bringing in Tuggeranong juniors, Monaro juniors, and Brindabella juniors, would have made us as powerful as Belconnen United.”
BellaMonaro will be fielding seven teams in 2022.
“This year, we’ll have … Under 12’s, two Under 14’s, two Under 16’s teams, Under 18’s and the State League team. I think like everybody across Canberra, we’ve noticed that the season being cut short last year and the previous year, and the competition that we’re seeing across netball and AFL, it’s meant that there has been a drop in the number of girls that are playing this year. But it gives us a really strong base, and all of those teams will have 15 or 16 players in them.
“[For 2022 the aim is] to form really strong competitive teams, [to] go close to or win the Club Championship. With the juniors in particular we’ve got much more of an established footing. With our State League, what we’re looking for is for them to develop, and get used to what it’s like to play against these women’s teams that are more established. Most of these young ladies have been with the two clubs throughout their junior career, most are 18, 19 and 20, so it’s quite a young squad.
“[Winning] that Club Championship lets us offer our NPL program, but we’ll still keep our Div 1 and our development programs. With the State League … we will be taking a much more considered approach. And then over the next couple of years, we’ll build that program and hopefully challenge to getting back into the NPLW.
“We’ll be looking at Masters at some point. There are a number of conversations that we’re having both with Monaro and with Brindabella around where the BellaMonaro concept should start and finish. In the future, I can see us actually expanding into those spaces. But at the moment, we’re focusing on those in the juniors, those Div 1, Div 2 competitions and on State League.”
As for how the club philosophy applies to its players, the spirit of the women’s programme outlined by the Panthers in 2020 remains alive and well at the Griffins.
“At the heart of what we’re trying to do is …. what we found is that traditionally you’ve got two very separated streams of female football. You’ve got the social football where people come in, to play with their friends. And it might be, you know, some exercise while they’re focusing on maybe their studies, or maybe they’ve got other sporting commitments or academic commitments. And then on the other side, you’ve got those that go into an elite NPL program, which is now split between NPL girls and NPLW.
“What we’re trying to do is offer something that is a blend. We don’t want to just produce good footballers, we want to produce really well-rounded citizens.”
“So yes, we have that focus on training twice a week. But if you can’t make it because you’re doing some sort of school function, [or] you’ve got homework, then we understand that. And what we find is by giving people that sort of flexibility, when they are playing football, they’re really focused and we get a higher standard of play. We get a higher standard of commitment. And so far over the last couple of years, it’s really worked.”
The new venture has an impressive array of committee members, coaches, and volunteers. New Member of Federal Parliament Nichole Overall has signed up as club patron, from her similar role as women’s programme patron at the Monaro Panthers.
“[Nichole Overall] has been a really vocal champion of this concept of building out a girls- and-womens-only Club. I know that we’ve got Canberra United Academy and I know that we’ve got the South Canberra Bees, but we’re the only club that has a program for juniors as well as seniors.”
While Sutton doubles as both President and U16’s coach, ” … we’ve drawn in from people and coaches from both Brindabella and Monaro. Drue Edwards is the vice president, he has been a longtime supporter of the Monaro Women’s Program. We’ve got Veronica Elliot, who is the Secretary, she has been involved with Brindabella football since the Under 6’s.
“The partnership that we have with Monaro main means that Jeff Young, one of their co-presidents, is really heavily involved in our committee. And Ken Yalg, until he stood down as Brindabella president, was also really heavily involved. At the moment, we’re doing a lot of work with Tina McLeary to set things up for the rest of the year.
“If anyone is attracted to the idea of building up women’s and girl’s football in Canberra, and they’d like to get involved, then get into contact with me on Michael@Bellamonaro.org. Or go to our Facebook page, go to our homepage, and just leave a message. The more people we have involved, the stronger the club will be.
“The idea is that this concept of having an all-girls club where you can have your career from Under 12’s right the way through to seniors – of supporting the girls and the women holistically – will catch on and we’ll get more players coming through, rather than just the stream that we get from Monaro and Brindabella. Ultimately, I’d like to do myself out of this job; I’d like to see a woman president, I’d like to see an entire women-based committee, and I’d like to see all women coaches. And I can retire and just watch the football!”
Beyond 90 would like to wish the BellaMonaro club all the best for its inaugural season.
