Capital Football has vowed to improve girls' participation in futsal after failing to send any girls' teams to the national championships on the Gold Coast. CEO Samantha Farrow said new processes would be implemented to ensure families and clubs receive earlier notifications about event timings, locations, and travel, along with clearer timelines for team viability.
Capital Football sent only five teams to the nationals—an open women's team and four junior boys' teams—out of a possible 13 divisions. The ACT under-13 boys won their grand final, while the under-14 and under-15 boys reached the quarter-finals. Farrow attributed the lack of girls' teams to player withdrawals and a congested futsal calendar, with three major tournaments occurring within a three-week period.
Farrow said the packed schedule, including the junior and senior national club championships in Sydney and the Gold Coast International, made participation challenging for families. She has provided feedback to Football Australia about the scheduling conflicts. In some age groups, late withdrawals made teams unviable, while in others there were insufficient expressions of interest.
Former Capital Football board member Garth Morrison called for an independent review, describing the absence of girls' teams as a 'slap in the face' following the Matildas' success. He said it was a betrayal of age-eligible futsal-playing girls in the region. Capital Football confirmed only five ACT teams competed and blamed injuries and withdrawals.
