‘Trailblazers’

Trailblazers impact partner, Women Onside, who support women’s leadership in football, held a screening of Trailblazers at the State Library during the Perth International Football Cup. The event was a collaboration with The Female Football Project, Gaining Ground and Women In Sport WA and featured an exciting panel discussion on fostering inclusion and belonging in sport. Attendees included several Matildas alumni and Hon. Samantha Helen Rowe MLC, representing the WA Minister for Sport, David Templeman.

Balga Soccer Club in Perth hosted a screening of Trailblazers for members of all genders and ages, to highlight the power of women’s leadership.

Launceston Football Club hosted a pizza night and screening of Trailblazers for junior and senior female players as part of efforts to strengthen the connection of female players with the wider club.

““A lot of our players are in their teenage years where it is extremely easy to disengage these days. By hosting these evenings we hope to keep the girls together and create a sense of community and belonging for them within the club.” – Jalyssa O’Byrne (U14/U16 Team Manager)

To celebrate the Olympics, St Charles Primary School in Waverley screened Trailblazers for approximately 80 students from Years 5 & 6. The response from students was overwhelmingly positive, with some saying that “Trailblazers inspired me to start playing football” and “It inspired us to stand up for what we believe in.”

Survey responses showed that 82% of students were interested in speaking up for gender equality after watching the film.

On the eve of the Olympics, law firm Gilbert + Tobin hosted a screening of Trailblazers for clients, staff, individuals from football/sports and Matildas alumni with a focus on driving the case for investment in women’s sport.

The audience listened to a lively panel on the topic of support and investment. The panel was moderated by Moya Dodd (former Vice Captain & partner at Gilbert + Tobin), featuring:
– Maggie Miles (Trailblazers Co-Director)
– Kate Gill (Executive Producer & Co-chief executive, PFA)
– Luke Haynes (Strategy Director at M&C Saatchi Sport + Entertainment) a consultant on the Matildas sponsorship deal with Commbank.

On June 24, Trailblazers education resources were released on Cool.org for students in grades 5 to 10, with the support of major impact partner MECCA M-POWER. The lessons include vignettes, factsheets, presentation decks and student worksheets that tackle themes of gender equality, media bias and representation.

Download the free lesson plans: https://cool.org/trailblazers-film-education-resources

On June 4, Trailblazers premiered on Stan as a Stan Original Documentary. The film, which charts the rise of the Australian Women’s Football Team and their fight for equality, is now available to stream.

Trailblazers received major production and impact funding from MECCA M-POWER. MECCA were the first to support this project an have been incredible allies. In combination with other generous donations via Documentary Australia Trailblazers project and impact campaign phase 1 are now fully resourced.