When Sherridan Long was announced as the new president of Sunbury United Soccer Club, it was a first in more than 50 years.
Long became the first female president of the club in late November when she was voted into the role.
“I’m very blessed to be voted in,” she said. “Our president was stepping down from the role and I’d been on the board as vice-president in 2025.
“It’s really exciting to lead the club and continue the work everyone has been doing for the past 50 years for the next few years.”
Long said the club and sport had come so far in recent years with roles of females.
She said a female taking on a presidency role was still a big thing.
“It’s pretty awesome and I guess it shows the inclusivity of the club and the community as a whole,” she said.
“The club has come leaps and bounds particularly in the last 3-4 years in terms of female participation for our daughters, our girls to play football
“Then to having a senior women’s team come back on board and I was part of that and to winning the league, being promoted,
“The people working behind the scenes and our female coordinator working on our policy and procedures to ensure that we have fair access diversity, inclusion.
“Meaning that it’s just standard across the board, so it’s not about being a female, it’s about being the right person.”
Long said for the club it was about making sure both mums and dads could get involved and that all at the club had role models.
She said while it had challenges with pitch availability and changerooms it’s about making sure that soccer is for everyone.
Long said they wanted to continue the journey that has been started.
She said they wanted the club to be a place that anyone could come down to and grow that connection in the community.
“We want to continue to solidify our junior pathway into senior football in the future,” she said.
“It’s really difficult to manage junior age groups, because of the growth of participation.
“It’s participation heavy in the bottom ages and it’s about making sure we can solidify avenues and have good coaching structures, volunteer practices to make sure all our junior cohorts are filled with age groups which makes sure there’s a pathway to senior football.
“We want a pathway that’s clear. They don’t have to leave as there’s not an age group for them.
“It’s about attracting and retaining those who live in Sunbury. You don’t have to go somewhere else to play football.”
