2024 Sapphire Cup Rounds 1 and 2 Announced - Football NSW

The 2024 NSW Football Sapphire Cup will pit the Flying Bats against the Thirroul Thunderbirds.

The competition comes hot on the heels of the North West Sydney Beryl Ackroyd Cup, where the almost half male team, the Flying Bats, annihilated all the women’s teams and took home the cup with the $1000 prize.

The story went global and there has been a massive uproar, but Football NSW is refusing to listen or even consider protecting girls from an unsafe or unfair playing field when teenage girls are forced to play against some males aged 30+ and tower over them at 6’2+.

Leaked recordings revealed a girl even had her leg broken in two places by a male player from the Flying Bats a couple of years ago. Football NSW has done nothing to rectify the risk to current players.

Football NSW’s Competitions Coordinator Wade Giovenali boasted it is a women’s game. With at least 5 males in the competition, on one team alone, that is a bold-face lie!

A total of 62 women’s clubs, 41 of which will hail from local community football teams from across NSW (along with National Premier Leagues Women’s NSW and Football NSW League One sides), found out their fate on Tuesday as Football NSW’s Legacy Plan Development Officer, Community Football & Member Services Trudy Simmons alongside Football NSW’s Head of Community & Member Services, Community & Member Services Aaron Dibdin took part as special guests in the official draw. 

“The women’s game has grown from strength to strength especially after the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ and we will certainly see that flow on effect during the Cup with more eyeballs on what is set to be a huge year for all clubs, players and officials involved. 

“I’m really looking forward to seeing some Cup magic in the female game in 2024.” 

The Sapphire Cup derives its name from the former ‘NSW Sapphires’ team who were part of the former Women’s National Soccer League.

Well he got one thing right; all eyes certainly will be on the game, but not for the right reasons. We should all be celebrating female football, but this year we will be watching with disappointment as males attempt to dominate the other women.