Professional Footballers Australia (the PFA) has partnered with the team behind one of Australia’s most successful football podcasts to deliver Footballers’ Voice, a new monthly podcast which explores the diverse and rich stories behind Australia’s professional footballers.
The collaboration with Podular, who established Australia’s most downloaded football podcast The Daily Football Show in 2015, will allow the PFA to elevate the voice of the players within the country’s varied sporting media landscape.
Through Footballers’ Voice, the players’ individual and collective stories will be explored through a unique narrative format, promoting the relationship that exists between the personal growth of players and their footballing evolution.
Throughout 2020, the PFA podcast will feature themes including player education, wellbeing, identity, mentality and what it takes to succeed as a professional footballer.
The inaugural episode, which focuses on education and career development, is narrated by Podular’s founder Adrian Houghton and features four professional players; Western United’s Brendan Hamill, Sydney FC’s championship-winning goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, Newcastle Jets’ Hannah Brewer and New Zealand youth international Gianni Stensness.
“Podcasting is such a great medium for these footballers to speak their mind,” Houghton said.
“The series will allow football fans to learn so much more about the players in all different aspects of life, rather than just what happens on the field.”
Having become a more rounded individual through his studies, United’s Brendan Hamill encourages other players to focus on their off-field education to reap the multitude of benefits.
“I use everything that I am doing now with study towards all aspects of life; I look at is though I am growing as person, as a father and I’m growing as a footballer and I can use it to complement and enhance my ability as a human being every day.”
For Andrew Redmayne, study has provided the perfect balance between high performance and off-field development, allowing him to flourish at A-League Champions Sydney FC.
“Studying has been a huge weight off my shoulders… I feel like having study and an avenue to study other options has allowed me to go even harder at football. While I’m at football I give it 110 per cent and I know that if anything that was to happen, I do have something to fall back on now and another avenue to pursue.”
As for inspiring Newcastle Jets’ W-League player Hannah Brewer, study has not only landed her full-time work, but has empowered her to impact those less fortunate through her work in special education.
“All of my students have mental health issues… It wasn’t until I was exposed to this type of work that I can really see that mental health is really a big issue and it really does pose real hardship on students.
“If I can change one student, even in the smallest possible way, that is a dream of mine.”
PFA Chief Executive John Didulica is excited at the opportunity of regularly sharing these stories.
“Our success as a code must be defined by the quality of people who emerge from our industry. On the evidence of this podcast, there are some incredibly talented young men and women emerging and it’s our job to not only develop them, but hopefully inspire more future leaders to emerge.”
Subscribe and listen to the podcast via Spotify and Apple podcasts.
