Award-winning football (soccer) pioneer Heather Reid joined Lauren Jackson as an AWRA Ambassador in October 2013.

Reid has campaigned for increased participation of females in sport throughout  her career.

“I am happy to champion AWRA’s vision of a strong and healthy Australia by encouraging more women and girls to participate in sport, physical activity and recreation,” Reid said.

Her vision and leadership have been recognised in growing female participation in football (soccer), which is the fastest growing sport for females in Australia.

She was a foundation member of the ANU Women’s Soccer Club, and later as ACT Women’s Soccer Association CEO pioneered women’s football competitions in 1978.

In the 1980’s, Reid helped establish a women’s World Cup and successfully lobbied for women’s soccer to be admitted into the Olympic Games.

More recently, she became the first female to be appointed as CEO of a State Football Federation and is the only Australian woman to manage a senior men’s professional football (soccer) team.

Her campaigning for women in football has been recognised with entry to the Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame in 2007, the Australian Sports Commission’s Margaret Pewtress Memorial Award for contribution to women in sport in 2006 and an Australian Sports Medal for contribution to soccer and community sport in 2001.

Read more about Heather’s journey and listen to an interview by Nikki Henningham recorded on 16 January 2013 at the National Library of Australia as part of the “Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia”.