Donald Sutherland

My time at Football Australia has sadly come to an end. I was incredibly fortunate to attend the FIFA World Cup as part of the Socceroos set-up, which was an honour of a lifetime and an experience I’ll remember forever. It was special to be alongside long-term custodians of our national team like Dom Rabsch, Gary Moretti and David Mason, and of course, thank you to Tony Popovic and the whole squad for tolerating me sticking a phone camera in their face. A few things I’m proud of during my time at FA: •⁠ ⁠Helping make the Socceroos the most followed Australian sports team on TikTok •⁠ ⁠Leading the digital launch of Australia’s first national second-division of any sport: the AusChampionship, which led to a nomination at the Australian Sports Commission media awards •⁠ ⁠Helping elevate the Australia Cup to unprecedented heights in 2025. +81% YoY social impressions, +77% engagements, +56% video videos, and +68% YoY broadcast views for the final •⁠ ⁠Being voted by my peers as 2025 employee of the year for our department I will miss the AusChampionship, its clubs and all those connected with that community immensely. We proved so many wrong, and I pray it goes from strength to strength, because it represents the opportunity to unlock the potential of our rich football nation. A heartfelt thank you to the football community who I had the immense privilege of connecting with: fans, member federations, our rich community of clubs, their players, broadcasters, our sponsors and the media. We’re a proper football nation and should be proud of who we are. A special shout-out to the army of young and upcoming, and super talented, content creators who contributed to our coverage over the last two years. Which leads me to my final thanks: above all else, the thing that upsets me the most is leaving all the brilliant colleagues I’ve been lucky to work with over the years. Those within our department are some of the best humans I’ve had the privilege to work alongside. Thank you for making every single day enjoyable. I’ll miss you all so much. I’m fortunate that there are opportunities to still stay working within the game. I hope I did the namesake proud ❤️☝️ 🫡