Wendy Carter has contributed enormously in SA – as a SA State player and State coach, then Co-Head Coach of the Australian Youth team, then off-field as Executive Director of the SA Women’s Soccer Association. She has become a strong advocate for integrity in sport.
As in many others who have played, coached and administered football in Australia, Wendy Carter came to this nation as an immigrant.
In fact, she was born and raised in Birmingham, England and migrated to SA in 1982.
Just 25 years later, in 2007, Wendy Carter was inducted into the Football SA Hall of Fame for distinguished contribution to her sport.
From both playing for and coaching South Australia at senior State level, she moved into administrating football at State level, first as SA Women’s Soccer Association development officer, then Executive Director – for a total of 14 years.
Although she excelled in managing the game, Wendy Carter always loved the on-field action, leading to her appointment as Assistant Coach and then Co-Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Youth team through the late 1990s and 2000.
A consistent advocate for integrity in sport, she told the ABC in response to allegations of match-fixing: “It’s about upholding their integrity as players a nd also the integrity of the club. We want to ensure that football has a very good profile and a good reputation.”
Leading into Adelaide being a host city to the FIFA Women's World Cu p, 2023, FFA built a Legacy Plan targeting three pillars – infrastructure, participation and leadership.
Wendy Carter’s role was to implement this plan; firstly, by developing partnerships to increase access to female facilities; secondly to increase female involvement in all areas, and thirdly to provide leadership opportunities and education to women and clubs.
In the early 2020s, not unexpectedly given her leadership in this area, she was appointed to the Sport Integrity Australia Unit in Canberra.
In fact, her entire adult life has been given to sport, with football at the heart of it all.
