The first Football Writers’ Festival gets underway in Jamberoo this weekend

An exciting new initiative in football's growth and development will take place this weekend in the NSW rural town of Jamberoo, home of the Johnny Warren Museum (JWM), about 115km south of Sydney.

The first Football Writers' Festival will take place at the home of the JWM, the Jamberoo Pub, which is expected to be packed with attendees and participants.

Presented as a celebration of football, writing and ideas, the Festival has attracted some heavy-hitters in the local football world, as well as two keynote international guests, German sports investigative journalist and author, Jens Weinreich and American author and filmmaker, Gwendolyn Oxenham.

Weinreich is an award-winning international expert on IOC and football corruption. His specialist areas are international politics of sports, international organised crime in the sporting world and the bidding circus for mega-events. Jens is a freelance journalist currently working for Germany’s public TV station ZDF and DER SPIEGEL. He also publishes a monthly investigative magazine, entitled Sport & Politics. He will talk about his work in a one-on-one conversation with Simon Hill of FOX Sports.

Oxenham is the author of Under the Lights and in the Dark: Untold Stories of Women's Soccer and Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty-five Countries, and the Search for Pickup Soccer. She directed and featured in Pelada, an award-winning documentary centered on pickup games around the world. She has written for The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, Slate, the New York Times, and US Soccer. A Duke University soccer alum, she played for Santos FC in Brazil and has also served as a sports ambassador for the US State Department. Oxenham will talk about her work in a one-on-one conversation with Stephanie Brantz of ESPN.

FFA Chairman, Chris Nikou, will take part in a Q&A session moderated by Emma Kemp of the Daily Telegraph as the final session of the Festival on Sunday afternoon.

SBS-TV commentator and former Socceroo, Craig Foster, will be part of a panel with Weinreich, Matthew Hall and Jaimie Fuller on football activism to discuss ways in which they have used platforms to advocate for causes. Foster has recently been the public face of the campaign to #SaveHakeem, Fuller has led public campaigns in a variety of sports governance issues, and Weinreich and Hall have used their journalism platforms to advocate for causes.

The opening session will be a discussion entitled Point of View: The Daily Grind v Gig Journalism to discuss the differences and similarities between the need to 'get a story' every day to a deadline compared with those trying to carve a niche in football journalism. The points of view will come from Kevin Airs of FTBL.com.au, Pablo Bateson of Football Today, Kemp, Michael Lynch from The Age, Murray Shaw of FOX Sports and Stuart Thomas of TheRoar.com.au and Football Today, moderated by Tom Smithies of the Daily Telegraph.

Another keynote session will see a panel moderated by Stephanie Brantz of ESPN respond to the question “Where are the women?”. The question came from Football Today's editor, Bonita Mersiades, at the debate of FFA Board candidates in November last year, commenting on the lack of women at the debate. The question is no less apposite in respect of football writing. The panel includes former Matilda and Optus Sport commentator, Heather Garriock, Sarah Groube of The Women's Game, Vicki Morton, president of South Hobart FC and deputy Chairman of the Association of Australian Football Clubs, and Oxenham.

Other discussions including writing football history, football fiction and football biographies/memoirs, as well as a presentation on highlights of our national teams from Andrew Howe and Greg Werner. Howe is the author of the Encyclopedia of Socceroos, and is the co-author with Werner of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Matildas.

Other speakers are:

1. Adrian Deans, writer with FTBL.com.au and author of Lawrie McKinna's biography and the football novel, Mr Cleansheets

2. Jorge Knijnik, author of The World Cup Chronicles – 31 Days that Rocked Brazil

3. Texi Smith, author of two books of football fiction that will be launched at the Festival, Introducing Jarrod Black and Jarrod Black – Hospital Pass

4. Ian Syson, author of The Game that Never Happened: the vanishing history of soccer in Australia

5. Trevor Thompson, author of Playing for Australia – the First Socceroos, Asia and the World Game.

Registration takes place from 12 midday on Saturday, with an opportunity to 'Meet the Authors' also – and buy their books – including Deans, Knijnik, Smith, Syson, Thompson, Howe and Hall, who is also launching his latest book, 'If I started to cry, I wouldn't stop …'

However, it's not all work and vigorous debate and no play!

A Hyundai Legends Happy Hour on Saturday evening will be host to past Socceroos and Matildas players. Those expected to attend include Adrian 'Noddy' Alston, Amy Duggan, Jimmy Fraser, Heather Garriock, Ron Lord, Danny Moulis, Jack Reilly, Ray Richards, Kimon Taliadoros and former Matildas coach, Trixie Tagg.

There will also be a Trivia Night hosted by Shaw with a gold coin donation in aid of the Johnny Warren Football Foundation. Shaw says the trivia questions will not be just about football, but there are some “special questions” for some prominent supporters of clubs from within the audience.

And for those interested in a 'pick-up game', the time for football is Saturday morning prior to the Festival getting underway at 1pm on Saturday across the road from the Jamberoo Pub.

The link man, to make sure everything runs on time, is Adrian Arciuli of SBS-TV.

For those who cannot get to Jamberoo on the weekend, a series of podcasts will be produced following the Festival, thanks to the support of Football Victoria.

It will be held over two days, 23 and 24 March, with registration from 12 midday on Saturday, finishing by 2.45pm on Sunday. Tickets are $10 for one day/$15 for two days and are ONLY available at footballwritersfestival.com.au.

The Football Writers' Festival is supported by Hyundai Australia and Football Victoria, and is co-convened by the Johnny Warren Football Foundation and Fair Play Publishing (of which Football Today is part).

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For the full program, head to footballwritersfestival.com.au and/or download the Festival App at guidebook.com/g/footballwritersfestivalau/

Follow the Festival on Twitter @fbalwritersfest or hashtag #FWF19

Please note: Ray Gatt of 'The Australian' was due to participate but had to withdraw on 20 March due to family circumstances.