DLA Piper’s Perth office recently entered into a sponsorship agreement with the Perth Glory women’s football (soccer) team, which competes in the Liberty A-League.

As well as providing valuable brand exposure for DLA Piper in the lead-up to the 2023 Women’s World Cup (to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand), this partnership has allowed us to live our firm values by being:

 SUPPORTIVE – by providing and demonstrating meaningful support to women in sport, consistent with the overall objectives of our Leadership Alliance for Women (LAW) gender equality initiative. 

COLLABORATIVE

 – by leveraging our sponsorship in a way that benefits both DLA Piper, its employees, clients of the firm and the Perth Glory women themselves (most of whom balance their footballing commitments with work and/or study).

 BOLD – by sponsoring a women’s sporting team – not an obvious promotional avenue for a law firm!

EXCEPTIONAL

 – by helping the emerging young talent at Perth Glory reclaim their position at the top of the A-League tree.

The team itself boasts some impressive names, including Lisa De Vanna (second most caps and second most goals all-time for Australia’s women’s national team, the “Matildas”), Kim Carroll (54 caps for the Matildas), Leena Khamis (25 caps for the Matildas), Danish international Mie Leth Jans and a host of ‘Young Matildas’ who have represented Australia at youth level, including Hana Lowry (widely regarded as Australia’s ‘next big thing’).

Already, our sponsorship has enabled us to host a table of clients at the team’s ‘Glory in Business’ season launch. We also recently hosted a coaching clinic run by the entire women’s side and head coach Alex Epakis for children of our people and clients, which was well received by all attendees.

As part of our sponsorship, we are also allocated tickets for Perth Glory women’s (and men’s) matches, for distribution among our people, our clients and their families, and recently overwhelmed the club’s merchandising department with a large order for DLA Piper branded Perth Glory jerseys. DLA Piper’s logo features on the back of the jersey, with global mining giant BHP occupying the front.

While the team is currently stranded on the other side of the country due to COVID-related border restrictions, we are continuing to work with Perth Glory on plans for 2022. COVID-permitting, initiatives currently being considered include another potential coaching clinic, this time in conjunction with a children’s charity. We are also hoping to include an openly identifying LGBTIQ+ member of the team in a student-facing panel discussion to be hosted by Iris, DLA Piper’s network for LGBTIQ+ employees and their allies.