Emma Pritchard

With summer less than three weeks away, our next edition of Scene is in production and due to be released next month.

Featuring a complete step-by-step guide on all the best places to visit throughout the Clarence Valley including local shops and businesses, pubs and clubs, and popular outdoor attractions, our upcoming quarterly magazine will also boast a feature profile on one of Australia’s most prolific sports stars who calls Northern NSW home.

Born in Grafton and raised in South Grafton, Jo Powell’s introduction to soccer as a child created the building blocks for a trailblazing legacy which inspired generations of emerging female athletes to pursue their dreams within a male dominated sport.

As an enthusiastic five-year-old, she was forced to wait a year before she could play competitive soccer with a local junior boys’ team, and they had to seek a dispensation from the football governing to permit her to lace up her boots as it was unheard of to have a girl play soccer.

It wasn’t until she was in high school that she was allowed to run onto the field as part of a girls’ team – a team which she was instrumental in creating.

After relocating to the Hunter Valley, she received her first call up to play for the Matildas, the Australian women’s national soccer team, in 1996, and forged a successful career during a time when many said, “nobody wants to watch women’s sport.”

Jo retired from professional sport in 2000 before moving back to the Clarence Valley where she continues to live today.

Now a proud local business owner alongside her wife and a member of the Matildas alumni, her story is one which encompasses fierce determination and the empowering message of never letting go of your dreams.

The Clarence Valley Independent will publish the release date of our next Scene magazine in an upcoming edition.