Zainab Mohamud started the Black Panthers after realising that women were interested in being involved in sport, however, were too shy to participate. She launched the private female-only Facebook group to help women feel comfortable, included and build confidence among the diverse community.

Zainab, who's parents are from Somalia but moved to Australia in the 80s, was taught to play football by her cousins when she visited Somalia at the turn of the Millenium. She learnt to play barefoot outside of a house which sat on an acreage and all the neighborhood children would come and join in.

Originally from Victoria, Zainab moved to Darwin in 2013 and 2015, where she fell in love with the chilled lifestyle, atmosphere and most importantly the weather of the city before moving back in early 2016.

Last season first time she played in the Northern Territory where she played with Casuarina FC. and It was an eye-opening and confusing experience with the way teams were run compared to Victoria.

"I absolutely loved playing for the team but there were so many girls to compete with for your position. You miss a training session, you're not playing in the starting line up," she said.

Zainab gradually got to know more girls in the African community, which included a large Congolese and Liberian community along with Zimbabwean, Nigerian and Somalian. They are willing to be involved in the community but a lack of confidence hindered them from joining in.

"Some girls don't speak proper English but they speak with their feet," Zainab said.

"They love getting involved and doing things but as soon as they speak English and someone doesn't understand them, their confidence level drops," she said.

So last year, Pat Simmons, who Zainab had worked with at Football Without Borders, formed a male team and she asked about having a women's team too. ​

"I had a lot of girls that migrated here, that still don't have their permanent residency, that are new to the country, that want to play but don't feel comfortable," Zainab said.

They started with a seven a side team at the World Refugee tournament last year despite never playing together before. So Zainab got their details so they could continue playing but they so ran into a hurdle when they wanted to enter the state league competition. 

"We started looking at the terms and conditions of placing a team in the league and we looked at the prices which gave us a scare," she said. 

Last week Facebook launched the Facebook Australia Groups Fund which will see grants up to $5,000 available to Facebook Group Admins to support the purpose and facilitation of online and offline activities for their Group.

"We’re thrilled to open applications for the first-ever Facebook Australia Groups Fund, which aims to celebrate and support the amazing contributions made by Facebook Groups across Australia," Facebook’s Director of Policy for ANZ Mia Garlick said.

"The Facebook Australia Groups Fund is designed to empower leaders from around Australia to create strong, meaningful connections within Facebook Groups," she said.

This initiative will greatly help the Black Panthers, if they are granted the money, as they look to raise enough to enter a team into the Women's Premier Reserves in January 2019.