Indigenous Football Week 2024 power to break down barriers

Avatar
Image credit: Moriarty Foundation

Indigenous Football Week 2024, running from 23 to 29 September, will bring the football community together to highlight the sport’s ability to transform the lives of Australia’s most vulnerable children and youth.

Indigenous Football Week (IFW), an initiative by John Moriarty Football (JMF) with support from A-Leagues and Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), will feature the annual Moriarty Cup, Australia’s leading charity football tournament raising funds for JMF’s ongoing programs.

The 2024 Moriarty Cup, hosted at Sydney’s iconic Allianz Stadium, will feature 14 teams from prominent Australian companies such as Paramount+, Optus, Stan, Channel Nine, MinterEllison, and Charter Hall. They will compete for football glory while supporting Indigenous children and youth in remote and regional Australia.

The theme of Indigenous Football Week 2024, ‘Breaking Barriers,’ is inspired by the life of JMF co-founder and first Indigenous Socceroo, Yanyuwa man John Moriarty, football and education transformed his life, lifting him out of poverty.

John Moriarty, Co-Founder of John Moriarty Football, explained the positive impact the initiative has on children’s faces.

“I love seeing the big smiles on the children’s faces when I visit community and join them on the football oval. Those smiles tell a story of wellbeing, resilience and opportunity. It’s why more children attend school on the days JMF runs its sessions. After our in-curriculum sessions, they concentrate better and show more positive behaviours,” he said via press release.

“More engagement with education, and improved mental and physical health – this is the power football has to change lives, just as it changed mine.”

A-Leagues and Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) will back Indigenous Football Week, celebrating alongside fans, players, and clubs.

A-Leagues Commissioner, Nick Garcia, added further comments.

“The A-Leagues is excited to see another instalment of the Indigenous Football Week, celebrating the ongoing contribution of Indigenous football players to the game. The power of football to influence impactful change is unlike any other and the A-Leagues is proud to support the John Moriarty Foundation,” he said via press release.

IFW and JMF are initiatives of the Moriarty Foundation, an Indigenous children’s charity focused on creating a thriving future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids. Through innovative programs, the foundation is helping close gaps in education, health, wellbeing, and employment to achieve cultural, social, and economic equality for Indigenous children.

JMF’s sister program, Indi Kindi, is an early learning initiative for children from birth to five years. It combines a distinct Aboriginal teaching approach with the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Graduates of this program are culturally strong, ready for school, and equipped with a lifelong foundation for learning.

For more information on Indigenous Football Week 2024, click here.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Football West mourns passing of women’s football pioneer Barbara Gibson, aged 95

Avatar

Football West has acknowledged the death of Barbara Gibson, an Honorary Life Member of the organisation whose administrative career across five decades fundamentally shaped the landscape of women’s football in Western Australia. She was 95.

Gibson’s contribution belongs to a period in Australian sport when women’s participation existed largely outside formal structures and was tolerated at the margins of a game whose governing bodies were built by and for men. That she spent decades building those structures anyway, and that the game in Western Australia is materially different because she did, is the measure of her legacy.

She did not begin playing football until her 40s, turning out for Inglewood Kiev before redirecting her energy almost entirely into administration. In 1975 she became Secretary of the Western Australian Women’s Soccer Association, a role she held for a decade alongside the position of Treasurer. As long-standing Manager of the Senior State Women’s Team, she oversaw international tours to Malaysia in 1977 and India in 1980.

Gibson was elected President of the WAWSA in 1986, the same year she joined the broader administration of the game as Assistant Secretary of the Soccer Federation of WA: a dual role that positioned her as a bridge between the women’s competition and the wider governing structure at a moment when that connection was neither guaranteed nor assumed.

Her influence extended beyond Western Australia. As the WAWSA’s representative at all Australian Women’s Soccer Association delegate meetings, she helped shape national policy at a time when the decisions made in those rooms determined whether women’s football in this country had a future at all.

Gibson was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame WA in 1996 and received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.

“She gave decades of service to our game and to female football in particular,” said Football West CEO Jamie Harnwell. “When we marvel at the incredible spectacle of over 70,000 fans turning out to cheer on the Matildas in a major international final, we should also remember the pioneers of the women’s game, such as Barbara, who helped lay the foundation stones.”

The cultural legacy Gibson leaves is one of institutional persistence. The willingness to build, advocate and administer within systems that were not designed to accommodate the work she was doing. The women currently playing in Football West competitions, coaching junior teams, sitting on club boards and representing Western Australia at national level do so within structures that people like Gibson constructed from the outside in.

Football NSW and Heartbeat of Football extend partnership

Avatar
New Africa / Shutterstock.com

In an announcement made via social media last week, Football NSW announced that their collaboration with Heartbeat of Football will continue for another three years.

 

Promoting health and welfare

The partnership between Football NSW and Heartbeat of Football stands as an essential part of New South Wales’ football landscape.

Promoting awareness about heart health issues, Heartbeat of Football ensures players, fans and participants of all kind can enjoy a healthy, sporting life.

“Football is a year-round activity with a large number of participants, so it’s important to educate our community about heart health and share practical steps people can take to protect themselves and their families,” said Football NSW CEO, John Tstatsimas.

“We value the work of the Heartbeat of Football team and look forward to collaborating with them on some exciting campaigns and initiatives over the coming years.”

Indeed, a three-year partnership extension is testament to the essential role which Heartbeat of Football plays. Through their work, participants in the game learn about risk factors and sensible health choices when it comes to heart health.

As awareness and education increases, the number of unexpected tragedies decrease.

 

The Mapping Project

This is not just a collaboration on paper, however.

Football NSW and Heartbeat of Football are working to promote their Heartbeat of Sport AED Mapping Project, a campaign which aims to ensure all clubs and associations have a registered AED.

Furthermore, through these campaigns, future generations will possess the resources needed to ensure football grounds remain safe, protected environments. Providing this security – for all involved – is the ultimate objective.

“Heartbeat of Football has enjoyed the support of Football NSW from the start of our journey in 2016,” outlined Heartbeat of Football Founder, Andy Paschalidis.

“With sudden cardiac arrest a leading cause of death in sport, we recognise the importance of education and raising awareness of heart disease risk factors.”

 

An unavoidable issue

According to Heartbeat of Football, 28,000 Australians suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year. Unfortunately, survival rates are less than 10%.

But through the contributions of the organisation, backed by associations like Football NSW, there is a brighter future on the horizon.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend