As Australia’s longest running and most successful Indigenous football initiative for 2–18-year-olds, the John Moriarty Football (JMF) program has been a significant contributor to creating sustainable social change and providing pathways for Indigenous footballers and their communities.
The establishment of the Indigenous Football Australia (IFA) Council has been designed to wholly embrace young Indigenous players, with the Australian Professional Leagues and A-Leagues heavily involved to help facilitate determined change.
As the overarching body overseeing the strategic direction of JMF, the IFA has initiated a council to help create exponential social change through football, expand JMF and ensure more equitable access to the great game of football for grassroots and elite Indigenous players.
The 16-member IFA Council has majority Indigenous membership, and is gender equal, with each member brought onboard to bring their unique, lived experience, skills, aligned values and goals for Indigenous football in Australia. Each is committed to creating tangible, equitable and lasting change.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Soccerscene, IFA Council convenor and JMF Program Director Jamie Morriss discussed the plans and estimated impact of the IFA Council on supporting Indigenous communities around Australia.
What was the process of organising and initiating the Indigenous Football Australia Council like?
Jamie Morriss: We identified strong individuals with a range of skills to support the strategic direction of John Moriarty Football (JMF). We wanted a cross-section of individuals in different professional capacities across media, academia and sport – which includes previous Socceroos and Matildas on the council who we believe are really powerful and can help provide us some fantastic insights and direction for the program moving forward. And obviously Adam Goodes being an Indigenous professional athlete himself, his insight is going to be invaluable to understanding how we can really support players coming through the pathways in our program.
The advisory board includes the likes of APL CEO Danny Townsend, Liberty A-Leagues stars Jada Whyman and Allira Toby, and AFL legend Adam Goodes. How do you feel their experience and knowledge will help to guide the council going forward?
Jamie Morriss: They all bring a fantastic range of experience and knowledge that we can draw on. Obviously, Jada being a current player in and around the Matildas squad means she’s lived and breathed the experience of moving away from home to Sydney for her schooling and to follow her professional pathway in football. This is invaluable because we have scholarship players that we support in Sydney and we hope to grow this initiative and provide more opportunities to Indigenous players from regional and remote areas.
Jada’s lived experience is really important because she’ll be very conscious of what’s needed to be successful in that pathway. Because we know it can be quite difficult to move away from home and not feel as connected to Country and culture and Jada’s definitely someone who can offer support with this.
What is the IFA Council striving for? What is its purpose within football in Australia?
Jamie Morriss: Having expanded our program from two communities in the Northern Territory to 19 of them across three states, our vision is to continue growing and maximising JMF across Australia and providing the benefits to more Indigenous communities.
Eventually we’d like to see the program being offered across each state as a national program. The IFA Council’s purpose is to guide that strategic direction and look at how we can continue to improve the program that we’re currently delivering.
This feels like an overdue step in a positive direction for football in Australia, how is the IFA Council looking to expand on the work done by JMF?
Jamie Morriss: For over a decade, JMF has developed a successful model that uses the power of football to transform the lives of Indigenous children, families and communities. The IFA Council was appointed to help supercharge this success.
The IFA Council members bring expertise across different sections of professional football, media and academia. By leveraging this strength we will be able to expand JMF and also continue to develop all aspects of the program. For instance, having Prof. Gail Garvey – who is a leading Indigenous health researcher – on the IFA Council will hopefully help us improve the health outcomes of our program.
As an expansion to John Moriarty Football, what initiatives will the IFA Council be looking to implement to grow opportunities and create sustainable social change for Indigenous youth and communities?
Jamie Morriss: The main areas the IFA Council will focus on initially is the future growth and sustainability of JMF. They will be providing guidance on measurement and evaluation, new funding streams, strategic partnerships, delivery models, cultural needs of players and best practice delivery.
Another area is considering new regions where JMF could be delivered. Consultation is a really important process as part of how we decide where to deliver our program. We often get calls from different communities, Elders and Traditional Custodians to say that they’d love a program like JMF in their community.
This process obviously takes a lot of decision-making and community consultation which the IFA Council will be able to support. We’re very community-driven so that consultation piece is really important to understand what their needs are and how we tailor our program to suit the community, rather than only providing a generic program.
How has it been seeing the impact of JMF and the IFA on Indigenous communities around Australia?
Jamie Morriss: I’ve been here now for three years and have had the pleasure of being out to the communities that we deliver to and talking closely with community members and key stakeholders. We have an internal measurement and evaluation process in place to make sure we are achieving what the communities would like us to achieve.
In some of the communities we deliver to, before JMF began there were very limited sporting opportunities. For instance, AFL is big in Tennant Creek and many in the community are passionate about the game but that was the only sport that was played until the JMF program started. Now after three years of working with the community and consistently delivering in-school sessions, after school sessions, community events and school holiday clinics – all for free – the game has grown in popularity. Not only that, but schools are seeing an improvement in student attendance and focus, we are providing vital guidance on health & wellbeing, our coaches are role models to the young people and our young players are engaged in a positive and healthy activity.
Local employment is also a really big part of JMF. Some of the communities we deliver the program in have unemployment rates as high as 50 percent. We provide the training to become football coaches with Football Australia coaching accreditations, as well as other professional accreditations and professional development opportunities, including Indigenous Mental Health, First Aid, and Safe Food Handling courses.
When Macarthur FC first entered the A-League they committed to the development of a football academy for Indigenous youths. Unfortunately, it did not come to fruition. Do you see any potential for something similar to be led by JMF and the IFA Council?
Jamie Morriss: I do remember that initiative and I think it was a great vision. JMF has an integrated tiered delivery model.
- Grassroots: Our grassroots program reaches 2,000+ Indigenous children with a football skills program designed to improve school attendance and achieve resilient, healthier outcomes in remote and regional Indigenous communities.
- Advanced players: We provide opportunities for advanced players with additional training sessions and tournaments.
- JMF Scholarships & Pathways: For those showing exceptional talent and dedication to their education we provide scholarship support. This includes school tutoring, placement with a football club plus fees, help with equipment and more.
- Elite players: Extended support facilitating Institute of Sport, A-Leagues, Matildas, Socceroos and International Club pathways.
With guidance from the IFA Council we will consider each of these tiers, how they may be improved or expanded, all through the lens of the Aboriginal worldview and Closing the Gap targets (of which we are currently achieving proven progress in 13 of the 17 targets).
