Overseeing the strategy and expansion of Australia’s most successful and longest-running Indigenous football initiative, John Moriarty Football.
4,000+
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children will access JMF
36
Remote & regional communities across Australia
42
Public school partnerships for in-curriculum football sessions
Guided by an expert advisory council, Indigenous Football Australia (IFA) will unlock the potential of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and communities across Australia.
IFA will broaden the benefits of John Moriarty Football to create more equitable access to the great game of football for grassroots and elite players.
Through football, IFA is creating sustainable social change and providing pathways to improved physical and mental health, wellbeing, education and community engagement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and boys, families and communities.
Indigenous Football Australia will oversee the strategy and national expansion of Australia’s most successful and longest-running Indigenous football initiative, John Moriarty Football (JMF).
Building on a decade of successful operations, JMF will reach all states to create more equitable access to the great game of football for grassroots and elite players, together with improved physical and mental health, wellbeing, education and community engagement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and boys, families and communities.
The 16 member IFA Council has majority Aboriginal membership, and is gender equal. Each member brings unique, lived experience plus skills, aligned values and goals for Indigenous football in Australia. Each is committed to creating tangible, equitable and lasting change.
The IFA Council’s key focus is the benefits that flow from football for talent pathways and for social impact amongst Indigenous children, families and communities.
“The diversity and strengths of this Indigenous-led Council are unparalleled.” – Yanyuwa man John Moriarty AM, IFA Council Member, JMF Co-Founder/Co-Chair, and the first Indigenous footballer to be selected for Australia
IFA oversees the JMF Scholarships and Pathways Program that provides a life-changing pathway for talented young footballers aged 10-18 years in our grassroots JMF program.
JMF offers two types of scholarships. Firstly, a Sydney Scholarships Program for talented young Indigenous footballers to attend some of Australia’s top schools and undertake intensive football training in Sydney. Secondly, our Community Scholarships Program for promising young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander footballers in regional communities.
IFA oversees the annual Indigenous Football Week. Since 2015, Indigenous Football Week has celebrated our Indigenous football heroes already kicking goals and paved the way for the new stars of the future. The week is all about the power of football to create change for good.
Indigenous Football Week brings the football community together to support inclusion, cultural recognition and diversity. Together we can create pathways that led to positive change and close the gap.
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