Indigenous Football Australia (IFA) has accused FIFA of an “egregious omission” of financial support for the future of Indigenous-led football, despite “ubiquitous Indigenous culture, symbolism, traditional ceremonies and installations at the World Cup”.
In an open letter to the president of FIFA, the Indigenous-led football body urged the organisation to immediately commit financial support from its FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ Legacy ‘23 plan into the future of Indigenous-led initiatives such as John Moriarty Football, the Indigenous Roos and Koalas, the community-led National Teams of First Nations Australia and South Australian Indigenous Football (SAIF).
Earlier this month, FIFA was praised for allowing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to be flown at Australian match venues and the Maori flag to be flown in New Zealand. One of the eight armbands permitted for captains to wear also has the message: ‘United for Indigenous Peoples’.
Nevertheless, Indigenous Football Australia’s letter states that “not a single dollar” from FIFA’s legacy fund of more than $357 million has gone to “organisations that are Indigenous-led, managed and have long carried the burden for First Nations in the Australian game.”
The letter also points out recent comments from Secretary General, Fatma Samoura to the ABC on the intention to use the World Cup as a platform for Indigenous communities.
“I told my colleague Sarai [Bareman] and my deputy we need to highlight the fact that there are issues with the First Nations and with the Māori community in their own land,” said Samoura.
“Because you cannot play the simple game of football by leaving outside the people without whom this nation would not have existed.”
“We cannot come and just play and leave,” she added.
IFA’s letter states, however, that this is “precisely what is about to happen” and calls on FIFA officials to commit to Samoura’s comments through financial support for the future of Indigenaous football participation.
“The privilege to use cultural assets that belong to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community must be predicated on giving back to community-controlled Indigenous football programs so that Indigenous players have somewhere to belong and develop in the game,” the letter states.
It’s been signed by the 15-member IFA council as well, including Craig Foster (Former Socceroo) Kate Gill (Former Matilda) Gema Simon (Former Matilda), Adam Goodes (Dual AFL Brownlow Medallist), Jada Whyman (A-League Women’s Player & current Matilda) and John Moriarty AM (Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Moriarty Foundation), along with many other significant figures across the sporting world.
The Indigenous Football Australia™ (IFA) Council was formed last year to oversee the development of the successful John Moriarty Football (JMF) initiative– the country’s most successful and longest running Indigenous football initiative.
Established in 2012, JMF is named for the first Indigenous player ever selected for Australia, John Moriarty. Each week the initiative trains 2000+ Indigenous children and youth in 19 public schools, in 20 remote and regional communities in Queensland, Northern Territory and New South Wales.
The program is also increasing gender diversity as 50 per cent of JMF participants are girls, and of the sixty coaches employed, half are women and the majority Indigenous.
John Moriarty Football is also the only Australian football initiative ever to have been a finalist in the FIFA Diversity Awards, where its outstanding successes resulted in a Top 3 finish in 2018.
With the start of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, JMF has launched its own campaign called ‘Indigenous Footballers Call Time on Inequality’ with GoFundMe to help raise funding and address the lack of Indigenous football players at the elite levels of the game.
Yanyuwa Man and Co-Founder of the Moriarty Foundation, John Moriarty said: “The Women’s World Cup presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a legacy for Indigenous football in Australia and invest in solutions that will result in exponential social chane and ensure equitable access to football for grassroots and elite Indigenous players.”