Student Number: 39856956
John Moriarty Foundation
About John Moriarty Foundation
John Moriarty Foundation (JMF), founded by John Moriarty, the first Aboriginal person to represent Australia in football, is an initiative which uses soccer to create a positive learning environment with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It has major impacts on health, wellbeing, culture and connection to Country.
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By creating this foundation, John hopes to see many more Aboriginal sportspeople representing Australia like him. Just like his experiences with football as a child, he also hopes to see his foundation and football create change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and allow them to have quality education and experience healthy lives.
What the foundation provides
Reaching 19 communities across regional and remote NT, QLD, and NSW, 15 public schools every week, and coaching 2000+ kids each week, John Moriarty Foundation has had a profound impact on many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids and communities.
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Over the Foundations two programs, John Moriarty Football and Indi Kindi, they have programs for ages 2-18 years of age.
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Indi Kindi is a early childhood program for children under 5 years of age living in remote Aboriginal communities which encompasses health, wellbeing, education and childhood development with culturally relevant learning on Country to ensure that Aboriginal children are thriving from a young age.
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Moriarty Football provides football clinics and tournaments to primary and secondary schools in areas such as Cairns, Gordonvale, Yarrabah, Mossman, Kuranda and Mareeba where coaches foster a positive environment to teach kids skills for football and allow them to practice and continue these skills in ongoing sessions and games.
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Along with giving valuable skill and game training, coaches also provide kids with healthy meals and snacks, professionally designed by a sport dietician to include and target the nutrietnts which are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are very often missing from their diets, as well as teaching them about the value of the nutritional eating. They also educate the children of other health and wellness topics, such as sleep, exercise, nutrition, and self-regulation strategies, using local health networks to teach this essential health information.
Pathways in JMF
John Moriarty Football (JMF) strives to support every level of talent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to ensure that all kids have the opportunity to participate in football, having fun and connecting with many people while improving their health and many other outcomes. To ensure that the foundation is able to cater for all abilities, there are many pathways from grassroots to elite, ensuring that there is something for everyone.
Starting at grassroots, John Moriarty Football provides permanent access to football in the communities which they operate in, providing lessons to primary and secondary schools 5-6 days per week. They provide this through a variety of methods such as in and after school, holiday clinics and tournaments.
The next pathway is for advanced players who get the opportunity to go through selection for representative regional pathways.
Talented players have access to a club and two of the school scholarship pathway offered through JMF Scholarships and Pathways Program. This includes Sydney Scholarship Program where they are able to attend top schools in Sydney as well as with the opportunity to have intense football training in Sydney and their Community Scholarships Program which provides training for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander footballers in regional communities such as one on one tutoring, school supplies, a placement with a JMF partnered football club as well as football equipment and travel support. This includes one-on-one tutoring, equipment and stationery for school, a placement with a JMF-partnered football club in the area, football equipment and travel support.
At the highest level of football, elite players have pathways to A-Leagues, Matildas, Socceroos and International Club pathways.
Wiradjuri artist, Amanda Hinkelmann
Impact of JMF
By supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in many aspects of health and wellness, specifically through teaching skills through the sport of football, John Moriarty Foundation has created significant change throughout the communtities in which is has reached, achieving proven progress in 11 of the 17 Closing the Gap targets such as life expectancy, healthy birth weights, and early childhood education.
They have created a way for talented players to have their abilities showcased and recognised with many pathways for all levels of ability. For example, Jada Whyman and Shadeene Evans were able to be selected for the Women's A-League because of the Moriarty Foundations scholarship and have given many more children the opportunity to develop their skills to become very talented players. There are so many undiscovered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander with a lot of talent, and without the foundation, they never would have been discovered. On a social level. the foundation has helped in building a community with shared interests and love of football and given young Aboriginal players a sense of commitment and fun.
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The foundation also has a record of improving behaviour in schools and school attendance where education is also another very important aspect in Aboriginal children's lives.
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It is very important to have a foundation like this as it supports all Aboriginal children, allowing everyone to be included, giving a high number of children the ability to reap the benefits of football.
Government Support
In 2023, Federal funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) granted John Moriarty Foundation $5.5 million to allow the foundation to continue improving health and education outcomes in rural and remote communities. This grant was allowed because of the recognition of the immense success that JMF has achieved in Aboriginal communities, presenting a culturally relevant and appropriate model of teaching.
“This gives us confidence that the nation shares our commitment to breaking the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage for Indigenous children and young people,” said Moriarty Foundation Co-Chair, Ms Ros Moriarty.