The John Moriarty Football program has been granted $5.5 million in federal funding to continue its engagement in rural and remote communities. The Moriarty Foundation has welcomed the allocation as it enables the ongoing life-changing work the program facilitates with Indigenous children.
Participants of the John Moriarty Football program. (Image supplied)
Established in 2012 by the Moriarty Foundation, John Moriarty Football (JMF) is an award-winning program that positively engages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people aged 2 to 18 through football.
The program has been allocated $5.5 million in federal funding by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) to continue to engage with Indigenous children based in the rural and remote communities it operates.
In 18 communities across regional and remote New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, more than 5,000 children participate in JMF's in-school sessions, clinics, and gala days each year. In 2024, the program's coaching teams enabled 2,664 hours of physical activity among its participants and provided more than 5,000 nutritious meals.
Moriarty Foundation Co-Founders Ros Moriarty and John Moriarty AM see the funding as not only enabling JMF to continue its work but as an acknowledgement that the program is positively impacting 14 of the 17 socio-economic outcome areas outlined in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Moriarty Foundation Co-Founders John Moriarty AM (left) and Ros Moriarty (right). (Image supplied)
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"We started JMF in 2012 with the goal to use the power of sport and education to open up life-changing opportunities and bring Indigenous kids greater parity with other Australian children, just like it did for me," John Moriarty AM, Australia's first Aboriginal Socceroo, said in a media release.
Ros Moriarty explained how support from the NIAA is recognition of the program's success since being continuously delivered across the past 12 years, with its integrated approach focusing not only on skills mastery but other areas such as encouraging regular school attendance, healthier lifestyles, self-respect and community engagement through football and teamwork.
"This gives us confidence that the nation shares our commitment to breaking the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage for Indigenous children and young people," she said.
"JMF is supporting our young participants to lead healthy, active lives while engaging in education, as well as giving them a safe, inclusive space where they have a greater chance to reach their potential and have a brighter future."
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