John Moriarty on Indigenous Football Week: the sport ‘can give kids a breakthrough with their lives’

At 85, the first Aboriginal man to be selected for Australia is still campaigning to raise funds for John Moriarty Football’s programs across Australia, writes Tom Smithies.

The excitement levels on board the team bus hit maximum as it pulls out of Borroloola in the Northern Territory, and they barely dip for the next eight hours as a dozen or so footballers and five coaches make their way to one of the more unique away games you could imagine.

The team of children from Borroloola and neighbouring Robinson River will wear the shirt of the John Moriarty Foundation (JMF) with pride the next day, adding yet another chapter to the remarkable stories that the JMF has been part of since it was established a decade ago by Moriarty, the first Aboriginal footballer to be selected to play for Australia, and his wife Ros Moriarty.

So remote is Borroloola that Katherine is the nearest population centre where the JMF kids can get a competitive match against players they aren’t training with every day. And so a team whose members have met a variety of criteria around school attendance and positive behaviour will make the long drive, spend the night on the floor of a sports hall on sleeping mats, then play games the next day before returning home.

Each trip reinforces the way the JMF programs and coaches on the ground have become enmeshed in communities across three states, using football as a way of improving lives in myriad ways. A decade ago Moriarty, acutely aware of how football shaped his life, decided with Ros to create a program that could offer others the same opportunities.

From a pilot project with around 120 children in Borroloola, the JMF programs now take in some 2000 children a term – and if the private fundraising on which it relies could increase, so too would the number of JMF projects across the country.

“Today, we have John Moriarty Football training Aboriginal kids across Australia, that’s in the Dubbo region, Kuranda region, Northern Territory in Borroloola, Robinson River, Tennant Creek, and all those areas that we have our program,” says Moriarty. “Of course, we would like to expand to all other parts of Australia because we get asked to have our training programs get to the Aboriginal kids throughout the country. But we don’t have the funding to do that.”

Donate to JMF here.

That’s why Indigenous Football Week (IFW) is such an important annual initiative for the JMF, in showcasing its work and inviting football fans to make donations and support its work. This year the A-Leagues clubs have become partners of IFW, and will use a variety of activities at games this weekend to promote it.

At 85, Moriarty continues to advocate with passion and energy for the JMF, having already spent much of his life campaigning to improve the standing of Aboriginal people and create opportunities to speed that process along.

John Moriarty playing in the 1950s.

A member of the Stolen Generations himself, taken from school and sent across the country aged four, Moriarty credits football for changing the course of his life in his teens, when his talent was spotted at a scratch game between the boys of the church-run home he lived in and the SA state youth team.

Moriarty was eventually picked for that state team himself, and then for Australia, though a combination of FIFA politics and a serious knee injury meant he was never able to actually make his debut.

But Moriarty found a welcome from the myriad immigrant groups playing football in Australia that helped him see the world and understand its possibilities. The JMF programs are his way of trying of trying to give as many other children as possible the same perspective.

At the grassroots, locally employed and trained coaches deliver football programs for children from toddler age through to teenagehood; working in partnership with schools, parents and community leaders, those programs emphasise messages around school attendance, healthy eating and positive behaviour.

JMF Technical Director Jamie Morriss (back row, left) with a team playing in Katherine.

For the better players there is a level of advanced coaching that would almost certainly not otherwise be available, and a variety of scholarships from local to national level support those with real talent to pursue their footballing dreams.

“My wife and I, when we got married and had our kids, we thought it’d be a great thing for our kids to take on football, but also to set up our John Moriarty Football program for Aboriginal kids because football gave me such a great start,” John Moriarty says. “We thought, we can give all our kids a great start.

“Because the game, football, gave me such a great start, we would like the same program to go for the kids, the Aboriginal kids that won’t have that sort of coverage. And I think our game is the best game for Aboriginal because they can achieve at the international level. They can not only play at the local community level, but for the state and for the nation. And hopefully, if they’re good enough to play overseas in those great teams in Europe.”

The JMF programs expanded significantly around three years ago under technical director Jamie Morriss, often to be found behind the wheel of that bus driving to Katherine.

“As a holistic program, we know that football’s the driver that keeps them coming to the sessions, but we (can) encourage healthy eating by providing fresh cut fruit and vegetables each session, we actually do hot meals as well in our after school sessions.

“So the kids go home, with a nice full stomach ready to prepare for the next day of school and football. And we do some health messaging as well around the program to encourage drinking plenty of water for hydration, the importance of eating a balanced diet, particularly as sports athletes, you need to make sure you’re eating well to help your body recover.

“Another component is breathing exercises, to support the children with their self emotional regulation, which is really important to give them a toolkit really to manage those emotions in their day to day life, particularly when they go back into the classroom ready to focus for learning.”

John Moriarty was nominated for NSW Senior Australian of the Year last week, further recognition for a life throughout which, with his wife Ros, he has campaigned for indigenous rights but also to drive awareness and appreciation of Aboriginal culture.

His dream is to see increasing numbers of Aboriginal children follow him into the elite levels of Australian football, and create role models to inspire each generation.

“One of our stars, a good example of what we can achieve, is Shay Evans (recently signed with Sydney FC) – she’s from Borroloola, she hardly went to school when she was there. But when she came down to Sydney (on a JMF Scholarship) to be coached, she just blossomed. She did schooling and now she’s doing a university course.

John Moriarty with Young Matilda (and new Sydney FC signing) Shay Evans.

“She was with the young Matildas, she played interstate and overseas. We hope that many other kids will come through the program, that the game gives such a great breakthrough with their lives. And hopefully it’ll get them to go and achieve more than what the kids in Borraloola can do.” 

Indigenous Football Week is being held 24 to 30 October and will unite the Indigenous football community to celebrate “Mayamantharra: Partnerships for Success”, highlighting the power of working together to improve young Indigenous players’ access to the life-changing benefits of football.

A-Leagues celebrates IFW22 as a proud partner. IFW22 will be the centerpiece of the Round 4 of the Isuzu UTE A-League Men 2022/23 season. Each match will include a Welcome to Country ceremony, a celebration of Indigenous culture and the opportunity for fans to join our story and donate to further the work of JMF.