Spirit of Football: The Ball brings education workshops to football clubs and schools

The Ball has travelled from London to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, bringing education workshops focusing on inclusion, gender equality and sustainability to football clubs and schools.

The unique FairPlay Football method allows for different age groups and skill levels to play football together in a relaxed atmosphere. And when the  participants are as amazing as the young people we met at Lynfield College and Wellington Girls’ College, an inclusive football game involving special needs students or a German Ambassador can take place easily! And if you wonder how a school can truly embrace diversity, just visit Stanhope Road School.

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The Ball at Lynfield College in Auckland (19th and 20th July)

By Andrew Aris, Kiwi-born and Germany-based President of Spirit of Football

German teacher Mirjam Wradatsch jumped at the opportunity to host The Ball and signed up 22 German students of diverse ethnic backgrounds from years 9 to 11 at Lynfield College in multicultural Mt Roskill, Auckland, for a two-day workshop with The Ball. A highlight for students and for the school was that TVNZ sent a film crew to report on the story. 

The workshop, during which we talked about sustainability, gender equity, and played FairPlay Football, took place in Denglisch, a fun mixture of German (Deutsch) and English. We from Spirit of Football are based in Germany but have made Denglisch our official language since many internationals are part of our organisation, such as me (Andrew), 17-year-old Paul, my son who was visiting from Germany, helped to facilitate the workshop and was able to connect to the participants who were of a similar age. He acted as DJ - playing German music in the background while we talked about life in Germany, the Sustainable Development Goals and of course - the Football World Cup.

Mirjam, who is also a Special Needs teacher, included special needs kids in the FairPlay Football games. Although some of the Lynfield students might have previously not been too excited about sport, they increased in confidence during the matches. Because the rules level the playing field, all students played together with surprise and laughter – and a few a-ha moments occurred too: having conducted a clean-up of the school earlier, the kids had collected enough rubbish for us to use as a handicap. We called out “Freeze” and this rubbish was dumped onto one of the two pitches (you should have seen the look on their faces) and the children had to play around it. 

Meanwhile, the teams on the other field were experiencing a different handicap: players were asked to freeze, and all the boys were sent off of the field, where they were encouraged to cheer on the girls who then had the game to themselves.

Playing through and reflecting upon these so-called ‘handicaps’ are a vital part of our workshops. The students talked about how they felt when their games suddenly changed and realised why we had done this: rubbish on the playing field brought home that waste is not someone else’s problem, and boys excluded from the game shared an experience that girls the world over continue to face in sports and other fields. Having experienced FairPlay Football and the unsustainable and inequitable practices that disrupt the game, the kids realised how important it is to ensure that everyone can play, and to play fair not only with people, but also with the only planet we have. 

The Ball at Stanhope Road School in Ellerslie (21st July)

By Andrew Aris, Kiwi-born and Germany-based President of Spirit of Football

A new record: 500 signatures in one day! At Stanhope Road School, we collected the most signatures on The Ball on any day on the journey so far.

Interest in The Ball’s arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand spread quickly, and a TV breakfast show reached out to us several days before the opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup to find a time to catch The Ball in action with a group of young people. We arranged for them to come along to our visit to Stanhope Road Primary School the day after the opening matches of the World Cup, which they agreed would be excellent timing for such a story. The Ball and the school prepared to host the reporters and their cameras: permission was collected from parents and the children who were planning to attend the opening game at Eden Park were asked to prepare to speak to camera.

However, as so often happens all over the world, a negative news story involving violence bumped the story of The Ball. On the day of the opening match, a shooting took place in

Auckland, and producers for the breakfast show decided to make space to report on this on the following day instead of meeting The Ball and the kids at Stanhope Road.

Undaunted by this turn of events, the pupils and teachers at Stanhope Road warmly welcomed The Ball – our tightly scheduled day was brilliantly supported by Araav, a young pupil who managed the whole process. Under Araav’s capable guidance, The Ball visited every single class and nearly every child and teacher signed The Ball: 500 people in total. Their active participation made this the single day of the entire journey with the most signatures and pledges, with every class making their own class pledges. 

We often ask the people we meet to translate our motto – ‘One Ball, One World’ – into their language. At Stanhope Road, we heard it in Vietnamese, Hindi, Filipino, Afrikaans, Malaysian, Māori and many more. We heard these variations as an expression of the school’s diversity as well as a reflection of the way they embrace multiculturality. For example, many terms are written in Māori in the class rooms and Maori verses are included in the assembly openings.

It was a beautiful day, full of youthful energy and enthusiasm and commitments in the form of social and environmental pledges from young people and teachers. It ended with The Ball being presented to the entire school assembly and school Principal Jesse Lee signing The Ball and pledging on behalf of the school’s teachers to continue to teach sustainability at Stanhope Road School. As a sign of our appreciation for their preparation and participation, we handed the Principal a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ball that will remain in the school and be used by teachers in sustainability education in the future.

The Ball at Wellington Girls’ College (26th July)

By Kristin Lush, American-Kiwi, Auckland based, newest addition to the Spirit of Football team 

It’s so easy for me and others who love sport to see the connection between The Ball journey, the Spirit of Football, and Football for Good. We really get how sport unites people.

We see how a ball with over 11,000 signatures collected from people from 20 countries represents the commitment humans have to make their world a better place for everyone. Whether it’s a kid from a football club or the on-the-scene interviewer of a breakfast show (James Fleury from TV3, who never played football but identifies as an athlete – a swimmer), people for whom sport has been enriching get The Ball.

However, there are lots of people for whom sport has been a source of anxiety. These people were, at some time or another, excluded from play, shamed for their lack of skills, and discouraged from participation.

It has been so powerful for me to witness how The Ball, slowly but surely, has helped these people shift their tentativeness, embarrassment, and even grudges against sport because they were picked last for a team because they ‘weren’t good enough’. The Ball invites enthusiasm and joy to take the place of these feelings – I saw this many times in Whānganui-a-tara Wellington.

The non-sporty students at Wellington Girls’ College (like those at Lynfield College in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland) had watched the video about the 2022-2023 journey so far and loved the idea of making pledges. However, many balked when asked to do the head-the-ball part and stood shyly in the pre-FairPlay-Football circle before the game.

The German Ambassador to Aotearoa, Nicole Menzenbach, also joined us at Wellington Girls’. She was clearly excited to meet The Ball and connect with students learning to speak German. However, when we told her the pledge involved doing a header and that we hoped she’d join in on the FairPlay Football match, she also expressed uncertainty.

However, The Ball has a special power. Perhaps it’s the layered, multicoloured signatures that transform The Ball from a familiar piece of sporting equipment into a work of art – something completely different, intriguing, and inviting that says: ‘Yes, your name belongs here, too.’ OR it’s the pop music that we play nice and loud on the portable speaker that accompanies The Ball. OR it’s the way that the rules of FairPlay Football make it a fun, energising game that is truly for everyone. OR it’s the fact that your pledge can be anything –  it can be a promise to continue to do the good things you’re already doing for people and the planet, you can do it alone or with friends, and it can be ‘easy’. Some of the students, for example, pledged to be ‘tidy Kiwis’ or ‘be vegetarian’ and one girl pledged to hold political leaders accountable.

The kids at Wellington Girls’ all stepped up, did their headers and pledges, and played FairPlay Football. In their after-match feedback circle, they shared how great it was to be able to play, all together, regardless of ability, and know that everyone was having a good time.

The Ambassador just beamed from the moment she put on her pink bib to join Team Flamingoes in the first FairPlay football match – and then subbed in with a yellow bib to join Team Gelb (yellow in German) in the second. After having played two matches, any hesitation to do the header had evaporated – she did the thing like a pro. They all did. 

The Ball had worked its magic.

From my experiences at Lynfield and Wellington Girls’ Colleges with the team from Spirit of Football, I reckon that, in addition to encouraging commitment to sustainability, equity and inclusion, The Ball has the capacity to transform attitudes towards sports more broadly. What changes can we make to the rules of the games we play, starting now, to make them playable by all? What changes can we make to the way we support our teams – from primary school to national competitions –  to celebrate the playing over the winning?

It’s not easy to celebrate the goals of the ‘other’ team. However, before the beginning of the NZ v Philippines match played on 25 July in Te Whānganui-a-tara Wellington, a cameraperson spotted and broadcasted a sign in the crowd that said: ‘I JUST HOPE BOTH TEAMS HAVE FUN!’ I tried to keep that sentiment in mind the entire game, even though I desperately wanted New Zealand to build on their victory against Norway and beat the Phillippines.

Unfortunately for me, they didn’t. But, in the Spirit of The Ball and inspired by that hopeful sign, I congratulated the fans of the Philippines team as we exited the stadium. You know what? It felt great! Why wallow in my loss, when I can, instead, acknowledge my competitor’s happiness?

It really is only a game.