OUTREACH PROGRAMMES COMMUNITY MATTERS
Football clubs are developing community outreach programmes that address social issues and build greater affinity with local people. Neena Dhillon looks at three clubs promoting health in pioneering ways, and setting an inspiring example to us all
strides to further meaningful community engagement. This has involved football clubs positioning themselves at the heart of their respective communities by delivering programmes that seek to improve the wellbeing of people in their local areas. No longer is this work confined to a coach or player being sent to a school with a bag of footballs; today’s schemes are diverse in their reach and target schoolchildren as well as vulnerable people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. The more advanced community models are based on a not-for-profi t trust or foundation that reports into the parent football club while maintaining its structural and fi nancial independence. Although it will be expected to raise fi nance through core activity strands such
O
ver the past five years the UK’s football industry, backed by its major league and player associations, has taken great
as weekend and holiday football clubs and fi tness facilities, trusts typically receive crucial ‘in-kind’ support including PR, HR, IT, legal and administrative resources. External bodies and corporate sponsors are major sources of funding, and it’s becoming increasingly common for multi-dimensional partnerships to be fostered with organisations such as primary healthcare trusts, the police, local authorities, National Lottery and Comic Relief. Football associations and governing bodies including the Premier League, FA and PFA also play a signifi cant fi nancial role; the Premier League, for example, invested £45m in 2011 to benefi t projects that focused on sports participation, health, education or community cohesion.
DERBY COUNTY IN THE COMMUNITY (DCITC) Derby County Football Club’s award- winning community programme, which
The Movement is Derby County’s fl agship project, addressing the high level of inactivity among teenage girls
achieved charitable trust status in 2008, currently engages over 20,000 adults and children annually, underpinned by funding of £1.3m that has been secured over the past three years from partner organisations. With this fi nancing, DCITC runs football and other physical activity clubs, educational and enterprise initiatives, social inclusion programmes and mental health schemes. Of particular note is The Movement,
Derby County’s community programme currently engages over 20,000 local people 56 Take part in the Health Club Management reader survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQDN2R6
a fl agship project set up by DCITC and Derby City Council in 2008 to address high levels of inactivity among teenage girls aged 11 to 16 years. Supported by the Premier League and PFA, The Movement has provided 3,000 local girls with affordable dance, gym, swim and workout sessions in schools, village clubs and council-run leisure centres; self- esteem courses; a Movement magazine and interactive website providing advice on healthy lifestyles; and access to a course offering a professional insight into multi-media careers. DCITC head of community Simon Carnall explains how the initiative has broken down barriers: “Cost, logistics, self-esteem and body image were some of the factors stopping these young people from being active, so we provided safe, local and girls-only environments where they could exercise at affordable rates [£1–1.75 per class]. We focused on the activities they were interested
January 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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