North Shore United
July 12th
North Shore United in Devonport, Auckland, really pulled out all the stops for their old boy and The Ball – reserving a special parking spot for us and feeding us delicious toasted sandwiches, hot chips and hot cocoa with chocolate fish!
Andrew played football with North Shore United in their Summer National League in 1995, and my impression was that not much has changed: the club is a warm, welcoming place supported by loyal members of the community who have a passion for football and for encouraging kids to take up the sport.
We had come to talk about The Ball and its journey and to play a bit of Fairplay football with about 50 kids aged 7 to 13 who were spending their school holiday with the club. Ever humble, The Ball forewent its parking place at the front door, which then became the rain-vulnerable dropping point for 100 teeny, muddy cleats.
The kids were well familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and quickly recognised them on our ‘before (signatures)’ ball. The rain that hammered down while we were giving our presentation seemed perfectly timed for the kids’ responses to Andrew’s question: ‘Have you guys been affected by climate change?’ Like other kids we’ve met in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland, these had had direct and recent experience of flooding and cyclone damage – the club itself had a roped off number of no-go areas made too swampy by the higher-than-usual water table.
These kids recognise the consequences of changes in the climate and had lots of good ideas about what actions they could take to, as one rogue underage (four-and-a-half-year- old) boy said, ‘take better care of the environment.’ While the kids were keen to do the thing (head/pledge/sign The Ball), they also wanted to play, and as the skies cleared, we took the older group out for a game of Fairplay football.
As we’ve seen before, boys outnumbered girls on the pitch – of the 50 kids, 8 were girls. As Jack Collinson, coach of the North Shore Women’s Team explained, whereas boys join the holiday football program just to play, girls typically sign up if they have a friend to join with. The club offered a separate training session for girls during the camp that they recruit quite actively to fill.
On the pitch, as teams were organised and Fairplay football rules were explained, the reluctance of the girls to play with the boys – or even contribute to naming the teams or creating a celebratory action – was palpable. It felt to me like the boys weren’t being actively exclusive – they just didn’t even SEE the girls. As the green, pink, orange, and blue teams rotated from one match to another, and girls reported that nobody had passed the ball to them, we ultimately set an expectation that every player on each team should touch the ball at least twice in the short 7-minute games.
I can see that, for both kids and adults, taking action to live more sustainably is more straightforward than doing the same to achieve gender equality. However, Jack’s pledge, made on behalf of North Shore United, can show us all a way forward. Every year, the club covers the costs for members to travel to Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara Wellington to attend a special coaching training. In the past, these grants have been made on a first-come, first-served basis, and young men have typically been the first to put their hands up. Inspired by the Spirit of Football, North Shore United has pledged to send an equal number of men and women to this training each year.
This is a pledge that will not only have a direct impact on the men and women who get to learn to coach, but also on future generations of football players, who will have more female coaches to look up to. Those who play with North Shore United will also be able to play for a club that knows that welcoming ALL players often takes a bit of extra effort.
Takapuna Grammar
A few days later, we held a Fairplay workshop with Takapuna Grammar School, a school closely associated with North Shore United. Our participants were the girls’ and boys’ first elevens. We talked about The Ball’s story and had some great Fairplay Football games. All students made pledges like hanging clothes on a rack rather than using a dryer or taking colder showers. Maya, who also had been part of the North Shore workshop, pledged to
keep coaching and and inspiring young girls in my community to play football
and coach Aaron pledged to
every year do a clean up with North Shore United and Takapuna Grammer.
SDG speed dating
Fairplay football with trash handicap
Some headers
Maya pledging on coaching and inspiring girls in he rcommunity to play football
Coach Aaron pledging to do a clean up each year