Well-travelled ball bounces through local club

A footballing equivalent of the Olympic torch has passed through the Devonport peninsula, carrying with it the desire to use the sport as a means for achieving better social outcomes.

A single ball has been taken around the world during the buildup to the Women’s Football World Cup, on a tour of clubs and other organisations in 19 different countries.

In each location, an educational presentation has been given and the ball signed by everyone involved.

More than 10,000 people have signed it on its travels.

Everyone who signs it pledges to “make the world a better place”.

Last week, the ball arrived at Allen Hill Stadium during North Shore United’s holiday programme.

Non-profit organisation Spirit of Football is the custodian of the ball, responsible for organising its journey and creating its related educational programmes.

Its founder, New Zealander Andrew Aris, told the Flagstaff the layering of signatures on the ball was a “potent symbol”.

He said there have been a range of pledges made. A football club in Thailand, for example, promised to do clean-ups of its local beach.

The ball’s journey started in September last year at London’s Battersea Park, where the first official game of football was played in 1864.

On its visit to Devonport, players on the holiday programme played a game of ‘fair football’, in which teams are made up of players of all skill levels; dribbling and tackling are not permitted and music is played.

Aris said fair football allows players of all skill levels to participate evenly and get an equal amount of enjoyment.

Giving young players more time on the ball allows them to build confidence and gets them thinking about playing as part of a team rather than as individuals.

Aris, who is from Auckland, played one season for Shore’s first team in 1996 before going on a sporting scholarship to play for Notre Dame in the United States.

He said he started Spirit of Football to use the “the global language” of football as a tool to promote positive social change. After Devonport, the ball was travelling around other clubs in Auckland and Wellington before heading to Australia for more visits.

North Shore Women’s first-team coach, Jack Collinson, said its Spirit of Football pledges had been to send the same number of women as men on New Zealand Football Federation coaching courses, and long term to grow its women’s game player and coaching base.