The Most Extraordinary Experience
Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, School of Population Health, Anne, runs the Football United Program based at the University. She founded Football United in 2006 and now dedicates her time to investing in ‘football for good’ by acting as the international liaison and running the strategic direction for Football United Australia, whilst overseeing Football United Myanmar. In addition to this, Anne is involved with the Common Goal network on a number of committees and has been elected Community Chair to the Common Goal Congress. In Anne’s words she is, “pursuing her passion for ‘football for good’.”
Anne has a rich history within the ‘football for good’ sector. One of her most memorable experiences with the festival program was during the Football for Hope Festival in 2010. Taking place in Johannesburg that year, it was an absolute dream for Anne to be able to first go to a World Cup, and then secondly, “to have the opportunity to bring eight young people, many of them refugees from Africa, to their very first trip back to Africa, to something so exciting.” Anne also remembers the fact the 2010 World Cup was the first World Cup to be hosted in Africa and was something really special. She recalls the entire African continent being, “really engaged, really excited about this, and so all this passion came together to the most extraordinary experience.”
The reason this was all so special according to Anne, was because of the people behind these experiences.
“For people involved in ‘football for good’, it’s the ultimate opportunity to come together during the most powerful time of football, whether it be Men’s Football or Women’s Football, and therefore the impact and the experience of these festivals is heightened. I mean bringing people together is always a good thing when you're orchestrating positive social change. But when you’re doing it at the pinnacle of the sport and experience, it's just beyond explanation.”
By using “specially designed football activities to promote positive social change,” Anne saw the goals and passions of her peers come to fruition and inspire young people across the globe.
Anne’s most impactful memory from the Football from Hope Festival in 2010 occurred during the opening parades of the festival. As they walked through the streets of Alexandria as a delegation, Anne recalls the community coming out in droves. The parade continued to the purposefully built stadium for the festival, and seeing this world come together, for her, was “absolutely magical.” The emotional power of the festivals is something Anne feels incredible pride and joy for. “You have to be there to know and experience just how very magic it is, and then you also have to see the power it has when delegations get home and they're remembering and applying all the things they learned to their communities and sharing with their communities. Because of this, Anne says,
“ it’s not just the moments of the festival, it’s the festival and beyond.”
Anne remembers France winning the 1998 World Cup, where she was living at the time, and this being a catalyst for her interest in the life-changing work the ‘sport for good’ world can achieve. She recalls the French team of 98’ enduring much vitriol due to the racial diversity of the team. However, this racial discrimination was quashed by the connection the entire nation felt by basking in the global win their football team had accomplished. It was there at the Champs Elysee, among three million people, during the victory parade that Anne thought,
“Wow, this is like something I’ve never ever seen. This has real power to bring people together.”
A few years later she started her doctorate work in rebuilding health systems post-conflict and explored how ‘sport for good’ can help this issue. And so, the work of building what we now know as Creating Chances and Festival23 began when she thought to, “see if football, The World Game, can be a vehicle to help refugee families and children settle in Australia. That became my thesis topic. That became a very interesting journey at which there are a couple hundred pages that document it, and it became Football United. It’s been my work and my passion ever since.”
Anne hopes to see an increase in programs like Creating Chances, Football United, and Festival23 supported by appropriate resources which enable them to continue and grow. She wants to provide an “easier, rewarding, and more fulfilling” journey to young people. She believes working with young people is important because young people are “the future of any community, country, nation,”, and, “the world.” She thinks that “enabling them to navigate their journey in the most positive, inspiring way is crucial.” Anne wants to inspire young people to, “understand themselves first of all, and then believe in themselves, and believe in the power they have to contribute to a better world. But also inspire them to want to go beyond the self. To want to engage in the collective good and the collective future of their communities or the world.”