Ngongotaha AFC’s CR1 project has been gifted a special ball by international football-for-good organisation, Spirit of Football.  

Spirit of Football use football as a social tool to connect people, to work with refugees and migrant communities, to fight against extremism, and to integrate intellectually disadvantaged people.

Based in Germany, the non-profit was set up by former New Zealand U-20 international Andrew Aris. 

Ngongotahā AFC is striving to remove economic barriers that stop Rotorua children playing football. The club launched its Children First (CR1) football project in October.

Last weekend, Ngongotaha AFC hosted Aris who gave an official endorsement of the CR1 project, and gifted a Spirit of Football ball to the club. CR1 is the first project to be endorsed by Spirit of Football in the Oceania region. 

Aris was welcomed to Rotorua with a pōwhiri at Ōwhata Marae on Friday January 24. The next day, an open day was held at the club’s Stembridge Road grounds, with FairPlay game sessions led by Aris for children and parents. 

Image: Trevor Johnston / Andrew Aris runs a workshop at Ōwhata Marae

The ball was signed by many of the volunteers and participants, including Rotorua’s Mayor, Tania Tapsell, and former MP, Tāmati Coffey.

Ball signing follows a specific process every time: participants are asked to gently head the ball, sign it and make a pledge. 

Mayor Tapsell pledged to support programmes that support everybody in Rotorua to improve health and wellbeing. 

The CR1 ball will be kept at the Ngongotaha AFC clubrooms, and will be used in future initiatives by the club aimed at removing barriers to participation in football.

 

Andrew Aris (4th from left, back row) with Aaron Lawrence (3d from left, back row) and Trevor Johnston (2nd from kleft, back row) and FairPlay workshop participants

Spirit of Football

Spirit of Football is supported by the FIFA foundation, and former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp who has been the FairPlay Ambassador since 2014.

Spirit of Football delivers a range of educational workshops and programmes around the world. 

Since 2002, their ‘DNA’ project has been “The Ball” - football’s equivalent of the Olympic Torch. Every four years, several months before the FIFA World Cup, the ball travels from the birthplace of the modern rules football, Battersea Park in London, to the host country. 

Each journey takes months and crosses several continents, spreading a message of unity and promoting access to football, through workshops and educational sessions. 

2023 was the first time The Ball travelled to a FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Ball travelled through 20 countries and collected more than 10,000 signatures from people who made pledges of support for gender equality and climate change awareness, arriving in New Zealand before the Opening Ceremony.

Spirit of Football is funded by the Adidas Foundation and the FIFA Foundation. They are part of the Common Goal football for good movement.

Andrew Aris running a FairPlay workshop

FairPlay

A Spirit of Football ball is a symbol of fair play and respect for each other, and for the environment. It is handmade in Kenya, with recycled African leather, and it has all seventeen of the United Nations sustainable development goals written on it. 

A FairPlay workshop is delivered on the pitch. Aris is a skilled facilitator, asking questions to get participants thinking about what being inclusive, respectful and supportive looks like. 

WaiBOP Football’s Women’s Development Officer, Nat Broadhead, said: “I loved that Andrew focused intently on the social/emotional aspects of football and seamlessly integrated this into the festival of games he delivered.”

Andrew Aris running a FairPlay workshop in Rotorua

Children First (CR1)

Ngongotahā AFC president Aaron Lawrence said the club’s goal was to, “Empower young people to play football and have fun.” 

The club wants to help children improve their health and develop their social, educational, and leadership skills, through football. 

“We’re trying to remove as many barriers as possible from participation,” says Lawrence.

The programme is open to all children in Rotorua aged 3-13, and still has vacancies.  

There are no criteria to meet, or hoops to jump through. 

The club does ask that players register, so they can ensure they have enough coaches, equipment and food. 

In September, the New Zealand Community Trust awarded the club a $21,060 grant for the programme.
CR1 co-founder and Ngongotaha AFC first team coach Trevor Johnston said football was an expensive sport for many families and the new programme was a way to address that.

“If you consider that there are fees, and then there’s equipment and transport.

“We feed [the children] on a Saturday morning first when they arrive... so they’re not running around with a grumbling tummy and hungry.”

They are also offered a free bus service to pick the children up on Saturdays.

Football For All

WaiBOP Football and Football For All ran a programme in Rotorua in 2024 in partnership with Ngongotaha AFC, as a pilot for CR1.

The 2024 Football For All project enabled a group of local tamariki to form a team and enter a local Rotorua junior league.

Support from Football For All provided funding for a coach, Hayden Chapman, who ran one training session plus game day each week. 

The initiative also provided support for a minivan for transport to and from training and games, and provided kit for the players.

The Football For All programme is delivered in partnership between WaiBOP Football, Capital Football and the Wellington Phoenix, has the primary aim of fostering inclusion, participation and hauora by using football as a vehicle. 

A significant partnership with funder New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) for the next three years, along with continued support from Football For All funders, including the Lloyd Morrison Trust, Up Foundation, New Balance, and New Zealand Police, the programme is estimating to remove barriers for almost 8,000 rangatahi and tamariki across the country to access some form of football or futsal.
 

WATCH: Video of the journey of The Ball to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The Ball website

Spirit of Football Website

Article added: Thursday 30 January 2025