Fitzroy Lions Soccer Club- Accessible football for everyone
Engaging with governing bodies and community groups (including people from diverse backgrounds) to identify opportunities for welcoming and including new or under-represented groups.
Fitzroy Lions was founded for one simple reason: football should be for free.
The club’s founder Abdulmalik Abdurahman, quickly discovered after arriving in Australia from Ethiopia as an 11-year-old, that it would be very difficult to overcome the financial barriers to playing competitive club-based soccer. Since then, Abdul has devoted himself to creating a pathway to club football for kids who experience the same challenges he did; and Fitzroy Lions was born. Today, FLSC is the only registered Soccer Club in Victoria that provides subsidised uniforms, transport, and registration to all its participants, as needed.
FLSC recognises from engagement with local community groups, local government, and local schools, that the competitive and structured nature of ’mainstream clubs who play in official Football Victoria competitions, for a variety of reasons, were not accessible to all kids in their community.
So, in addition to its competitive teams, Fitzroy Lions now employs its’ youth coaches as leaders in the community by supporting them to deliver school-based clinics and off-street informal football skill development and participation sessions. Sessions are place-based at local schools or in public recreation areas where the communities they serve live.
This alleviates transport and access barriers and meets a direct need to engage local kids in positive activities that promote health and social connectivity.
It also serves a deeper purpose, connecting the club and the community by giving everyone a chance to feel the sense of belonging that we all seek in life.
Whether in the formal competition or casual participation, everyone feels part of the wider Fitzroy Lions club community.
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