Mainland Football visited Bromley School last week to give out a free football to every Year One pupil ahead of a new initiative in 2024.

The aim will be to give out a free football to 5 year old children when they first start school, giving them a ball each to take home and enjoy! So far through the support of New Zealand Football , over 600 footballs have been pledged for next year’s giveaway but Mainland Football are hoping that through the support of the local community this can be increased to over 1,000. The sized 3 footballs will be given out to partnered schools and prioritised according to Equity Index measures, with the hope of growing the access for all children in our region to enjoy playing football and sport at home.  

“The free football giveaway is our way of engaging local Tamariki and supporting access for all to playing sport at home , in the garden or at the local park,” Adam Keizer (Community Development Manager) explained. “This year we also gave out over 200 mini footballs to local Play Centres in Canterbury and Marlborough and next year we want to grow this by giving out over 1,000 brand new footballs to Year One pupils in schools across the region. It was great that we were able to kick start this initiative prior to 2024 by visiting Bromley School and you can see from the smiles on the children’s faces the impact it can have. Together, New Zealand Football and Mainland Football have pledged over 600 footballs to give out across our community next year and if we can get a few sponsors and the local football whanau to support , I reckon we can get that up to over 1,000 free football in homes across the community, which would be pretty awesome to see!”

For more information on how you can support and get involved with the free football giveaway in 2024 please contact adam@mff.nz

Article added: Tuesday 19 December 2023