Michael O’Loughlin and Adam Goodes’ mission to close the Aboriginal education gap

“What about the person with no sporting ability?” A foundation run by two former Sydney Swans stars aims to close the gap – but they’re not looking for footy players.

• Bullied at school, one thing changed his perspective

Growing up in Salisbury North, Sydney Swans champion Michael O’Loughlin enjoyed a happy childhood – it was “fun-filled, football every hour, basketball every hour”.

Like many other Aboriginal families, though, the O’Loughlins missed out on a few things.

“Five bucks to go to an excursion to the Zoo was five bucks that my mother didn’t have – that went to bread and milk,” he remembers.

These days, 14 years after he retired from an illustrious, 303-game AFL career, O’Loughlin and his Swans teammate Adam Goodes want to help make sure other Aboriginal kids don’t miss out.

They have founded the GO Foundation, which supports 121 students in Adelaide, most of them in the northern suburbs.

“Adam was born and raised in Wallaroo, grew up in Elizabeth and we’ve known each other in Sydney – strange how it all works – now we have the Goodes O’Loughlin Foundation together,” O’Loughlin tells The Advertiser.

Michael O'Loughlin (left) and GO Foundation co-founder Adam Goodes.

The Foundation’s purpose is “empowering through education”. O’Loughlin says finishing school is really important, because it opens up a world of possibilities for younger generations of Aboriginal people.

In 2022, the GO Foundation paid scholarships worth $748,181. O’Loughlin says none are identical – students might be helped with wi-fi connections, tablets, stationary – something that furthers their education.

Perhaps surprisingly for someone named in the AFL Indigenous Team of the Century in 2005 and inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2015, O’Loughlin says, bluntly: “We don’t need any more footballers. That will take its natural course. Sport plays a huge role for our people and will continue to do so.”

The next stage, O’Loughlin says, is business ownership and entrepreneurship. To do that, improving educational outcomes is critical.

“I want to make this really clear, GO Foundation is a non-sporting foundation. It takes no talent to be part of the foundation for our people,” he says.

“I think of all the scholarships that are at the top end of town, there’s a lot of them that if you go to the school you have to play sport. Now that’s fantastic. That’s an opportunity for those people to go and do them and live their dream using their sporting ability.

“But what about for the person who’s got no sporting ability? Why doesn’t the school offer him or her a scholarship? So we’re trying to close that gap.

“There could potentially be the next CEO of a large firm here – you just don't know because they can’t play football.”

Michael O'Loughlin at his Sydney home. Picture: Tim Hunter.

They could be in Adelaide’s north, where O’Loughlin and Goodes grew up. The area has an above-average proportion of Aboriginal people.

According to 2021 Census figures, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise 4.2 per cent of Playford Council’s population of 99,190. This compares to 2.4 per cent of SA’s population and 3.2 per cent of Australia’s

In the Playford Council area, the median Aboriginal family income is $1180, compared to a statewide median of $1340 and national $1527. More than five per cent of Playford’s Aboriginal people have three or more long-term health conditions, compared to a statewide 4.5 per cent and national four per cent.

When the GO Foundation started, O’Loughlin first went to his two old schools – Salisbury North Primary and Paralowie R-12 – to start offering support and scholarships.

“I wanted to knock on the principals’ doors with some good news, instead of bad news, back in the day,” O’Loughlin laughs.

Michael O'Loughlin: “It’s really empowering to see our young people grow.”

Scholarships are issued based on criteria including school attendance, aspiration, cultural identity, giving back and financial need.

Last year, the GO Foundation awarded 282 scholarships in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide – 197 of them were for public high school students. Also in 2022, the Foundation celebrated the graduation of 32 high school students and four university scholars.

“It’s really empowering to see our young people grow. Sport always will be a really central part of our upbringing but there’s so much more out there than sport,” O’Loughlin says.

“We want to show them entrepreneurship, business ownership … we want the next generation becoming CEOs, managing directors, executive directors and running big organisations or starting your own organisation. We need to tell those stories more.”