John Moriarty Foundation raises school attendance for Indigenous students through soccer
A program born from one talented soccer player’s dreams now reaches 5000 Indigenous children annually, proving sport can revolutionise education outcomes in remote Australia.
In the remote Northern Territory community of Borroloola, soccer is the sport of choice.
Soccer stars like John Kundereri Moriarty, the first Indigenous man selected to play for Australia, and current Central Coast Mariners A-League player Shadeene Evans were both born in the Carpentaria Gulf town.
And it is soccer that’s also boosting Indigenous attendance in Borroloola and beyond.
Indigenous Australian students attend school much less than their peers.
In 2025, the national attendance rate was 88.8 per cent, but Indigenous attendance was 12 points lower at 77.2 per cent.
In the NT, the gap is much wider, as Indigenous students on average attend school fewer than six in 10 days, while non-Indigenous students attend close to nine in 10.
The John Moriarty Foundation (JMF) hopes to tackle this problem with soccer, combining training and wellbeing support to boost Indigenous attendance.
Launched in 2012, JMF co-founder Yanyuwa man John Moriarty said he hoped the impact soccer had on his own life would shape future generations of Indigenous students.
“Football changed the trajectory of my life,” he said.
“We wanted to use the power of football to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls in a way that would positively impact their health, education, wellbeing and connection to country.
“We began with a pilot program in Borroloola delivering an after school football program to 120 children.
“Today, John Moriarty Football reaches more than 5000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children annually in 15 public schools across 17 remote and regional communities in Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.”
An independent study by Deloitte found the program is effective.
It found 72 per cent of participants were excited to attend school when JMF sessions are offered, leading to students attending one to two days extra each week where previously they had been absent.
JMF coach and Garrwa woman Roxanne Jangala, 42, is on the ground in Borroloola.
She said the program delivers more than soccer.
“We also make sure they eat and cook meals with them,” she said.
“We encourage the kids to go to school so they can do trips out of Borroloola for tournaments.
“I tell them going to school will get them places.
“I love seeing a smile on their face when they’re having a good session.”
JMF ambassador and former A-League Women’s player Allira Toby travels to communities with the Foundation to support coaches.
“What we do on the ground is so important,” she said.
“One of the biggest successes is getting kids into school and keeping them in school.
“We’re having a great impact on getting kids to school and keeping them there, purely because of the program we deliver.”
Mr Moriarty said more investment could help the successful program to grow.
“With further investment we can grow John Moriarty Football’s impact and capacity to transform lives,” he said.
“We can create ripples of change that start with ‘a child, a football, a dream’, and flow outwards to impact families, communities and the nation, creating opportunity and unlocking potential.”
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Originally published as John Moriarty Foundation raises school attendance for Indigenous students through soccer
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