Malta FA committed to boosting Football For Life programme

Beyond the competitive aspect, football’s popularity makes it a powerful medium to support and promote good causes, in the process making a very positive contribution to the community. The social and humanitarian aspects are at the heart of Football For Life, the Malta Football Association’s social responsibility programme which is managed by the Association’s Football Social Responsibility (FSR) Committee. The FSR Committee, which is chaired by President Emeritus Dr George Abela, met on Wednesday to review the multitude of social responsibility activities carried out over the past few seasons and discuss the progress of on-going and future initiatives. “Football is a force for good,” Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA President, said. “Social responsibility is a very important part of our work and we remain fully committed to using the power of football as a catalyst to assist and support good causes in a variety of ways. “The last four years have seen a significant increase in the number of FSR activities and projects undertaken by the Malta FA but we want to do more. Going forward, we will be striving to further consolidate our social responsibility work as part of our Football For Life programme.” €1 from every paid entrance ticket for all domestic matches goes into the Football For Life fund. This season alone, the Malta FA allocated a budget of €166,000 for FSR activities and successfully applied for EU funding mostly for the refugees’ inclusion projects – Include Me & I Will Understand, All In All For Football and Play Football Live Football. The annual FSR grant under the UEFA Hat-Trick programme is €50,000 but this is expected to go up to €100,00 from season 2020-21. The Malta FA has, in recent years, financed the installation of five-a-side football pitches at the Corradino Correctional Facility, at the Caritas Rehabilitation Centre in San Blas and at YOURS facility in Mtaħleb. Several NGOs, including the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation, Puttinu Cares, ALS Foundation and Marigold, benefit from annual financial donations, while assistance is also extended to those children whose families don’t have the financial means to enrol them in football nurseries. On-going and future projects include:• Crossbars – in collaboration with the Mtaħleb Correctional Facility• #mytime – project to encourage elderly people to remain active• Kul Futbol – project targeting obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles• VIP Project – live match commentary for partially sighted and blind spectators• HT OUT – Human Trafficking Awareness• Everyone’s Game – awareness campaign to promote inclusion of LGBTIQ athletes in sports• Respect Football Tour – Team MT activities• iFLIPP – inclusion through policy and practice During Wednesday’s meeting, the FSR Committee members approved the planned projects with chairman Dr George Abela stressing that, as the governing body of Maltese football, the Malta FA is duty-bound to keep playing a leading role as far as social responsibility is concerned. The Malta FA’s Football For Life programme started under the presidency of Norman Darmanin Demajo who occupies the role of vice-chairman of the FSR Committee and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the UEFA Foundation for Children. The other vice-chairman is Fr Hilary Tagliaferro, the Youth FA President and founder of the Millennium Chapel.