 - Current and former international soccer players from Australia's Indigenous community have criticised the lack of legacy funding targeting First Nations football as the country hosts the Women's World Cup. Austral...){kind=link}
By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Current and former international soccer players from Australia’s Indigenous community have criticised the lack of legacy funding targeting First Nations football as the country hosts the Women’s World Cup.
Australia is co-hosting the tournament with New Zealand, but the signatories said on Tuesday that they saw little evidence of funding to increase Indigenous participation in the A$291 million ($196.98 million) ‘Legacy ’23’ plan to grow the game in the country. The letter, addressed to Football Australia and FIFA, said the “ubiquitous Indigenous culture, symbolism, traditional ceremonies and installations” used at the tournament indicated the “central value” of Indigenous culture to football.
“(But) not a single dollar from the legacy program has been committed to organisations that are Indigenous-led, managed and have long…