What The New Zealand Football Foundation Does

For thousands of young people across Aotearoa, the barrier to playing football isn’t motivation or talent – it’s access.

A football might seem like a small thing. But without one, training sessions don’t happen. Informal kick-abouts disappear. Community sessions struggle to run. And for some whānau, even the most basic entry point into the game can feel out of reach.

The New Zealand Football Foundation’s Ball Distribution initiative exists to remove that barrier.

A national commitment to access

To date over 10,600 footballs have been distributed to schools, clubs, federations and community organisations across the country, supporting grassroots football delivery in communities where cost and access remain significant barriers to participation.

These footballs are placed where they are needed most – enabling free and low-cost programmes, supporting informal play, and ensuring young players have the basic equipment they need to play, train and belong.

This effort is not about one-off donations. It’s about creating the conditions for football to happen consistently, inclusively, and locally.

Recent delivery: Northern Region Football

A recent phase of the initiative saw footballs distributed through Northern Region Football, supporting free, community-led football clinics delivered in partnership with local clubs and Auckland FC.

These clinics removed cost as a barrier entirely. Young players were able to take part at no cost, receive kits to take home, and keep NZFF footballs they could continue using in their own communities long after the session ended.

For many participants, this wasn’t just a single afternoon of football – it was an entry point into the game.

Why ball distribution matters

At its core, the Ball Distribution initiative is about eliminating exclusion.

By providing the basics needed to play, the Foundation works alongside federations, clubs and community partners to:

• Remove financial barriers to participation
• Support welcoming, inclusive environments
• Enable informal and formal football activity to thrive
• Strengthen grassroots football delivery across New Zealand

Each football distributed represents time on the pitch, confidence built, friendships formed, and positive experiences that help young people stay involved in the game.

Football historian Barry Smith, alongside his wife Colleen, has spent a lifetime preserving New Zealand’s football history through an extraordinary personal archive spanning over a century of the game. Ahead of downsizing his home, Barry approached the New Zealand Football Foundation (NZFF) seeking support to ensure his collection would not be lost, having explored all other options including disposal.

A visit to his home revealed three rooms filled floor-to-ceiling with scrapbooks, match programmes, newspaper clippings, and photographs dating back to 1899. Far more than a private collection, it represented a meticulously curated record of New Zealand football history, relied upon by clubs and federations for over 60 years.

Recognising its significance, NZFF arranged for the archive to be carefully boxed and stored while options for preservation were explored. Specialist assessment described it as one of the most comprehensive personal sporting archives seen in decades, though full digitisation was estimated to cost between $200,000 and $400,000.

In response, NZFF launched a volunteer-led digitisation programme in early 2025, supported by interns and football enthusiasts. To date, over 25,000 pages have been scanned and nearly 10,000 have been metadata-tagged within a searchable, AI-supported archive system.

This work is transforming Barry’s lifetime collection into a publicly accessible digital resource, allowing users to search by player, coach, club, date, author, photographer, and more. As Barry notes, “the value is in the stories, not just the data,” and this project ensures those stories are preserved and shared with future generations.

Looking ahead, NZFF hopes to build a national platform where collectors from across New Zealand can contribute their own archives, creating a unified and accessible digital library of the country’s football history.

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Football Connect is all about access. At the Football Foundation we believe that sport, and its health and social benefits, should be available to all young people regardless of who they are or where they live. But this is an ideal that has not been reached in Aotearoa for a long time. Before a young person takes to the pitch at the weekend, there are club fees that need to be paid, boots and equipment to be purchased, transport to be organised, and time on a Saturday to be found. For many families, these barriers result in sport becoming a luxury.

These hurdles have only increased in recent times. After three years of pandemic disruption, youth participation in sport is declining as the cost of living sharply increases. We know that for many families, the costs of sport are no longer able to be borne. We want to do everything we can to help.

From the very beginning, Football Connect has worked to remove barriers. Fees are paid where possible, equipment and coaching are provided, and life skill sessions accompany football training to help support young people and their families. The school holiday programmes provide an opportunity for kids to meet and socialise with peers beyond their immediate surroundings and get a taste for football before they can play at the weekends.

The impact of the programme has been visible and inspiring from the outset. This year, as access to sport becomes more difficult for many, Football Connect is expanding.

In 2022, Football Connect will have financial support from the New Zealand Police fund, as part of an initiative to redistribute profits from organised crime to community programmes for social good.  The Police want to support programmes which help create positive environments for young people, so that their support networks help carry them through to a successful life on whatever path they choose.  We are grateful that the Police see and support the benefits of football to do real good in our communities, helping our rangitahi achieve their potential – whether on the pitch, or off.

New Zealand Football provides a pathway into football with its First Kicks programme.  The Football Foundation saw an opportunity to mark the occasion of a player’s first football registration with their very own football, to ensure that-all children who sign up to play the beautiful game have access to their first football, no matter their circumstance. The initiative was born “First Footballs for First Kicks”.  

After a challenging two years, when football and life have been very disrupted for many, the Foundation is excited to be able to open the pathway into sport for many young people by removing the barriers of equipment. The Foundation is incredibly grateful for the considerable generosity of Dr Johanna Wood, President of New Zealand Football, which was critical in turning the First Footballs idea into reality.   Dr Woods passion for and support of the grass roots game in Aotearoa New Zealand will have a legacy for young people throughout New Zealand.  Her contribution has been invaluable to this project, which we hope will increase access and the love of the game for young people across the country.

The New Zealand Football Foundation have organised the production of Football Foundation footballs, which would be provided to the regional federations and distributed to families when children signed up for their first football team.  

The footballs, in Football Foundation green, are a tool to provide increased access to football for all kiwi children.  Recipient, Capital Football Federation, highlights the importance of being able to kick a ball around outside of training and games, for keeping players in the game. Steeve Sharp of Capital Football says, “Capital Football is grateful to the generosity of the Football Foundation in providing footballs for our first kicks players. The footballs will go directly to 5- and 6-year-olds experiencing the game for the first time throughout the region. There is no better incentive for young people to fall in love with the game than by having a ball at their feet whenever they wish to use it. We cannot wait to get the footballs out to the kids.”

Central Football said, “this is a fantastic initiative by the NZ Football Foundation which will see lots of smiles on kid’s faces as the junior season kicks off for 2022.”  

“There is something special about seeing children receive their first piece of sporting kit.  We hope that the raw joy and passion they feel when receiving their ball will mean we have a whole new generation of footballers staying and contributing to football within New Zealand.  We thank Dr Johanna for her generosity and passion for allowing this initiative to go ahead and to further contribute to the growing talent pool of footballers throughout the country.”