Erasmus study visit inspires new LOI Club in the Community programmes
A visit to Bilbao in October 2023 has inspired social action by several LOI Clubs which is positively impacting people, their families and communities all over Ireland. It’s happened because a group of Football & Social Responsibility Officers from several League of Ireland clubs travelled to view and study the amazing work of the Athletic Club and Real Sociedad Foundations.
Both clubs are established institutions in Basque culture but the social work they do in their local communities and beyond transcends football and makes an enormous difference in people’s everyday lives.
While much of both Foundation’s work centres on public health and well-being, education, social inclusion, football for people of all abilities and environmental sustainability, it was the impact of two specific programmes which caught the eye of LOI club representatives who believed the programmes could work really well in Ireland.
Since returning, it’s no coincidence that several League of Ireland clubs have now set up Walking Football programmes and representative teams for older adults along with new Down Syndrome football teams which has opened up new sporting opportunities for an enthusiastic group of players who can now proudly represent their local LOI Club.
Both Athletic club and Real Sociedad feature Walking Football programmes which provide a welcome social outlet for older club fans and helps to combat social isolation. The programmes are led by several legendary club players who give their time as ambassadors to facilitate these opportunities and actually participate in the programme with older fans at the Clubs’ training facilities. Both Clubs also feature teams which compete in La Liga Genuine, a truly inspiring initiative which features an official football league made up of people with Intellectual Disabilities representing all of the top football clubs in Spain.
Taking inspiration from this, the first League of Ireland Down Syndrome Football festival took place on June 9th at Gormanston where seven LOI Clubs were represented and Finn Harps emerged victorious – as did every club represented! The next festival will take place at FAI HQ in Abbotstown on October 6th 2024 and will feature ten LOI Clubs.
The first LOI Walking Football festival is also scheduled for 14 September at Abbotstown and up to ten LOI clubs are expected to be represented.
LOI Football & Social Responsibility Manager, Derek O’Neill said:“Study visits such as those facilitated by the Erasmus+ programme can provide great learning opportunities but they are even more valuable when they inspire action at a local level. The response from LOI Clubs following their study visit to set up social programmes such as Walking Football to combat social isolation and teams for people with intellectual disabilities have made these clubs a more important entity in their local communities and more that just a football club. It’s clear that inspiration for these amazing programmes emerged from the opportunity to visit and study these programmes in Bilbao which was facilitated through the Erasmus + funding programme. The Erasmus+ programme is administered in Ireland by Leargas www.leargas.ie and is open to applications from all types of sporting organisations. It’s well worth exploring as many LOI Clubs can now testify!"
