Football has less than 1 % Indigenous representation in the A-League. Former Socceroo Jade North, tells us in his own words about his dream to increase those numbers and his mission to create an Indigenous Football Academy via his "Kickin’ with a Cuz program".
Kickin’ with a Cuz
I’m a big supporter of John Moriarty and I’ve had a lot dealing with him over the years. I’m very supportive of what he’s trying to do and I think he’s doing a fantastic job with the John Moriarty Football (JMF) scholarship program.
He’s more established and kids from his programs are starting to get scholarships at schools and are involved with full-time training.
For the last couple of years I’ve been thinking about life after football and I’ve set up my own Indigenous football program called ‘Kickin with a Cuz’ which is a not for profit that is targeting kids that are a bit younger than JMF.
Eventually, I also want to provide pathways and promote a healthy lifestyle - that is my main goal. Since 2016 I engaged with Indigenous and underprivileged kids and earlier in the A-League season I partnered with the Wollongong Wolves to launch the Pilot Program.

Former Sydney FC and Wollongong Wolves coach Jacob Timpano as well as other local coaches from Wollongong were also involved, as were players from the women’s team the Illawarra Stingrays.
We had a two-day clinic and the kids did not stop running around for each of the three-hour sessions of the program. The area stretched all the way from the Illawarra region to Nowra with kids from schools around those areas participating, but once my program expands, I plan to go to other areas around Australia.
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