Director of international humanitarian organisation Spirit of Football, Andrew Aris, will be in Rotorua supporting a local club's mission to make football accessible for all players in Rotorua.
Director of international humanitarian organisation Spirit of Football, Andrew Aris, will be in Rotorua supporting a local club's mission to make football accessible for all players in Rotorua.
Ngongotahā AFC is a club on a mission to remove economic barriers stopping Rotorua children from playing football.
A pōwhiri at Ōwhata Marae on Friday will welcome German non-profit Spirit of Football to Rotorua, with its director Andrew Aris flying in from Germany.
An open day will then be held at the club on Stembridge Road on Saturday, for children aged 3-13 interested in the sport, with leadership workshops from Aris for players.
Aris said CR1 aligned with what his organisation was about.
Aris travels the world with a football treated like an Olympic torch and signed by participants, spreading a message of unity and promoting access to football.
The ball has been to the Pacific, Southeast Asia and will join him in Rotorua. Aris said two new footballs would be gifted to the city on Friday as symbols of social change and development.
Ngongotahā AFC president Aaron Lawrence said the club’s goal was to “empower young people to play football and have fun”.
The 20-week CR1 programme was the first time the club had embarked on anything like it, Lawrence said.
In September, the New Zealand Community Trust awarded the club $21,060 for the programme.
It kicked off in October and 40 children aged between 3 and 13 have signed up so far, but more spaces are available.
Hosting Aris at the pōwhiri was one way CR1 connected young football players from Rotorua to an international platform, Lawrence said.
The Spirit of Football ball has been collecting signatures from supporters in New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The club also wanted to help children improve their health and develop their social, educational, and leadership skills.
CR1 co-founder and organiser Trevor Johnston had his own lessons to share about growing out of poverty.
New to the region, he was employed as an education employment broker at the Taiohi Tūrama, Rotorua Centre for Youth in 2023.
He said he was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1966 and his experience of apartheid and growing up with few opportunities drove his passion to “give back to his community”.
“Things started opening up after apartheid ended, and that allowed me to then pursue one of my lifelong dreams, which was to climb Mount Everest, and I got selected for the 1998 South African Mount Everest expedition.”
Johnston said he was the only person of colour on that expedition. While they ultimately did not make it to the summit, he has turned it into a lesson in resilience.
A former semi-professional footballer, he said he had worked in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific before settling in Rotorua.
He said he identified with the community’s “manaakitanga [hospitality, kindness] and connectedness”, and saw the potential to “provide opportunities to people coming from poverty in Rotorua”.
Ngongotahā AFC coaching squad from left: Cormac Waller, Kyle Hetherington, Top Khamwanthong, Aaron Lawrence and Trevor Johnston.
The licensed Fifa agent could scout for players with the potential to turn professional.
“To be able to give someone an opportunity or open the doorway to help them along their journey of fulfilling their dreams is what I try to do,” Johnston said.
He said football was an expensive sport for many families and the new programme was a way to address that.
“If you consider that there are fees, and then there’s equipment and transport, and then, you know, some parents in these economic times – are struggling with food.
What: Children’s First (CR1) programme 10am-11am; Ngongotahā AFC and Love Soup community day, 1pm-3pm
Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.
