This week marks Indigenous Football Week and John Moriarty Football (JMF) is educating talented emerging players about gender equality, not just sport but society as a whole.

Local JMF Head Coach and Mentor Bryce Deaton knows this week is key for the young players to grow their knowledge.

"This year our topic is all-around gender equality," he said.

"It's also around how football has the power to make a difference."

Deaton and the other JMF mentors have been travelling around this week promoting gender equality in football while also running online sessions.

"This year after all that has happened we've realised how we can connect a lot more people together online sessions and zoom calls," Deaton said.

"We've put together a week of expert panels who are all talking about different aspects of gender equality in football and Indigenous involvement in football.

"We've got large sessions lined up from Monday to Friday and throughout the organisation, we'll finish up with a gala day on the weekend."

READ ALSO:

Normally after Indigenous Football Week, JMF holds a gala day which was last year held at Apex Oval but Deaton admitted planning this year's event has been tricky.

"For this year we are keeping it local," he said.

"We weren't sure with all the COVID-19 and everything. We are having three local clubs.

"We'll have our JMF academy, Westside Panthers under 12s and a mixture from Western NSW Football.

"We should have about 40 kids.

"It was originally planned to go down at Lady Cutler but we're expecting a fair bit of rain.

"We are looking at getting hosted by Indoor Sportsworld and having a futsal tournament instead."

Deaton knows the children will learn a lot throughout the week from the ambassadors who will be floating around.

"With our ambassadors for IFW 2021 we've got our local coach Tiffany Stanley who is a great role model for the kids within the community but I think she's a great role model for females in football," he said.

"She's one of the very few female coaches who is certified with a national coaching license, it's an even smaller percentage were it an Indigenous woman as well.

"Our other ambassador is Patrick [Coleman] who is from Tennant Creek who is a role model in his community and he has come to work with John Moriarty Football after realising how he can help the young people in his community.

"Having all these people speak on where there is room to improve while also talking about the possibilities that not only benefit the sport but society, in general, is massive."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: