Foxtel staff, professional athletes, television personalities, and corporate partners all laced up their boots last Thursday to play alongside NSW Clontarf students in the eighth annual Oz Tag Challenge, held at a glistening Easts Rugby Club, Rose Bay, to empower young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men.
Established in 2000, The Clontarf Foundation, through sport and other hobbies, helps young men to improve their education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem, and employment prospects.
The Fox Sports Clontarf Oz Tag Challenge provides an exciting opportunity for, Clontarf Academy members, Fox and Clontarf’s partners to team up for an exciting Oz Tag carnival and foster positive relationships along the way. It is utilised by the Foundation to reward students with good attendance and a refreshed approach to school, to go on a trip to Sydney and be able to play against and alongside Fox personalities.
Talking to some of the mentors at the gala day, B&T were told that this particular day is bookmarked by a lot of NSW Clontarf students, as for some of them, it is the first time they have been on a school camp. When you double this with the fact that the boys got to play with NRLW superstars Andie Robinson and Jada Taylor, as well as Fox Sports reporters Lara Pitt and Jake Duke, you can see why the Oz Tag competition is great motivation for young men to turn their lives around.
In fact, Kobe, one of the boys who has been in the Tamworth program for the last four years, boasted about his 100 per cent attendance leading up to the event. Which is quite an achievement for the self confessed ex-rat bag.
Since Fox Sports began as the official media partner in 2016, The Clontarf Foundation has seen significant results. Talking to B&T, Foxtel Group CEO Patrick Delany touched on what the Fox Sports platform has done for the Foundation.
“They have many partners in Qantas, Wesfarmers, and a lot of other really big companies that all do their bit in their different ways. Sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s media, sometimes it’s establishing a post-school employment. But, certainly, since that time [2016], Clontarf has become better known and more accepted in educational ranks. There are a lot of schools in New South Wales and the rest of the country that now want a Clontarf Academy,” he said.
Established in 2000, the Clontarf Foundation is a charitable not-for-profit organisation that exists to improve the education, discipline, self-esteem, life skills and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and by doing so, equips them to participate more meaningfully in society.
The programme is delivered through a network of academies established in partnership with schools and communities. In fact the program looks after 11,000 young men that are enrolled academies across 160 public schools. These young men are supported and counselled by local mentors on a range of behavioural and lifestyle issues, whilst the school caters for their educational needs.
The partnership with Fox Sports—which began in 2016—actively raises awareness of the Clontarf Foundation’s impactful work by creating original content that showcases its efforts. Documentaries like From Little Things and The Game of Life use the creativity and storytelling power of Fox Sports to highlight how sport helps young people from small towns like Brewarrina stay engaged in their education. From Little Things won an Australian Sports Commission Award for its depiction of sport’s value in a community setting, further amplifying the Foundation’s work.
Delany said that the partnership began just after he was challenged by News Australia through Rupert Murdoch’s niece, Penny Fowler, to do something good with the Fox Platform.
“Fox Sports had a huge following and a lot of prestige, but News Corp challenged us to use that brand and prestige to do something good with the public. Around the time of that challenge, I went to a lunch that Scott Morrison hosted with some Clontarf foundation Indigenous kids, and they stood up and talked about the difference in their life before Clontarf and afterwards. I heard the stats that if you can get someone into a Clontarf Academy, 80 per cent of them will graduate high-school. That starts breaking down the cycle, and I thought this is a great opportunity, and we worked from there as their media partner,” he explained.
Since 2016, through its Kayo Sports and Fox Sports Australia assets, Foxtel Group has utilised its airtime to raise the profile of the Clontarf Foundation. A prime example is the Clontarf Foundation Interstate Challenge match, streamed live and free on Kayo. By showcasing this event, Fox Sports ensures that the wider community can watch Clontarf students compete on a professional stage, providing inspiration to the participants and viewers alike.
Not only does the Oz Tag competition create a fantastic reward for Clontarf students who have achieved attendance goals, but it also acts as a great way to get current and future sponsors involved, with potential sponsors, such as Goodman Fielder, invited to strap on a pair of boots and join a team. But if that wasn’t their vibe, then Fox also hosted a lunch at the Easts Rugby Club to showcase the impact the event had on the students.
With schools all over NSW looking to implement an academy, the demand for sponsorship has never been more critical.
“In New South Wales alone, there are 50 schools that would love and have requested to have an academy. Their school in terms of potential, we’ve [Fox Sports and The Clontarf Foundation] identified 7000 more young kids just in New South Wales that we would like to put through an academy. When we project out into the future, there’s space for another 90 academies, 7000 participants, which will give rise to 550 kids extra getting through year 12,” said Delany, addressing a room full of current and possible sponsors.
The Oz Tag Challenge proved how powerful sport can be in driving education, confidence and opportunity for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. With demand for new academies surging, Clontarf and Fox Sports are now calling on more partners to step up and help expand the life-changing program to thousands of more boys across the state.
