Featuring: Love Futbol

Article
By Ollie Nicholas
14/02/19

Subtitle

What makes a community initiative sustainable?

Contents

1. The Beautiful Game

2. Beyond the Pitch

3. Deportivo El Coyolito

Love Futbol in San Marta, Brazil

Love Futbol uses the core principles of the beautiful game to make a real change to communities in some of the toughest places in the world. Their projects provide children with a safe place to play, whilst giving the wider community the tools thrive beyond the pitch.

Subtitle

What makes a community initiative sustainable?

Contents

1. The Beautiful Game

2. Beyond the Pitch

3. Deportivo El Coyolito

Love Futbol uses the core principles of the beautiful game to make a real change to communities in some of the toughest places in the world. Their projects provide children with a safe place to play, whilst giving the wider community the tools thrive beyond the pitch.
1. The Beautiful Game

Football is the most popular sport worldwide and has so often been a uniting force in an ever more divided world. Football offers an opportunity for self-expression, health and hope for people all over the world, especially for those that come from more difficult backgrounds.

In December 2005, Love Futbol co-founder Drew Chafetz first thought of a project that could help communities in some of the poorest parts of the world by channelling the core principles of the beautiful game. Upon watching children play football bare-foot in trash dumps, over glass, metal shards and rocky land, Love Futbol was set-up to build football pitches so that children could have safe place to play.

Love Futbol in Deportivo El Coyolito

2. Beyond the Pitch

Love Futbol have built pitches in 7 different countries including Brazil, Mexico and India. The pitches have been a great source of joy for so many children, but Love Futbol aim for these projects to be bigger than just building a football pitch. The wider ambition as set out by the founder, Drew Chafetz has always been to help communities and individuals realise their full potential.

Amongst a community, there will be assets and skills that different people possess. Love Futbol aims to discover these existing strengths and to utilise them throughout the project. This then leaves a sense of confidence and understanding within the community that when they pool together, they can make positive changes. Love Futbol allows the community to take ownership on these projects by inviting participation, which allows people to express their ideas. Creating ownership is so important because it empowers individuals and gives a long-term responsibility for the community to manage themselves.

It is also clear that these projects are underpinned by a strong level respect and an understanding and appreciation of different cultures. It’s quite common for initiatives like this to struggle after the project is completed because in the long term, the ideas and the practises of the project do not align with those of the local culture. Whenever you find yourself in a new location with a new culture, any project should be pursued with careful consideration. It's necessary to be aware of the beliefs of a community as well as the needs of the community. Part of the ethos of Love Futbol has always been to respect the dynamics of the community whilst promoting their own values, which explains why the projects have been so well received all over the world.

Love Futbol in San Marta, Brazil

Love Futbol in San Marta, Brazil

3. Deportivo El Coyolito

In November of 2016, #FutbolMatters, a campaign by Love Futbol was one of the six initiatives selected to take part in Manchester City's global Cityzens Giving campaign. In partnership with Manchester City, 120 volunteers came together to renovate Deportivo El Coyolito in Mexico City. This space had once been a place where the community could play sports and enjoy other recreational activities, however over the last 20 years it had become run down. Deportivo El Coyolito has now been restored to its former glory with a fresh coat of paint, solar energy lighting, and covered stands for spectators. Alongside the restoration, 24 young leaders were trained so that they could aid the development of the rest of the community in the future as well as realising skills for their own employability.

To go into a community and to make a positive change is great, but to go in and make a difference in the long-term is special. We need to give those that are less fortunate an opportunity to get on their feet and stay on their feet.

Deportivo El Coyolito by Zaickz

Deportivo El Coyolito by Zaickz

Bibliography

Love Futbol
Love Futbol: Deportivo El Coyolito, Zaickz
Love Futbol: Deportivo El Coyolito, Cityzens by Manchester City

Links

Love Futbol (https://www.lovefutbol.org/)
Manchester City Community (https://www.mancity.com/fans-and-community)
Zaickz (https://www.zaickz.com/)

Social

Love Futbol (@lovefutbol_us)
Zaickz (@zaickzstudio)

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