CFL Aims for Diversity in Fan Base

[jerrym]

The Tiger Cats have started a program called June Jones Youth Movement to introduce indigenous youth to football and careers in the sport. Jones believes indigenous youth here face the same barriers here as indigenous youth do in Hawaii where he played and coached university football.

Named for the team’s head coach, the new program will give hundreds of Indigenous youth from Six Nations, New Credit and the Hamilton area the chance to attend a home game this season, as well as to talk to players and watch from the sidelines as they warm up. It’s a partnership between the Tiger-Cats, LIUNA and the McMaster Youth Movement. The latter, which operates under the direction of retired running back John Williams, works to improve opportunities, access and support for Indigenous student athletes and youth. ...


The crux of the Tiger-Cats program is to expose young people like General to the game as well as the entire= organization. “They’re seeing themselves as trainers, they’re seeing themselves as coaches, ticket agents, marketers, ” said Williams, who connected with Jones through former special teams and defensive co-ordinator Jeff Reinebold. “It’s just opening their eyes up to these experiences, seeing they can do these kinds of things.”
For Jones, the initiative was a natural fit. When Williams approached him, he had already spoken with a staffer at his namesake charity about doing something locally for those kids that, as he put it, “get lost in the shuffle.”

The June Jones Foundation provides grants, programming and support – even athletic equipment – to Polynesian families in need. He has deep roots in the islands – he was a quarterback at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, coached the college’s team from 1999 to 2007 and frequently visits the football hotbed of American Samoa on aid missions and recruitment trips. Jones believes Indigenous kids face the same barriers here as they do there. Sport is expensive – to play and to watch – and often difficult or even impossible to access. This program aims to break down some of those barriers, including things as simple as transportation. The funding provided by LIUNA covers, among other things, the cost of busing the kids to the game and back home.

http://3downnation.com/2018/08/28/ti...igenous-youth/

[AngeloV]

The Tiger Cats have started a program called June Jones Youth Movement to introduce indigenous youth to football and careers in the sport. Jones believes indigenous youth here face the same barriers here as indigenous youth do in Hawaii where he played and coached university football.



http://3downnation.com/2018/08/28/ti...igenous-youth/

Good on him. I have lots of respect for these types of movements.