Football itself can help players gain important life skills, such as teamwork, physical fitness, fairness, respect and responsibility.  The term ‘football3’ describes adaptations of the game that help to ensure that players can bring what they learn on the pitch into their daily lives by offering a space for development and dialogue as well as for sport.

football3 brings key life lessons to the forefront—within the game itself. By adapting the rules of football whilst remaining true to the spirit of the sport, football3 taps into the world’s passion for the beautiful game in order to teach players about respect, responsibility and fairness.  Players have the opportunity to engage with each other in a protected space, experiencing directly what it means show and receive respect for oneself and others.  With time before and after the match set aside for dialogue, and with disputes regulated through discussion rather than penalties, football3 empowers players by helping them to develop emotionally as well as physically.

The effects
The implications of this approach are far-reaching.  football3 can not only provide physical and social benefits for players, but, in bringing them together and highlighting the importance of dialogue, mutual respect and taking responsibility for one’s own actions, it can have a positive impact on issues that affect an entire community, such as violence and discrimination.

The most effective football3 programmes recognise that this is a long-term approach that must be sustained to truly work. Participants cannot merely be shown how football3 principles can be used in everyday life and then be expected to change their behaviour; rather, they must become accustomed to tihnking about and applying these principles.

A unique approach
Often used as an important tool in development programmes, football3 is unique in that it takes place within a football match.  Other successful approaches to addressing development issues through football use the sport to draw participants into a development programme, or adapt football drills and use footballs to illustrate lessons about issues such as health or discrimination.  football3, however, was founded on the belief that the power of football itself is so strong, players can translate the life skills they learn through play into positive, empowered lives off the pitch as well.

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