See what’s possible in the community with the help of the Hampshire FA Foundation

As the charity arm of the Hampshire Football Association, our role is to support underrepresented areas of the game, and individuals who otherwise would not have equal access to play the beautiful game.

Disability Football Projects

HFA Winchester Open Access

A weekly, low mobility football session for adults (age 16+) with a disability to get active, have fun and make new friends. All abilities welcome! Delivered in conjunction with our valued community partners R&R Sports Coaching at the Winchester Sport and Leisure Park. 

HFA Southampton Open Access

A weekly, low mobility football session for adults (age 16+) with a disability to get active, have fun and make new friends. All abilities welcome! Delivered in conjunction with our valued community partners R&R Sports Coaching at Chamberlayne Leisure Centre. 

HFA and InsideOut Multi-Sport Events

Hampshire FA team up with local fitness providers InsideOut Health and Fitness to deliver monthly inclusive multi-sport events for adults with additional needs at the Basingstoke Sports Centre! Participants get the opportunity to take part in a variety of sporting exercises- including football!

Winchester Paralympic Personal Best

The annual event, which is organised by Winchester City Council and Winchester Go-LD in partnership with Everyone Active, the University of Winchester and associated sporting organisations, is an opportunity for adults with learning and physical disabilities to take part in various sports activities. The Hampshire FA Delivery Team put on engaging sessions and activities for 150 youth/adult participants and ensure that every player has a fun, positive experience of football!

HFA Comets Festival

A Youth Pan Disability Football event for players aged 5-11 to try out small-sided football in a friendly, relaxed environment! Building upon The FA’s new Comets programme release, we want to provide fun-filled football activities and be able sign-post children into relevant and appropriate local inclusive football provision (which includes NEW local grassroots Comets providers) for the 2024/25 season! Comets, a safe space for disabled children aged 5-11 to kickstart their football journey, offers a new, flexible, and inclusive way of playing, one that’s all about playfulness, friendships and having fun. More than anything, Comets is football that breaks the old rules and replaces them with a brand new one: JUST BE YOU. 

AFC Stoneham Deaf

Hampshire FA helped AFC Stoneham launch the Counties only (current) adult deaf team in January 2024. Hampshire FA Foundation provided the initial funding alongside relevant disability expertise offered by the HFA Delivery Team to help start up this venture, which is now being solely operated by the club.

Hampshire FA CPD Programme

Hampshire FA Foundation has supported our CPD Programme by funding interpreters to translate BSL (British Sign Language) to participants on a select number of online events.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION PROJECTS

LGBTQ+ Intro to Coaching & Mentoring Event

Scheduled to take place in June, this event is the first LGBTQ+ specific event that Hampshire FA organises specifically to get more coaches from LGBTQ+ backgrounds. The event will be delivered at Goals Portsmouth in collaboration with Portsmouth Pride and Cowplain Ladies FC.

IAG Community Event ‘Disability & Neurodiversity in Grassroots Football’

The Inclusion Advisory Group hosted their third community event, focusing on disability and neurodiversity in February 2024. The event attracted over 45 members of the community who have an interest in EDI, disability rights, and football. https://www.hampshirefa.com/news/2024/jan/10/iag-community-event-disability-and-neurodiversity-in-grassroots-football

Media Project – ‘Supporting Young Diverse People To Be Active’

Working with two Portsmouth University students, we’ve been going around the county to interview young people from diverse backgrounds who are involved in football to understand what motivates them to be active and highlight some of the barriers and challenges they had to overcome to play football.

Lunar New Year: Friendly Match with the Chinese Southampton Community

To celebrate Lunar New Year, Hampshire FA hosted a friendly football match with the Southampton Chinese Community. Over 30 people from the community attended the event, including Alan Lau the founder of the Frank Soo foundation, a charity that commemorates the contributions to the football world by Frank Soo who was the first Asian player for play for England! Photos of the event are on the shared drive: Lunar New Year Photos

Autism Awareness Workshop

Working with Zoe Beasley from the Hampshire Autism Partnership board we are delivering an autism awareness workshop for youth football coaches to gain a better understanding of autism and put in place support systems for their neurodiverse youth players. Each participant will receive a sensory pack containing tools that they can use to enhance the communication with their neurodiverse players.

Fun day of football for Winchester Young Carers

In May 2024, Hampshire FA will organise a fun day of football for the young carers who are being supported by Winchester Young Carers. We’re expecting 15 young people to join us for the activities, each of them aged between 8 to 14 years old and who all have various caring responsibilities at home.

Allies in the Workforce Programme

Supporting the development of a group of allies within the workforce who can support underrepresented and marginalised colleagues and promote a positive culture within our workforce and within our wider football community. As part of this programme we have organised a variety of workshops including an Introduction to Allyship session organised by Spot the Gap, an Anti-Racism course delivered by Show Racism the Red Card for our Academy students and staff, and a Masculinities in the Workplace seminar delivered by Beyond Equality for our male identifying workforce.