Free Arsenal in the community

Ever since Arsenal fc back in 1886 was created they have always given something back to their community, for example in 1913 when Arsenal first moved to North London was donating money to the Islington war memorial fund. But it wasn’t until years later where an official project was set up in the early 80’s. It was organised originally by Arsenal fans with the help Ken friar who was Arsenal’s secretary and also managing director at the time, And other members of the Arsenal board. As the community programme continued to grow in the London area with the community offering a variety of different things such as hosting soccer schools, indoor bowls, fitness training and a sports college for the department’s trainees this helped out massively with the social unrest that was a big problem in the 80’s. As the programme got bigger and bigger in the 90’s it expanded out of London and into other areas in the U.K. Not only helping people with social backgrounds but also people who were just interested in sports as well. Because of this it encouraged a lot of people due to the fact it was Arsenal but getting involved in sports through education is what made the scheme so successful. In the late 90’s after already forming the Arsenal ladies team through the scheme, it expanded out of the U.k and into other parts of the world, creating an expansion of the community called Arsenal in the global community. This started when they travelled to Cyprus in 1995 and since then they’ve been to many countries such as Bosnia (1996) South Africa and Ukraine (1998) Egypt (2001) Nigeria (2002) Mozambique (2008) And Kenya (2011) along with Israel and Thailand as well. For the majority of these countries the Arsenal Community still go out there every year. With coaches still going into Cyprus for the 20th consecutive year.
The main aim of the entire programme is getting people involved in sports but in a friendly environment as well with a premier league team. But that’s not all the focus as education does play a massive part as well as they feel sport and education go hand in hand with each other which is what has made this project so successful. In the U.K the main benefits it gives to children, it’s getting them off the streets playing football learning as well and giving them more chances than they would expect. As many people who have been involved in the community scheme have gained jobs such as police officer, teachers and also full time coaches. When the scheme goes out into other countries they tend to go to countries which have found it difficult to play sport due to the difficult conditions surrounding them, such as war torn areas and countries struggling with poverty. For example when visiting Ukraine they went to Chernigov, a city in the east of Ukraine where sprits were low due to the Chernobyl disaster. Where many children still suffer the effects from the radiation. So the coaches went out not only to give them football but also to offer them donations of clothes, kit and general aid. Along with information helping them out. Going to these war torn areas just helps kids get their