The Kick Project

Check out this article on football/soccer songs and the power of the game as a community healer, written for the Daily Review by The Kick Project founder James Rose. The Liverpool FC Australian tour starts in Brisbane ( v Brisbane Roar) this Friday and continues on to Adelaide ( v Adelaide United) "Sometime Friday evening, Brisbane's CBD will be roused with the old Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, from the hit post-war musical Carousel, “You'll Never Walk Alone.” It's not showing at QPAC and it isn't one of those quirky Brisbane cultural events: The World Festival of You'll Never Walk Alone Singers...). It will be sung unlike it was it the original show, Carousel , and more like it was in the reprised pop version, circa 1963, as sung by Gerry and The Pacemakers – as in “you'll neeeeeeeeva walk alooooooooooooone...” Add a Liverpudlian accent and you'll have it... [ read more ]

Pic: Padawanloser.blogspot.com.au Here at The Kick Project, we are always looking for ways we can combine our desire for positive change with the current systems and structures that are available. |This article, which argues for infusing the institutions and infrastructure we currently work to, with love, is right up our alley. The article is taken from a great series currently running in Open Democracy called Transformation . We here say that children have a right to have fun. We all have a right to love as well. https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/max-harris-philip-mckibbin/all-you-need-is-politics-of-love

A nice audio piece from the BBC on an historic football competition in The Aleutian Islands, known as the International Friendship Cup dating back to 1872. Also this piece by the same journo.

Pic: latestonsports.com This week, with the Women's World Cup reaching the pointy end, some insights into women and football, and sport in general.* And, finally, a comment on the Palestine v Israel dispute at the latest FIFA Congress. Sport and Women Girls Tackle Stereotypes (And Each Other) in US Football League How FIFA Discriminates Against the Women's World Cup (possibly for the better...) Is Women in Sport a Feminist Issue? Pic: Zimbio.com Women's Star May Have Violent Past Female EPL Club Owner Shows Men How its Done Culture Must Change for Women's Game Prejudice Still Exists Norway's Team Takes a Shot at Detractors....By Laughing at Them Power of Sport This Young Girl Collapses Every Race, But She Keeps Racing Comment: On May 29, The FIFA Congress saw the culmination in the campaign by the Palestinian Football Federation to give the Israeli federation the red card, by kicking them out of FIFA on charges of player discrim...

Pic:Motortradesindustry.co.uk Recently, I (James) was asked by Ray Gill, editor of The Daily Review, to write up a piece on The Kick Project, what it's about, and why anybody should be interested. Here's what I wrote .

Pic from Syria from frankborstart.com The UN has released some figures on its peace-keeping efforts worldwide. While the organisation does what it can, it is clear that it - the pre-eminent peace-keeping organisation in the world - is far from making even a scratch on the surface of global conflict.  These figures confirm our reasons for being. There are 16 current conflicts the UN is working in around the world. The oldest is on the India-Pakistan border (in place since 1949), the newest in the central African republic (2014). Since 1948, there have been 71 UN peace-keeping operations and so, today, just under 23% of all the peace-keeping operations voted as necessary by the UN in 67 years are on-going. The UN says there are 125,396 peace-keepers in the UN's employ (so-called Blue Helmets). The budget for peace-keeping in 2014/15 is $US8.5 billion. It sounds a lot, but consider the following. The total armed personnel in just the top 20 militarised countri...

Pic: Vibe Celebrity and Aid US Criticised over Celebrity Aid Visit to Haiti Peace Bitter Enemies Reconcile in Ireland PR US Coal Company Using Ebola Crisis as PR Tool Gaza Project The Children of Gaza Need More than Aid  (Our article for Crikey) Pic: Daily Telegraph Sport and Development The Power of Footy in Fiji Migration Australian Town Shows How Migration Works NGOs Govt Seeks to Punish Greenpeace for Reef Ad Campaign Crackdowns on NGOs Across Asia Are Human Rights NGOs "Too Establishment"?