Port/Santos Aboriginal Power Cup takes Year 12 completion rates in South Australia up to 96% – 63% nationally
Teams taking part in the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup football carnival at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide city in 2022.
Image by Angus Northeast, cortesy Port Adelaide Football Club
The Santos Aboriginal Power Cup, started in 2008 to engage South Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with school, was directly linked with helping 96% complete their Year 12 studies in 2021 – compared to 63% across Australia.
Port Adelaide Football Club that started the programme announced in 2022 ir was expanding into the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in northern South Australia.
In its 15th year in 2022, the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup had 550 students from 65 schools involved, learning about Aboriginal culture, healthy lifestyles and leadership during multiple classroom visits. The programme culminated with a nine-a-side football carnival at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide city, with Central Yorke Academy winning the boys’ and Riverland Academy winning the girls’ finals played as curtain raisers to Port Adelaide’s game against Essendon at Adelaide Oval.
The Santos Aboriginal Power Cup engaged with more than 5,000 students across its first 15 years.
A new partnership with BankSA Foundation and its $50,000 grant allowed the programme to expand into four communities and 30 students in the APY Lands. Port Adelaide Football Club’s Aboriginal programmes manager Braedon Talbot said expanding into the APY Lands was important for the club’s community arm, Power Community Limited, that had run programmes there previously but not for senior school students.
BankSA Foundation manager Olivia Thomas said it was focussed on helping to create brighter futures for children and young people in need in the communities and “we know the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup and its associated programs are driving real impact and helping to engage and reengage young Aboriginal people with school”.