A kick in the right direction: longitudinal outcomes of the Australian Community Street Soccer Program

An emerging area of sport development is the provision of socially motivated programs by community- or welfare-oriented organizations. This essay addresses the area of development through sport for homeless and disadvantaged adults, by analysing the longitudinal outcomes of Australia’s Community Street Soccer Program. The discussion focuses on the contribution of sport to developing social capital for marginalized adults in Australia, through an analysis of the program across a four-year period, from 2006 to 2009 inclusive. The sociological impacts of this study assert that participation in a sporting program can act to improve social capital for participants through strengthening social inclusion and self-identity, consequently providing access to peripheral community support in order to better negotiate areas of typical struggle for marginalized participants, such as housing, further education and employment. Evaluation of the outcomes and sustainability of the program can act to inform community sport development in addition to sport policy.