EFDN Member Of The Month – September 2023

EFDN Member Of The Month – September 2023

We’re back with a new EFDN Member of the Month announcement! This September, we are delighted to announce Royale Union Saint-Gilloise as our Member of the Month, accompanied by an interview with Union Foundation Officer, Wouter Blockx.

This initiative aims to showcase the outstanding efforts of our member clubs, leagues or FA’s honouring their dedication to using football for positive change in their communities. Each month, we select a deserving member organisation based on its leadership, innovation, and impact on social responsibility. The chosen member gains exclusive visibility across our network and beyond, allowing their inspiring work to be recognised and celebrated.

To celebrate Royale Union Saint-Gilloise’s nomination, Wouter Blockx accepted our invitation for an interview, enabling us to discover the remarkable experiences as well as his personal stories and initiatives that have led to the club being selected as the EFDN Member of the Month.

A Short Introduction to Wouter Blockx

Wouter Blockx started just over 2 years ago at Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, when the club was playing its first season in the Belgian First Division after more than 40 years of absence. From being a trainer of a women’s team in Brazil to working with children and young people in the neighbourhoods of Brussels, Wouter has taken on various roles and has many years of experience in the football industry.

What makes you smile in your role?

Seeing and feeling the real joy of the participants in our activities, along with feeling the “Union vibes” and the sparkly eyes of our participants when they sing the club’s chants. The motivation of our participants, and their desire to give the best of themselves when they play makes me smile.

What inspired you to work in the CSR/ESG field, and what made you interested in making a difference in the football industry specifically? 

I consider football as the new, unique, social movement, and I’m a real believer of the phrase “football won’t change the world, but it can change lives”. Using football as a tool and the club as a platform to bring people together, I really believe and feel every day that we make a difference. The good thing about football and being a popular club is that there is a positive movement, we have a wide range of action and a huge reach to link people together. Maximising the number of individuals who can benefit from our foundation projects is super important. 

What core values guide your foundation’s work, and how do you ensure your initiatives have a lasting impact? 

Authenticity. Integrity. Quality. We make sure that everything we do, we do it the best we can. We strive not only to reach a huge amount of people but also to maximise the quality of our contact with them. Our coaches get trained to develop themselves and therefore our projects, which has a positive impact on the wellbeing of the participants.

In addition, we work on four domains: Health, Education, Inclusion and Connection. We strive to set up structural and regular projects, definitely not aiming for one-shots or window-dressing initiatives. Our participants know that they can consider their team and project as a home. They choose how long they want to stay for… They don’t have to get ‘better’ in one year… Joy above all.

What is your favourite project? 

I love all the projects, and I’m active in all of them. Two projects that could stand out though are the project we have with refugees and the Union Cup, a tournament we organize monthly with local schools. 

The World Team is a project where we invite people from all over the world (refugees seeking asylum) to participate in training sessions. We consider them and approach them as real players, they can wear the equipment of the first team and use the accommodation. The content of the training sessions is well thought through, as we don’t want them to feel like we are just “occupying” them or keeping them busy, we want them to feel that we love working with them, that they have nothing to prove and that they can just be themselves. We also invite them to the stadium on match days.

Another project I really love is the Union Cup. It’s a co-ed football “encounter” between schools of our two communities, Forest and Saint-Gilles. When I say “encounter”, I mean that when the participants walk onto the pitch, of course they want to win, but in the Union Cup there is no ranking at the end of the day. This means that no school will be “better” than the other and receive a trophy. Instead, our boys and girls discuss before and after each game about FairPlay attitude, such as what they liked about the other team, etc. They are encouraged to give each other compliments. To do so, we work with green cards and match officials who guide the game and the players, not acting as referees. There exists no yellow or red card in the Union Cup, instead the match official will put a hand on the shoulder and try to calm down a situation, by simply showing comprehension and being communicative. We noticed that if you give children (10–12 years old) responsibility, they will act more responsibly, and as an adult, it’s sometimes even a challenge to not underestimate that. 

Can you share a memorable story that showcases the positive impact of your foundation’s work? 

There are so many memorable stories. If I have to pick one, it would be the story of a participant in our G-football team who hadn’t spoken for several years. Eventually, by participating in the project, he opened up and changed completely. Today he’s almost speaking too much 🙂