EFDN welcomes Greenock Morton as a new member

EFDN welcomes Greenock Morton as a new member

The European Football for Development Network is delighted to welcome Greenock Morton as a new member of the network.

Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which will play in the Scottish Championship in 2016–17. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebrate the links with its home town of Greenock. Morton won the Scottish Cup in 1922, and achieved its highest league finish in 1916–17, as runners-up to champions Celtic. Morton holds the record for the most promotions to and relegations from the top flight (10 promotions and 10 relegations), but has not competed in the top flight of the Scottish football league system since 1988. In 2014–15, Morton won its tenth league title in all divisions by winning the Scottish League One championship on the final day.

What about Greenock Morton’s CSR strategy?

Greenock Morton Football Club may only play in the second tier of Scottish Football but the Community initiatives via the Morton in the Community supported by the club are certainly Premier League. Established in September 2012, the Morton in the Community initiatives have grown quickly to address many of the social issues in Inverclyde, one of the most deprived areas in Scotland and the UK. Using the power of the local football brand we have seen an incredible increase in numbers across all projects as sign up, retention and outcomes continually rise. With only one Professional football club based in Inverclyde, Morton are proud to deliver so many projects to serve the needs of the area and meet its mission statement and goal to be “The Heartbeat of Inverclyde”.

The primary projects delivered include;

• Micro Morton – Physical Literacy for 2-4 year olds, starting children young and ensuring enjoyments of exercise as a lifelong habit. Morton in the Community have compiled a research paper in conjunction with a top Scottish sports scientist proving the benefits of this programme.
• Mini Morton – Continuation of the Micro programme for children aged 5-8 years
• Football Fans In Training – a National programme funded by the SPFL targeting weight loss in male and females over the age of 35 with high BMI and larger waist size.
• Employability – Delivering our flagship project Positive Goals in partnership with DWP Job Centre Plus we work with and support Single Parents and Job Seekers aged 25+ on their journey back to work. We engage with 60 participants per year and achieve approx. 50-55% job outcome success.
• Education – Our Greenock Morton Education Trail engages with Primary 5 (10/11 year olds) supporting their English education offering an alternative learning environment. In which we relate specific aspects of the everyday running of a Football Club to their Curriculum for Learning.
• Community Teams – The natural steps through our pathway from Micro and Mini is into our structured community teams. This offers boys and girls an opportunity to express the talent they developed at Micro and Mini sessions within an organised match day environment. We have 11 boys team and 6 girls teams between the ages of 6-17.