Soccer as A Gateway to Social Issues ft. Matthew Barrett, Co-Founder of Goal Click

In an ever-changing world with so many different cultures and life experiences, sport can offer us an entry point through which we can understand broader social contexts and dynamics. Goal Click is a storytelling organization that uses soccer as a lens to amplify stories of people around the world. They have worked with adidas, FIFA, UNHCR, and many more. The organization partners with people across the globe and gives them a platform to tell the story of their lives and football community through photography and the written word. Interestingly, Goal Click does not go into communities to create projects. Instead, it provides a space to amplify existing efforts. 

Matthew Barrett, the co-founder of Goal Click, joins us today to share some of his insights. We first hear how Matthew combined his interests in history and sport to found the organization. He highlights that soccer is frequently presented as a panacea to overcoming social issues. Instead, it should be viewed as a tool that works in conjunction with other things to create meaningful, sustainable change. Matthew shares examples of some of the work that Goal Click has done, which highlight the power of what happens when people can tell their stories themselves rather than always being the subject of someone else’s. By empowering others, not only are they showing who they are to a new audience, but they are in a position to view themselves in a new light as well. We also learn about the organization’s decision to give participants analog cameras in a hyper-digital world. 

The conversation took place on Clubhouse under the Impact Everywhere Club, and as the conversation wraps up, we hear some great audience questions and insights. Whether you are a soccer fan or not, this show will give you a newfound appreciation for how powerful the sport has the potential to be. Tune in at one of the below links for the full episode, and be sure to check out the Impact Everywhere Club on Clubhouse if you want to hear the conversations live and participate!

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Key Points From This Episode

At university, Matthew realized he could combine his academic interest of history with his love of sport because of the insights sport offers about societies. 

Goal Click provides a unique, natural way to teach people about world events and social issues by piquing their interest through a sports lens. It allows people to share their own stories rather than other people coming in to tell it for them.

The medium for these stories is primarily written word and analog photography. There are many reasons for using analog vs. digital, with the main one being that it offers equality across the stories. Someone in one part of the world may have access to a very nice camera or cell phone, while others don’t. Shipping them an analog camera makes it so everyone’s photos have the same base, and it often leads to more intentional shots.

Goal Click considers themselves curators, not creators, in that they partner with organizations already doing work and amplify the stories. They don’t want to be starting initiatives in areas they are not experts in.