At 10 years old, most kids would be spending their free time playing Fortnite and riding their skateboards around – but not Cassius Flavell, the founder of the ‘For Football’ charity that aims to raise money for kids without football equipment.
Cassius is part of the Sydney FC Advanced Training Program under Sky Blues’ Academy Director Kelly Cross; he is a keen goalkeeper who plays for Hakoah and Mascot Vipers in futsal and has a love for the game that not many kids could match.
Cassius came across the ‘Beanies For Brain Cancer’ campaign on TV one night, and instantly started thinking how he could make a difference in his own community.
“I saw that they had raised a couple of million dollars through this charity and I was kind of inspired to do something to help others after learning about helping underprivileged people at school last year,” he said.
“I thought that I could do something, but I knew it had to be something to do with soccer because that’s what I do 24/7 and am most interested about.
“Me and my dad (Jesse) talked about it and what we could do to help others who love football as much as I do and it went from there.”
Since starting their campaign to help out football lovers who can’t afford the necessary equipment, Cassius and Jesse have had plenty of support from the likes of Adam Peacock, Archie Thompson, Craig Foster and Mark Bosnich all wearing the hats they have designed and posting about the cause on social media.
Their use of social media to push their campaign has worked wonders, as well as Cassius setting up a stall at his futsal ground, has led to plenty of generous donations from people in the football community.
“At my local futsal venue called All Sorts, there are lots of players there and one day I decided to set up a stand to sell these hats and I think in one day we raised over $250,” he said.
“My coach in futsal kindly donated a second design of hat (75 of them) that have been selling much better and are much more popular.”
Cassius isn’t going to rest on his laurels either – he has been eagerly thinking of ways to raise more money and promote his charity.
“I spoke to people from ‘Their Beautiful Game’ and they were kind enough to give us some merchandise to sell on our own website,” he said.
Sydney FC Academy Director Kelly Cross praised Cassius for his work.
“We’ve really enjoyed having Cassius with us in our Advanced Training Program’ said Cross.
“His enthusiasm is infectious and I think as a goalkeeper he enjoys the hard work he gets in our training sessions.
“This kind of charity work, the desire to help those who are worse off than yourself, is a quality we value highly here at Sydney FC so it’s great to see Cassius contributing so much to support other young players.”
His dad Jesse is very proud of his son and would love to see people get behind him as he looks to make a difference in the sport that he loves so much.
If you would like to help support Cassius and his great initiative, you can:
- Visit their website – https://www.forfootball.com.au
- Follow them on Instagram – @forfootball_au
