The Reclink Community Cup, the charity football match between local Adelaide musicians and media, will return to Cooper’s Stadium in Norwood in early August to raise money for Reclink Australia.
Some of Adelaide’s best musicians, The Rockatoos, and media personalities, The Anchor, will battle it out on the pitch while raising awareness for Reclink Australia.
The funds raised at the Community Cup contribute to the running of art and sports programmes for disenfranchised and disadvantaged communities in South Australia. Andy Asser is Reclink SA State Manager and has been involved with the organisation for more than 20 years.
In 2018, the Adelaide Reclink Community Cup raised over $20,000 that went towards Reclink being able to run a number of different programmes. “We bought mountain bikes for our mountain bike programme, and we used some of the money for the costs of running that programme over the year,” Andy explains.
“Last year we also started a new programme in the Yorke Peninsula and the money funded a year of activities for a disadvantaged group at Kadina. It was women-only programmes such as lawn bowls, kayaking and a whole raft of different activities for these people who were homeless, or had mental health issues, or were unemployed.”
With more than 20 years experience at Reclink, Andy has run numerous programmes across the state to help disadvantaged South Australians. Over the years there have been many happy success stories, proving the Reclink programmes help get people back on track with their lives.
“Both of our staff members came through our Reclink programmes; from being a participant to volunteering, and now they are paid staff members.
“Another proud moment is from our Transformational Links programme, which is an individual mentoring and support programme. We had a young girl who was from a dysfunctional home situation. We provided her with a membership to join her local soccer club, gave her some boots, bought her a ball, paid her six-month membership and she ended up making the cut for the under 17 state squad.”
Andy has been at every Reclink Community Cup since it began in Adelaide in 2015 and loves the atmosphere of game day. “The best thing for me is in The Anchors locker room 15 minutes before the game. The buzz, that to me is the best part of it all.
“The results are fantastic, but I love the sense of that micro-community that comes together every year. I think that has a real value in itself that these people can come together, have some fun and they’re all doing it to raise money for Reclink.
“Because it’s guys and girls as well, it’s not the normal mix. And the competitiveness of the game makes it great; eventually The Anchors will win a game!”
