David Gallop

Following a successful Asian Cup for the Socceroos and record football participation levels, AIA Australia is joining forces with Football Federation Australia to launch a new grassroots football initiative for kids.

The introductory program, branded ‘AIA Vitality MiniRoos’, is a modified version of football that provides boys and girls aged 4 – 11 years with a fun introduction to the world game. Designed for kids of all abilities, the nation-wide program uses short, game-based sessions to introduce football to children in an inclusive way.

Yesterday’s launch comes as AIA Vitality, the incentive-based health and wellness program, nears its first anniversary since its launch in March 2014. In that time, a total of 1,195 financial advisers have written at least one AIA Vitality-attached life insurance policy.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch, held at Socceroo Tim Cahill’s former Primary School in Sydney, AIAAustralia Chief Executive Officer Damien Mu said that the AIA Vitality MiniRoos can have a huge impact on the long term health of children, parents and, ultimately, families across Australia.

“Nothing is more important to a parent than the health and wellbeing of their kids. It provides the foundation for them to grow into healthy adults in future, and to achieve the most out of their lives.

“As a life insurer, we see first-hand the impact that poor health can have on the community and on quality of life, both for children and adults. By supporting the health of thousands of kids through one of the fastest growing sports in Australia, we can help them in establishing healthy habits early on in their lives, and can assist in addressing Australia’s preventative health issues,” he said.

Yesterday’s launch comes as record numbers of Australians are taking up football, with an estimated 1.97 million participants. 193,000 boys and girls took part in grassroots football in 2014, an increase of five per cent from 2013. An estimated 220,000 children are expected to take part in AIA Vitality MiniRoos this year, which will be delivered by over 1,600 local football clubs.

David Gallop, FFA CEO, said the program comes at an ideal time for football’s growth in Australia.

“There’s no doubt that the game is on a strong growth trajectory at the moment,” said Gallop.

“AIA Vitality MiniRoos is a great way to introduce kids and parents to the game of football.

“In addition, the partnership with AIA Vitality will provide a huge boost to the health of football at the grassroots level and indeed the community more broadly.” he said.

AIA Vitality is a health and wellness program that aims to influence behaviour related to chronic diseases and obesity. Sold in Australia through financial advisers to lives insured under eligible AIA Australia life insurance policies, the program uses incentives and rewards, such as discounts on gym memberships and flights, to encourage people to adopt and sustain healthy behaviours

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Damien Mu

Life insurer AIA Australia’s health and wellness program, AIA Vitality, to sponsor Football Federation Australia’s (FFA’s) introductory football program for boys and girls (aged 4 – 11) across Australia

Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced AIA Vitality as the inaugural naming rights partner of MiniRoos, the football introductory program for boys and girls in Australia.

Vitality is a clinically proven health and wellness program that aims to influence behaviour related to chronic diseases and obesity. The program, offered in Australia by life insurer AIA Australia, helps people to know more about their health, take steps to improve it and be rewarded for doing so. The program uses incentives and rewards, such as discounts on gyms, healthy food, shopping, entertainment and travel purchases, to encourage people to adopt and sustain healthy behaviours.

The partnership between FFA and AIA Vitality will commence officially on 1 January 2015 and is for a two-year period, in the life insurance category, with an option to extend at the end of the term.

FFA CEO David Gallop welcomed AIA Vitality as football’s newest partner and believes the organisation is a good fit to MiniRoos, which will include the launch of a new introductory program, MiniRoos ‘Kick-Off’, to complement the existing modified games club football experience.

“It’s fantastic that AIA Vitality has come on board to support MiniRoos,” said Gallop.

“Next year will see our first national roll-out of AIA Vitality MiniRoos with the new partnership providing funding for development officers in each Member Federation to aide implementation.

“The partnership with AIA Vitality will also provide much needed resources to the thousands of grassroots clubs around the country that will be registering the next generation of potential Socceroos or Matildas.

“I would like to take this opportunity to personally welcome Damien Mu, Chief Executive Officer of AIA Australia and his company to the football family and we look forward to working with him and his team in the future,” concluded Gallop.

AIA Australia’s Damien Mu said he was equally excited about the announcement of this historic new partnership between AIA Vitality and FFA.

“We want all kids to have the best start in life and believe that they have the best chance of developing healthy habits when they’re having fun, making friends and learning in a team environment. That’s what MiniRoos is all about.

“By supporting the next generation of football fans, we can raise awareness of the importance of being healthy – not just for kids but for their parents as well. We see first-hand the impact that poor health can have on the community and on quality of life, so sponsoring MiniRoos is a great way to start to address this.”

The official national launch of AIA Vitality MiniRoos will be held in February 2015 to coincide with the kick-off of the grassroots football season.

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