Given the glutton of young stars on its books the Greater Western Sydney Giants sell hope every time they walk onto the football field.

In fact, now they are giving it away.  Hope is best described as the belief that the future will be better than the present, along with the belief that you have the power to make it so.  In this context hope plays a vital role in football.

Through the AFL Players’ Association the Giants have thrown their support behind Band4Hope – a currency of good deeds enclosed in a copper and zinc wrist band.

The Band4Hope Project empowers people to spread hope through trackable wristbands passed on to inspire acts of kindness and raise money for charity.

The bands are intended to be worn for a month before being passed on to another person who displays an act of kindness, or inspires hope. The bands are inscribed with a unique ID allowing the band to be tracked around the world as it is passed on.  They are are ethically handcrafted in Zimbabwe and the money raised from their sale and donations goes to various charities around the world.

A collaboration between the AFL Players’ Association and Band4Hope has resulted in customised ‘AFL Players’ bands –  designed and manufactured in Africa, and now being shared throughout the broader football community here in Australia.  Each of these trackable wristbands is linked to the player’s charity – Ladder.

Footballers are mostly judged by teammates for their actions on the field, but at the Giants this preseason the players will be keeping a closer eye on those who inspire acts of kindness and hope.  The Players’ Association are getting behind the hope movement due to its relevance to football, performance, and community.  Hope is a unique human quality that allows us to envisage the future, plan for it, create goals, and strive toward them.  It is an essential component of mental fitness, and necessary for mental health and flourishing.

As word has spread about the AFL Players’ wrist bands, Player Development Manager Craig Lambert approached the AFL Players’ Association to bring the initiative to Blacktown and every gentle GWS Giant within the Leadership Group will be given a band to pass on.

The first Band4Hope landed around the wrist of midfielder Stephen Coniglio – check out the presentation below.