A MULTICULTURAL youth football event featuring 12 teams from across Australia will held in Kensington on Sunday as part of Cultural Diversity Week.
The Western Bulldogs, who are co-hosting the event with North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Essendon and the Australian Federal Police, are taking care of three teams involved in tournament – Newport Islamic Society, Bialik College and MUJU Peace Club.
Students from Bialik College, a Jewish school, and Newport Islamic Society, a Muslim group, came together to form the MUJU Peace Club, uniting the two faiths in one team.
Other teams include people from African, Southeast Asian and Indigenous backgrounds.
Western Bulldogs player Liam Picken conducted a training session for the three Bulldogs affiliated teams last week.
“The club came to me and asked me if I was interested, and I jumped at an opportunity like this,” Picken said.
“It’s great. You see guys in AFL, there’s heaps of different players from all kinds of backgrounds, so it’s a great concept that the AFL’s got.”
“AFL is part of the Australian way, you see Nic Naitanui and those kinds of players, I suppose the AFL’s trying to grab as many communities and cultures as possible.”
The round robin tournament will be held at JJ Holland Park Kensington and will feature games in the AFL 9’s format.
A representative team will be selected following the tournament to participate in further leadership training opportunities and compete in a curtain raiser before the Essendon vs Western Bulldogs AFL Multicultural Round clash on Saturday 30 June.
