Where football and culture collide

Multicultural community ambassadors were recognised at this function held just before the TAC Cup finals at Etihad. This is the inaugural year of the AFL's multicultural community ambassador program and a bit of an experiment in how a program like this might run. It looks like it will continue, which is great news. On a personal level, Maryum and I were attached (through the program) to the North Melbourne Football Club and its values really align with ours (investing in the community, using sport as a vehicle for harmony, recognising education as a key factor in poverty reduction) so we're very keen to continue working with them next year, especially around getting more Muslim women and girls involved in sport.

Sometimes you inadvertently come across something that illustrates why stuff like the AFL Multicultural Program is important. I noticed the tweet above, addressed to my friend Mariam (and re-tweeted by her). It was about something that I was involved in and which obviously had an impact on those who saw it.

The tweet refers to a young girl playing in a hijab at the MCG. The girl was part of North Melbourne's multicultural Auskick group of about thirty children. I joined a couple of other AFL Multicultural Community ambassadors attached to North, to accompany the kids to the MCG by tram from Arden Street (North's home ground and training facility, as well as the home of the Huddle). My husband and footy-mad brother in law (and his equally footy-mad colleague) joined in. As you can imagine, it was quite a sight - a large-ish group of predominantly African kids carrying footballs and the community ambassadors, plus North Melbourne staff, decked in blue and white, on the tram to the MCG. Very Melbourne if you think about it.

The kids played at half time during the NMFC v Collingwood match which, sadly, was North's last game of the season, having missing out on a finals berth by the tiniest of margins.  But hey, the Pies lost, so there was something to celebrate.