• Contemplating horses. Photo: Nasya Bahfen
    The Western Bulldogs are another example of an AFL club who are embedded in their community. Their 'Generation M' project of building community resilience through sport and leadership follows on from a previous one called 'More Than A Game' which the side delivered with Newport Islamic Society (NIS). Generation M is funded through the Federal Attorney General Department's Building Community Resilience program.

    The horseriding event depicted below (head to the original album here if the slideshow doesn't work) was a part of this project, as was the MUJU Peace Club - the combined Muslim/Jewish Aussie Rules side who won last year's Unity Cup, were runners-up this year, and fielded the winning side in the women's exhibition game. The photos were taken by me and the wonderfully talented Rashid AlShakshir who I taught at RMIT for his Masters in Journalism and who is one of the leaders of Youth Victoria (a partner of the Bulldogs for this project, together with NIS).


  • In 2012 the ICV Office for Women (together with the AFL Multicultural Program and the NRL) presented "Fordson" - a movie about an Arab-American high school football team from a working-class Detroit suburb as they practice for their big cross-town rivalry game during the last ten days of Ramadan. It's a wonderful documentary, made by the talented (and very kind and supportive) Rashid Ghazi.

    The screening in Melbourne included a panel discussion on sport and faith featuring AFL multicultural ambassador Bachar Houli, American sports writer and broadcaster Ed Wyatt, and academic and journalist Nasya Bahfen (me, duh) moderated by AFL multicultural community ambassador Rana Hussain. 

    My eyes are shut. Classy, Bahfen.

    In Sydney I moderated the discussion, with NRL ambassador Hazem El Masri, Sydney-based Lebanon dual rugby union/rugby league player Walid Yassine, co-founder of the women's Aussie Rules football team the Auburn Tigers Amna Kara-Hassan, and Football United community coordinator Assmaah Helal. Rugby league, rugby union, Aussie Rules and football (soccer)...we just about covered everything.

    Both events generated a lot of interest such as this SBS story on the Sydney screening by Suheil Damouny.




    Ten Sport re-ran an AAP piece on the screening, the SMH wrote about it, and it was featured in an NRL report on the Sydney event. The Age mentioned it in passing in an article, as did Radio Australia (although I suppose that doesn't count, because I was working for them at the time and actually put that story online). In Victoria Rana Hussain was quoted in the AFL story about the screening.

    A highlight of the Melbourne event was the presentation of awards for ‘Best and Fairest’ Aussie Rules players from the Bachar Houli Academy. They were: Mohammed Kassem, Adam Kassem, Adam El-Shahat, Mevlana Gokmen, Hamza Atik, Khaled Taha, Hamza Allouche, Salahaldin Ayoubi, Mohammed Moustafa, Muhammed Ates, Talat Moustafa, Abdullah Karagol, Zaffar Bajawray, Osman Alam, Zahid Safie, Zarak Aseel, Ahmad Ahmad, Rashid El Rafei, Yasser Ramaifi and Omar Eleter. 

    The boys were presented their awards by Bachar Houli himself and were also handed jerseys donated from the Richmond Football Club.

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