Multicultural players star at Nationals

While Australia’s states and territories are well represented in this year’s NAB AFL Under-16 National Championships, the game is making great strides in appealing to other cultures, countries and regions.

Competing alongside these traditional Australian rivals are teams that reflect the increasing diversity that comes with the sport’s continued growth into other parts of the world.

The Flying Boomerangs, World XVIII and South Pacific sides are giving talented youngsters from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds the opportunity to chase their AFL dream.

With Multicultural Round being celebrated across the AFL during this weekend’s encounters, it was fitting that Wednesday’s final match of the NAB AFL Under-16 National Championships pitted the World XVIII against the South Pacific team.

Part of the aim of Multicultural Round is to promote inclusiveness and acceptance, and this blending of cultures was on show across the Blacktown turf.

The World XVIII was made up of players from a wide variety of countries such as South Africa, Ireland, Denmark, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Lebanon to name just a few.

The side incorporated orange, the colour chosen to represent harmony in Australia, into their playing strip for this tournament to show their support for an acceptance of cultural diversity.

The South Pacific side, comprised of players from Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Nauru, are impressing spectators not only with the skills but also with their fearsome pre-match haka, which would have made the All Blacks proud.

The effort put in to get players from so many nations together for these championships is indicative of the work being done in AFL circles to promote the game across cultural and geographical boundaries.

The Pacific region now boasts participation numbers close to 95,000 and can lay claim to 10 players who are on international scholarship lists at AFL clubs.

The Flying Boomerangs are competing in the NAB AFL Under-16 National Championships for the second time, and is part of an initiative that enables young Indigenous Australians access to an elite environment that will help not only their footballing development but their personal development too.

Despite going down to WA North West on Wednesday, one of the NSW representatives, Liam Nelson, showed some promising signs.

Alternating between both flanks and the forward line, Nelson’s best moment came in the second quarter when he showed great determination to win the ball despite being outnumbered by bigger opponents, before executing a sublime kick to set up a goal.

Nelson will be hoping to follow in the proud tradition the Flying Boomerangs have of producing AFL players, with Geelong’s Steven Motlop and Allen Christensen as well as Gold Coast’s Jack Martin just some of the names to have graduated from the Boomerangs to the top level.