Multicultural programs a success

By James Matthey

An abundance of multicultural talent has been on show in the Riverina during the past two months as Wagga Wagga and Albury hosted programs aimed at providing opportunities to kids from different cultural backgrounds.

The Wagga program, currently in its fourth year, finished approximately a month ago and attracted over 50 boys and girls for each session, while the inaugural program held in Albury wound up on Monday July 29 and was also a great success, appealing to more than 70 participants.

Both programs were conducted over a six-week period and provided opportunities for boys and girls aged 5 – 18 to get involved in AFL and other aspects of their local community.

Enthusiastic youngsters from countries such as India, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, as well as from a host of African countries all enjoyed the chance to work on their marking, kicking and handballing skills within a fun environment.

AFL Participation Manager for Southern NSW, Marc Geppert, said the response to the programs was unbelievable.

“They’ve been a huge success down here.

“The Albury one was overwhelming with the response we had from the kids down there, to have 70 kids turn up on the first session was just massive.”

The successful application for a $20 000 grant from the Community Relations Commission last year allowed AFL Riverina to expand the multicultural program out into Albury for the first time in 2013, while another new program in Griffith is also in its inaugural year.

“The idea was to expand into other areas of southern NSW which gave us the opportunity to go into Albury and do that program and also into Griffith to do that program as well,” said Geppert.

One of the highlights for the participants was the opportunity to go and watch a live AFL game in Canberra when the GWS GIANTS took on the Western Bulldogs at Manuka Oval earlier in July.

“There were about 100 parents and kids that went up to Canberra, and for a majority of those people that went up that was their first ever game day experience,” said Geppert.

“A lot of those parents and kids haven’t seen any sport live, so that was a god opportunity to be able to give those kids.”

Geppert also said that a great outcome was the fact that more and more kids were keen to take up playing football for their local clubs on the weekend.

“A lot of these kids that have participated in the program are how joining local footy clubs for weekend footy.

“We’ve had a lot of girls do it as well, which has been good, and a lot of those kids now are actually playing footy on the weekends.”

However, there is more to the program than just football, with much of the program aimed at encouraging kids from different cultural backgrounds to get involved in their local communities.

“It’s not always about getting the kids into AFL but it’s more or less just engaging them and getting them into the community and just playing any type of sport really,” said Geppert.

“For the amount of multicultural participants that we’ve got down here, to get that many kids is a huge strike rate in terms of getting those kids to those programs.

“The multicultural population that we do have down here has been very supportive of the program and it’s getting bigger so it’s been really positive.”

The program currently running in Griffith has four weeks left before its conclusion.