The rich cultural diversity of Australian Rules football will be celebrated across the country this weekend through the Australian Football League's annual Multicultural Round.
Now in its ninth year, the round is an opportunity for AFL clubs to honour their players and officials from non English speaking backgrounds and celebrate the nation's cultural diversity through music and dance performances at AFL venues.
Michael Kenny reports.
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(through translation) "Australia's game is a game for everyone. It's played and enjoyed by people of all ages, genders and cultures. This Multicultural Round we celebrate everyone from different cultures that make our game so great. So attend a game, learn about the sport and involve the whole family. AFL is a great way to make new friends on the field or in the crowd."
This year's Multicultural Round has been promoted through a series of TV and radio advertisements in Mandarin and Arabic, aimed at encouraging Australians from culturally-diverse backgrounds to participate in the AFL.
The round is a key part of the AFL's broader Multicultural Program, which also includes school and community-based programs.
The AFL estimates around nine per cent of its professional players come from a non English speaking background and it wants to increase that, to better reflect Australia's cultural diversity.
The AFL says it will be distributing 17,000 free tickets this weekend through migrant community organisations across Australia in an effort to broaden the game's appeal.
The program is actively promoted by 11 players from migrant backgrounds who take on the role of Multicultural Ambassadors.
They visit schools and migrant community gatherings to promote Australian Rules.
One of the ambassadors is Bachar Houli - a star player with the Richmond Tigers, whose parents migrated to Australia from Lebanon.
He has used his role to promote Australian Rules in Islamic colleges around Melbourne through an inter-school competition and an academy which aims to get talented players into the professional clubs.
"The kids- what they need is a little bit of direction and having someone who I guess they look up to, hopefully that can help provide them with a sense of how important it is to be disciplined. All we're trying to do is encourage them to see that a career in AFL won't happen or anything worthwhile in life won't happen unless you work hard for it- so that's what we're trying to implement."
This year's AFL Multicultural Round comes after a number of incidents of racism in recent months involving high profile players.
In May, Sudanese-born North Melbourne player Majak Daw was allegedly subjected to racist abuse from two male fans at a game against the Western Bulldogs.
And in June, a teenager was evicted from the Melbourne Cricket Ground after calling Sydney Swans Indigenous player Adam Goodes an ape.
Majak Daw has been selected as one of the AFL's Multicultural Ambassadors this year.
Despite his personal experience of racism, he believes a lot of positive work is being done to combat racism on and off the field, particularly through the Multicultural Round.
"Being a multicultural person, I've had my ups and downs in being accepted and stuff. But within the AFL industry, they are very accepting- the players are well educated about racism in sport. We have a racial vilification code which all players must adhere to. The football club where I am at the moment-North Melbourne-they have embraced my culture."
But Daw believes that multiculturalism also needs to be embraced through AFL programs in Australian schools, so that the next generation of players and fans promote cultural diversity in the sport.
The organisers of the Multicultural Round say that is a key part of the program through football clinics run by Multicultural AFL officers in schools serving large migrant communities.
Another one of the AFL's Multicultural Ambassadors, Malaysian-born Desmond Khoo, is a sports teacher at an Islamic College in Perth.
He believes the Multicultural Round is a good opportunity to promote Australian Rules through schools to ensure that it better reflects the nation's diversity.
"I have more and more kids play footy (AFL) these days. It's refreshing when I have students coming to see me during recess and lunchtime asking for a footy ball rather than a soccer ball. I have some students joining the local junior footy clubs as well. So it's been a very big change, especially given most of my kids (students) are from big soccer backgrounds."
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