With arms outstretched and long legs fluid in motion, 14-year-old Scovia Anzoa glides across the grass collecting and disposing of the ball with the greatest ease.
Tall for her age, she’s already the captain of her local footy side and has taken to coaching as well.
Related reading
Fans line streets for AFL grand final parade
Football is a major part of the Sudanese national’s life, but it was also the game that helped her connect with Australian children and wider society.
“It’s an easy game to learn and you’re just welcomed,” she said.
“There’s no race that you need to be to play.
“It’s a multicultural game.”
Scovia and her friends, who include refugees from Sudan, Burundi and Somalia, are spending this weekend at a coaching clinic in Perth’s east.
As they study techniques, and practice drills, there’s a grand final that’s on their mind.
The majority are West Coast fans who are confident that last year’s 9th-placed finishers can take out the top spot.
“I have a good sense that the Eagles are going to win,” said 17-year-old Odete Nibigira.
“By 100 to 50,” was 11-year-old Kylie Mudra’s prediction.
The girls don’t think twice about playing a sport that has been a pre-dominantly white, male pursuit for decades.
It’s also been a sport that’s helped them connect with each other as well as their Australian classmates.
“I would go over to my cousin’s house and she would always be playing Friday sports, which is a program the Edmund Rice Centre holds,” said 18-year-old Florence Baitio.
“They train and teach them leadership skills, so I started to hear about that and I thought: ‘why not just go and check it out’.
“So I went and I found it really interesting and it made my Friday nights better.”
Her cousin, Scovia Anzoa, is not just a natural on the field, but she’s been a keen study of her team’s opponents.
She said the key would be the centre bounce with Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui crucial to West Coast’s chances.
But she said the Hawks were going to be tough to beat.
“Their speed and their short hand passes because it’s very effective,” she said.
Whatever the result at the grand final history will be made.
The Hawks will either take out a third grand final in a row, or the Eagles will have soared from last year’s 9th place to the very top.
Watching will be a new breed of fans that one day might be playing on a similar stage in what could be a truly diverse multicultural Australian team.
Share
