Many cultures, one game

get involved in the game, even as spectators.

“It’s a great game to watch, a wonderful spectacle, and can be a great day out. Support a local team, or an NRL team, and come join the fun!”

Making the first fifteen at Trinity Grammar

Manish Poologasundram, school captain at Sydney’s Trinity Grammar School has been a Rugby Union player since he was eight years old. Today he is in the school’s first fifteen.

“I started in the C team,” Manish reveals. “But there was great desire and much commitment, and the coaches saw my eagerness”.

In fact, the 17-year-old claims his rugby career so far has taught him that if he puts his mind to anything, he can attain it.

“That’s why I am school captain”.

What brought him to rugby?

“Rugby involves teamwork more than any other sport. Cricket is a team game but it is still played by eleven individuals”.

He adds that he has benefitted academically thanks to rugby.

“As a Year 12 student, I’m currently preparing not only for

6th, I have a very tight schedule, and that forces me to have a very structured study routine. In fact rugby is a great break from studies”.

He counts rugby greats such as David Pocock, Nathan Sharpe, Martin Johnson and Chris Jack as his inspirations.

“Even if you have a little desire, I’d say, go for it, give it a try,” he urges. “My brother only tried the sport in his last year of school. He says it is his biggest regret that he did not play before!”

His mum Anjali is his biggest fan. “I did not follow the game till Manish played. Initially I was concerned about injuries etc, but he was always so keen, and my husband Hari was so supportive, I didn’t want to stop them”.

Manish dreams of playing with West Harbour one day.

Captain of the Under 16s

Damendeep Singh Aujla of Lalor, Melbourne, has just returned

In a bid to recognise, embrace and encourage greater involvement of multicultural communities, the Australian Football League launched the 2013 Multicultural Round in Melbourne recently. Under the logo ‘Many Cultures. One Game,’ the AFL has implemented several initiatives to engage multicultural communities and promote social harmony.

“It is important the AFL reflects cultural diversity, providing an environment which welcomes people from all backgrounds to enjoy our game as supporters, players or administrators in the future,” said AFL Head of Diversity, Jason Mifsud, on the occasion.

According to Misfud, AFL remains committed to strengthening the landscape of opportunities available for their multicultural community group. “We are also proud to see AFL players from non-multicultural backgrounds supporting multiculturalism, as the entire AFL community, irrespective of background, strives to strengthen diversity, inclusion and cultural understanding in our game,” he said.

Over the year, several multicultural talent academies were held in each Australian state and an Under-16 world team was selected to participate in the NAB AFL championships held in Sydney to coincide with the multicultural round. Under the Australia Post AFL Multicultural School programs, the AFL Multicultural ambassadors have visited 300 schools and brought thousands of culturally diverse people to the game by teaching football skills and reinforcing key themes of leadership, harmony and respect.

The AFL Multicultural round 2013 initiatives include the use of orange flags by umpires to represent social harmony, half time games between junior multicultural teams, and cultural diversity forums being organised in various states. They also include sporting events and programs to introduce the game to international students and consular staff from various countries, and inclusion of performances from multicultural artists.

Preeti Jabbal

from a successful tour in Sydney at the NAB AFL Under-16 Championships. As captain, he took his team to a first-ever Division 3 victory, after being undefeated in all three games. Coach Anthony Koutoufides, former Carlton captain, described Damen as “one of the most talented boys in the team and certainly one of the better players in Sydney”.

Damen was discovered by AFL during a weekend camp in which 40 boys participated. He was among the 15 picked finally to make up the team for the Sydney event.

Damen comes from a family of sportsmen, traditional wrestlers who go back centuries. But this 16-year-old found himself loving footy at eight years of age.

“My friends got me into footy, and when I got a chance to play in the TAC Cup, I realised I was good at it and decided to put everything into it”.

With support from his family (who took time out to watch him play at Sydney), Damen dreams of future prospects in the game. Currently, he trains 6 days of the week, and competes on Sundays, fitting his Year 12 studies around his sporting schedule “He’ll definitely go far,” Coach Koutoufides says of him.

A NSW-ACT Ram

At the same event last year, Angad Roy of Sydney became the firstever player of Indian origin to represent NSW-ACT, playing for the Under-16 Rams side. Angad is currently taking time off from the sport for school reasons, and is already feeling antsy at not having played in recent months. He trained with the Slater & Gordon Giants Academy for three years where he had Ryan Hulihan, who played 200+ games for Carlton, as coach and mentor.

“I am drawn to AFL (more than other sports) because of the fact that you have to be good at so many different things, such as kicking, handballing, fitness and pace,” observes Angad. “You need to have this to be successful and none of it comes without practice. This challenge has provided me with a work ethic not only in AFL, but in most parts of my life”.

He adds, “I have found I have improved a lot not only in terms of my AFL skills, but things like discipline, diet and the way I conduct myself overall”.

Life skills from rugby

49-year-old investment advisor Manjit Singh of Sydney was first exposed to Rugby Union as a young kid in Mumbai’s exclusive Cathedral and John Connon School, and continues to play to this day.

“At school I just wanted to be different because everyone else played cricket or hockey,” he laughs. “But I fell in love with the game. At that time India only had 10 teams that played, so as school kids if we wanted to play, we had to play against the men. I Didn’t realise at that time how important rugby was going to be in my life. In 1980, my family moved to Australia and I can confidently say that playing the game helped me make friends and to assimilate”.

Manjit played at school and with the Wahroonga Tigers, and later began to coach with the club.

Why rugby?

“Rugby is a very inclusive game with a great sporting spirit, one of the very few games in the world that brings players together rather than dividing them. Like most team sports it provides great life learning skills - working under pressure, working for the team, working with the team, understanding your role in the overall effort, and relating to people from all walks of life”.

Today he plays with the community-based Killara West Pymble Rugby club, and continues to coach.

“Coaching and Killara West Pymble is all about giving back to a sport that has given me so much,” he reveals.

Community efforts with Collingwood

As Collingwood Football Club’s Community Engagament Officer, Harmit Singh likes to tell people his job is all about educating new Australians about football.

“In my six years with the club, I have seen some 2,500 school kids in Victoria go through our programs,” he tells Indian Link “We run clinics to teach the sport, bring the kids to the club for a look around, we give them tickets to games. We get the message across that football is a major part of Aussie life”.

AFL has been a major part of Harmit’s own life. He plays today for Morwell, and coached the Indian Tigers team for the 2011 AFL International Cup.

Something different from cricket

A practicing Muslim, 23-year-old Yasser Hussain is not playing footy in the ongoing Ramadan period. But he continues to be involved with Masala FC, and promoting the game in the Indian community.

Arriving from India as a 5-yearold, he had an early introduction to the game with Auskick, moving on to the Juniors up to the Under-15 level with the Glen Waverley Rovers and Under-17s with Northvale.

“My parents must really be credited with that initial push,” he reveals. “They wanted me to try something other than cricket! And luckily I found that my cricket skills transferred well to footy”.

Moving to Abu Dhabi for two years, Yasser played there when the Mid-Eastern League started off.

“That’s where I bumped into Ash Nugent and we talked about promoting the game in India”.

Yasser’s mum Aain is a regular at all his matches, and has won the admiration of his teammates.

“She wears her scarf to the field, bringing not only an Indian, but also an Islamic aspect to the game!”

Aain herself says, “Yes I am very involved and enjoy supporting my son. In fact, sometimes I cheer so hard that my husband begins to avoid me! Yasser is a die-hard fan of the game and has taken me to see the big games at the MCG”.

Dad’s approval

Ten-year-old Prithish Pancholi of Melbourne is very proud to declare that his team, Glen Waverley Rovers Junior Football

Club, is currently “first on the ladder”. His interest in the game comes through loud and clear as he rattles off his training schedule. He’ll tell you he likes the game because it’s lots of fun and a lot of his mates are on his team.

“I play in the back