INTRODUCING FOOTY TO THE WORLD

Gerard Whateley, Anthony Hudson and Jason Bennett might be the best commentators in the AFL, but there is another group of callers quietly introducing the greatest game in the world to the rest of that world – in their very own languages.

And they have, in fact, been doing it for several years, producing radio broadcasts in eight different languages for the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council, which aims to expand the reach of the game while also providing media training to a diverse range of people.

The NEMBC, which was launched by new AFL CEO Andrew Dillon in 2017, broadcasts in Arabic, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish and Tagalog Filipino, meaning a vast majority of the world’s population can enjoy their first taste of the game without having to master English first.

Their voices include multicultural broadcasters Agnes Yao Lu and Barney Yu Xia, who provided a call of the round eight game between Collingwood and GWS in Mandarin, while last week’s North Melbourne v Sydney game at Marvel Stadium went out in Filipino via Liz Honey and Al Noveloso and the Carlton v Collingwood clash was broadcast in Italian by Angela and Zara Khan.

For the first time this year, the NEMBC is covering non-Victorian games, including the first game of Gather Round between Adelaide and Carlton and this Friday night’s clash between the Swans and Carlton at the SCG in Arabic.

AFLW is also in the station’s sights as it plans to cover eight women’s matches this year in addition to 24 AFL games.

But it’s not just the broadcasts available to people around Australia and the world. NEMBC produces a weekly TV panel show featuring Vanessa Gatica, Harbir Singh Kang, Honey, Rajbir Ghuman, George Grosios, Tash Rallios and Andrawos

Commentary Teams

from the start of the AFL season through to 2023 AFLW Grand Final in November.

It also reports weekly news in all eight languages across the community radio network, as well as ethnic AFL news for print media.

Broadcasts are available on the AFL app, while the Multicultural AFL/AFLW Footy TV Show screens on Channel 31 (DVB 44) at 7pm on Thursday nights into Melbourne and Geelong and on C44 TV in Adelaide at 6.30pm on Fridays.

ARABIC: Fouad Andrawos, Nadal Najar, Rayan Barhoum

GREEK: Zisis Pouros, Iris Filolli

HINDI: Harbir Singh Kang, Renu Tiwary

ITALIAN: Angela Khan, Zara Khan, Daniel De Lorenzis

MANDARIN: Agnes Yao Lu, Barney Yu Xia

PUNJABI: Harbir Singh Kang, Rajbir Ghuman

SPANISH: Vanessa Gatica, Maximo Perez-Torres, Edgar Guerrero

TAGALOG (Filipino): Liz Honey, Al Noveloso