World Footy News

Lebanon have emerged victorious from the 2010 Harmony Cup, defeating Albania by 49 points in the final at the Whitten Oval last Sunday. The tournament is a celebration of Australian football amongst Victoria's multi-cultural community.

The Lebanese were impressive all day, with a number of star players from high-level Melbourne suburban footy. Their first match saw them hold India scoreless, followed by solid wins over Greece and Israel, before their final match blitz.

The Albanians also made a big impact in their cup debut, easily accounting for Italy, Indonesia and Team Harmony in the pool rounds, cheered on by a large contingent of supporters who had made the trek out to Footscray.

Highlights for the crowd included a number of former AFL stars back on the playing field, Indonesia's impressive win as underdogs over Team Harmony in the first match of the day, India's Shri Purushtothaman playing out the tournament despite a broken jaw and football legend and long-time international footy supporter Ron Barassi being on hand to congratulate the winners.

The attendance of the Indian-Sri Lankan and Indonesian teams was a potential milestone in footy's multicultural development, representing migrant communities less often connected with footy than the others in attendance who have all produced AFL stars and count large numbers of players in local footy leagues.

Indonesian team manager Fawwaz Sungkar was rapt with his team's performance on the day, saying that they hadn't been expecting the win in their first-ever match. "To tell you the truth, our highest expectation when we joined this competition was just to be competitive, and for us to play our first-ever competitive game against Team Harmony, and to win it, is just beyond my expectations. I'm pumped for everyone, for the boys, and for the supporters."

"What we're trying to so is take it step by step, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, after all this I'll probably speak to all the players individually and see if they want to stay onboard and play for Indonesia. If we get the thumbs up from all the boys, hopefully we'll be able to create the first Indonesian-based local footy club."

With the appearance of the Vietnamese team at the 2004 and 2005 Multicultural Cups leading to the creation of the South-East Asian community-based Southern Dragons Football Club, there is a proven pathway for community clubs to emerge out of events such as the Harmony Cup. Fawwaz notes that there is also potential among the Melbourne Filipino community, who also have a growing number of participants in local footy.

Likewise, members of the Indian and Sri Lankan team are looking towards the soon-to-be-launched Surrey Park FC program, which aims to get Indian nationals studying in Melbourne to get involved in the indigenous sport.

Champions Lebanon have active plans to promote footy back in the homeland, with team manager Maan Soufan confirming that last week's meeting with the Lebanese Consul-General was very positive, despite him being unable to attend Sunday's matches.

Although Team Africa didn't end up making to the first bounce, Team Harmony counted players from Ethiopia, South Africa and Somalia in its ranks, representing further communities that some AFL clubs have already identified as target markets for both players and supporters in the very near future.

Full Results:

Round 1

Indonesia 3.0 (18) d. Team Harmony 2.4 (16)
Albania 6.5 (41) d. 1.0 (6) Italy
Lebanon 8.6 (54) d. India 0.0 (0)
Greece 3.4 (22) d. Israel 2.3 (15)

Round 2

Italy 6.4 (40) d. Team Harmony 2.3 (15)
Albania 9.6 (60) d. Indonesia 1.2 (8)
Israel 5.6 (36) d. India 1.2 (8)
Lebanon 4.3 (27) d. Greece 2.2 (14)

Round 3

Albania 6.3 (39) d. Team Harmony 0.4 (4)
Greece 9.0 (54) d. Italy 3.2 (20)
India 4.3 (27) d. Indonesia 2.2 (14)
Lebanon 4.3 (27) d. Israel 1.4 (10)

Grand Final

Lebanon 9.2 (56) d. Albania 1.1 (7)
Best on Ground – Mimo Dimashki (Lebanon)

Final Standings

1. Lebanon
2. Albania
3. Greece
4. Israel
5. Italy
6. India
7. Indonesia
8. Team Harmony

Fastest Man - Albania

Best Cultural Performance - Albania

Harmony Medal - Maan Soufan (Lebanon)