World Footy News

The AFL is pleased to announce the 2015 Toyota AFL Multicultural Round, celebrating ‘Many Cultures, One Game’ will take place in Round 19 of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season.  

Multicultural Round highlights the contribution multicultural communities have made to the game’s history and welcomes new communities to embrace Australian Football as fans, players, umpires or administrators.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said he is proud to announce a record number of activities will take place in Round 19 to mark the Toyota AFL Multicultural Round.

“With 27 per cent of Australians born overseas and around 200 languages spoken every day in Australian homes, the AFL is committed to reflecting Australia’s growing cultural diversity. 

“As an industry we will continue to reach out to new and emerging communities not only because it’s important for the growth of our game but as the number one sporting code in the country, we have a leadership role to play in social cohesion.

“This year, we are excited to launch our first ever Multicultural Festival at the Collingwood v Carlton match at MCG and to see all games broadcast in the seven most spoken languages via the AFL app, along with in-language messages integrated at all the venues and on field during Round 19 of the Toyota ALF Premiership Season.

“Together with our inclusion partner Australia Post, we have launched the 2015 My AFL Passport Ticketing campaign which aims to welcome over 24,000 people who have never experienced Australia Football to attend an AFL game for free in Multicultural Round,” said Mr McLachlan.

Australia Post Group Managing Director and CEO, Ahmed Fahour said Australia Post’s ongoing commitment to celebrating cultural diversity was something it shared with the AFL and hoped that, through their Multicultural programs and Multicultural Round, they would encourage new fans and communities to the great game of AFL.

“Australia Post employs 37,000 people from 137 nations and almost a quarter of our employees are from non-English speaking backgrounds, so the celebration of diversity and multiculturalism is something very personal to our organisation,” said Mr Fahour.

“Footy has the power to bring neighbourhoods together and connect communities and people from different cultural backgrounds. The upcoming Multicultural Round and the Many Cultures, One Game Festival before Collingwood V Carlton at the MCG are just a few examples of the platform that footy gives us to highlight the inclusive benefits of sport”.

In 2015, 14% of AFL players listed are born overseas or have one parent who was born overseas.

Toyota AFL Multicultural Round highlights:

● The first ever AFL Multicultural Festival celebrating ‘Many Cultures, One Game’ will be held at the MCG in Yarra Park at the Collingwood v Carlton game on August 8. The festival will run from 11.30am - 5.30pm and will include loads of free and fun activities for the entire family, including live entertainment from SBS PopAsia, Hip Hop dance, African drummers, Bollywood and many others.  http://www.afl.com.au/multiculturalround/festival

● All nine AFL matches during Multicultural Round will each be broadcast in the seven most spoken languages in Australia, other than English via the AFL app.

● All venues will feature in-language markings on field and in-language messages in stadium.

● The Sherrin official AFL match ball will be translated into Arabic, Hindi or Mandarin and will feature at all nine matches.

● The AFL field umpire shirts will feature the word umpire translated into one of the seven most spoken languages in Australia, other than English.

● The AFL is excited to launch its official AFL Sina Weibo account. Weibo is the largest Chinese social media network and has over 538 million users, including 1.2 million Australian Chinese users.

● The AFL and Australia Post have together launched the 2015 My AFL Passport Ticketing campaign which encourages people who have never experienced Australian Football before to attend an AFL game for free in Multicultural Round. Tickets to AFL matches at venue in Melbourne and Sydney are still available: afl.com.au/myaflpassport

● During Multicultural Round, the AFL will highlight the role of its 13 Australia Post AFL Multicultural player ambassadors and 233 community volunteers across the country who share their passion for Australian Football and connect communities through engaging in AFL.

● The Round 19 AFL Record will feature an introduction to Australian Football in the seven languages.

● The AFL has partnered with the Victorian Government on the Embrace Diversity campaign which encourages support for cultural diversity across various social media channels.

● This year marks 10 years since the AFL launched its Multicultural Program in 2005 to engage people of all ages from multicultural backgrounds in Australian Football.

● From the 14 August – 31 October 2015 The Immigration Museum will host a photographic exhibition showcasing multiculturalism in Australian Football.  Highlights include rare photos of players from both private and AFL collections. Visitors to the Immigration Museum during the exhibition dates can present any game ticket from multicultural round and receive a two for one entry.

● Multicultural entertainment will feature pre-match on field at Multicultural Round matches including a Bollywood performance prior to Collingwood v Carlton and St Kilda v Fremantle, and a Chinese Dragon Procession at Melbourne v North Melbourne and a Chinese Lion dance and Arabic Drummers at the GWS Giants v Essendon match.

● A citizenship ceremony will take place prior to GWS Giants v Essendon and Adelaide Crows v Richmond matches.

●The Auburn Giants will play the UTS Shamrocks in the curtain-raiser to the GWS Giants v Essendon and the Nic Naitanui Academy will play in a curtain-raiser at Domain Stadium prior to West Coast Eagles v Hawthorn.

● AFL Queensland is hosting a World Fiesta at its headquarters at Yeronga this weekend, celebrating cultural diversity through football, food and family entertainment. Across 25 marquee junior and senior matches in Queensland, boundary umpires will wear orange socks and goal umpires will wave orange flags to symbolise harmony.

● WatchAFL (the AFL’s official global streaming service) are offering all people outside of Australia with the opportunity to watch all Round 19 matches for free wither Live or On Demand.  Visit:  http://watchafl.afl.com.au  

● The 2015 Toyota AFL Multicultural Round marketing campaign highlights the stories of grassroots footy legends and the many wonderful cultures who all share a common passion for footy.

For more details on the 2015 Toyota AFL Multicultural Round, please visit: www.afl.com.au/multiculturalround