Community » Multicultural

Multicultural Program

Overview

The Essendon Football Club Multicultural Program, operated in partnership with the AFL and the Victorian Government, was established to develop opportunities to engage people from diverse cultural backgrounds in the game of Australian football with the view to broaden both the participation and supporter base in the game.

Multicultural Schools Program

The Essendon Football Club has established a Multicultural Schools program which aims to develop opportunities to engage people from diverse cultural backgrounds in Australian Football while promoting cultural diversity.

The Multicultural Schools Program runs between 6-10 weeks and operates in a number of primary and secondary schools throughout Melbourne's north-west, reaching in excess of approximately 2,500 students.

Participants are provided with the opportunity to engage with Australian Rules Football on a number of levels including; classroom activities, health and career seminars, AFL game visits, online activities, regular interaction with Essendon players, tours of AFL and Essendon facilities and modified format competitions.

To register your interest, contact Essendon's Multicultural Development Officer Kashif Bouns at (03) 9230 0342 or via email at kbouns@essendonfc.com.au

Andrew Welsh Auskick Centre

Aimed at engaging culturally and linguistically diverse youth in the Flemington area, the Andrew Welsh Auskick Centre uses physical activity to help develop social skills and healthy living through fun-football associated activities.

The Auskick Centre commenced on 25th July, 2011 with over 90 children registered as participants. This year, Essendon hosted a variety of activities in conjunction with the Andrew Welsh Auskick Centre. Recently, over 150 children attended the Andrew Welsh Auskick Iftar held at Flemington Community Centre earlier this year.

GLoBALL Program

Coordinated by the Essendon Football Club and Cricket Victoria, GLoBALL enables international students and new migrants to interact with the broader Victorian community through Australian Rules Football and cricket related activities the whole year round.

GLoBALL aims to promote a sense of belonging, social inclusion and celebrate diversity for newly arrived migrants and students.

GLoBALL provides opportunities for international students and new migrants to interact with EFC members, staff and players.

Founding supporters of GLoBALL are RMIT, The City of Melbourne and the Australian Federation of International Students and the list of supporting organisations keeps growing.

This year, approximately 12,000 new migrants and students from across Victoria were reached through various football and cricket initiatives.

The Australia Day Goes GLoBALL event, hosted at Windy Hill in January was attended by over 3000 people, as over 303 ambassadors registered to be a part of the ever expanding program.

With participants from over 104 countries across the world, the 2011 GLoBALL season was launched at RMIT University with Essendon stars Ricky Dyson and Scott Gumbleton. The GLoBALL season came to a thrilling close in Round 23 against Port Adelaide, with the GLoBALL Cultural Celebrations attended by over 770 people at Etihad Stadium.

For further information regarding the Essendon Football Club Multicultural Program, please contact Kashif Bouns on (03) 9230 0342 or via email at kbouns@essendonfc.com.au.

For more information, to register as a participant (if you are an international student or new migrant) or to support GLoBALL in other ways (such as by being a GLoBALL Ambassador), go to: www.globall.com.au

AFP/EFC Unity Cup

The Australian Federal Police, Essendon, North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs Football Club were proud to co-host the 2011 Unity Cup at Windy Hill earlier this year.

This event involving the Muslim, Jewish and Indigenous communities as well as representatives from the Australian Federal Police and associated AFL clubs was held over two weekends with the finals hosted at Windy Hill.

Highlights of the day will include:

Free Entry
Police MFB and SES expos
Unity Cup Finals
Player Autographs
Auskick Session (5 -12yrs)
Kids Activity Area
Women's Activities And much much more