Multicultural Cup

The Australian Football Multicultural Cup was held in Melbourne in 2004 & 2005 as part of Harmony Day. It was a fantastic success. The aim of the event is twofold:

1. to celebrate Melbourne's ethnic diversity and harmony, and

2. use the sport of Australian football, as Australia's only indigenous sport, to break down cultural and ethnic barriers. We may come from many different backgrounds but we are all Australians.

A third aim is to use both the high profiles of the teams and contacts made during the event to generate interest in developing the game in the respective countries. Competing teams have included Australia, Israel, Lebanon, Croatia, Samoa, Tonga, Vietnam, Turkey, Greece, Italy and the United Nations (a team of asylum seekers from 9 different countries).

The Multicultural Cup received strong support from the Federal and Victorian Governments and has great potential to become an annual event as part of Harmony Day.

ARI would like to see the event continue, with the support of the AFL.