Local Jewish and Muslim communities were united at Whitten Oval yesterday as Liam Picken hosted three Western Bulldogs affiliated teams in their final training session ahead of the 5th Annual Unity Cup to be held later this month.

The group of young men, aged 16 to 18, embraced the chance to have Picken as a mentor in their final preparations before the 2012 Unity Cup tournament kicks off on March 25th.

Held annually during Cultural Diversity Week, the Unity Cup is a round robin AFL 9’s tournament co-hosted by the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Hawthorn and Essendon Football Clubs alongside the Australian Federal Police and the AFL Multicultural Program.

The Cup, which involves Muslim, Jewish, African, Southeast Asian and Indigenous communities from across Australia, celebrates our great game and the cultural diversity of our community.

The Western Bulldogs will be fielding teams in the tournament from the Newport Islamic Society and MUJU Peace Club, who all participated in yesterday’s training session. 

The MUJU Peace Club - a combined Muslim and Jewish football team formed in 2011 by young people from the Newport Islamic Society and Bialik College - was inspired by the Palestinian/Israeli AFL Peace Team’s visit to Whitten Oval last year.  

A number of young men from each of the teams have been involved with the Western Bulldogs community engagement project ‘More than a Game’ - funded by the Federal Attorney General’s Department - which endeavours to build community resilience through sport.

The Unity Cup will be held from 9:00am on Sunday the 25th of March at JJ Holland Park, Kensington Road, Kensington.

To view the photo gallery from Tuesday’s training session, click here.