Mackillop College are the inaugural Premiers in the first women’s ESL Cup held at Whitten Oval last fortnight after emerging from the AFL 9s tournament undefeated.
With 50 newly arrived female students from across the Western Region of Melbourne taking to the field, the participants made history playing in what was the first Australian football carnival dedicated to female new arrivals.
Having all arrived in Australia between one moth to seven years ago, the majority of the girls picked up an oval shaped ball for the first time two weeks ago.
The event was a truly multicultural event with participants coming from a vast array of non-English speaking background countries such as Tibet, Burma, Guinea, Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Thailand, Vietnam and China to name a few.
The round robin AFL 9s tournament was played with spirit and enthusiasm despite the girls’ novel understanding of the game.
The girls’ fearless attack at the ball and raw athletic skills showed the potential for a new market in Australian football.
Mackillop College from Werribee were crowned the inaugural Premiers after remaining undefeated over their three matches.
The girls amassed 30 goals over its three matches whilst conceding three in a dominant display of teamwork and football skills.
Sunshine College were the runners-up with two wins with Gilmore Girls College and the Western English Language School rounding up the places.
Kirsty Gosling from Mackillop was judged Player of the Tournament by Victorian Women’s AFL State Representative, Kara Donnellan.
Donnellan, who plays at local VWFL club St Albans Spurs, spoke about her experiences with Australian Football further providing encouragement to the newly arrived students to pursue football.
Four “Teamwork” prizes were awarded to individual players from each school. The inaugural recipients of the Teamwork awards were:
• Mackillop College - Agoum Mashak, originally from South Sudan
• Gilmore Girls College - Lony Za Tlei, originally from Burma
• Sunshine College - Liya Ayalew originally from Ethiopia
• Western English Language School - Rodas Tesfamariam from Eritrea
A highlight of the day was the girls from the WELS, consisting of all players who have been in Australia for less than 6 months, who failed to kick a goal until their last game but then proceeded to pile on three goals in quick succession against eventual premiers Mackillop - highlighting their vast improvement in the space of three games.
The English as a Second Language (ESL) Female Cup is an initiative of the Western Bulldogs’ to engage newly arrived girls as part of its multicultural and settlement programs.
The secondary schools carnival is the first of its kind in Australia to focus on female students from non-English speaking background who have lived in Australia for no longer than 7 years.
The Bulldogs pioneered in the boys’ ESL Cup in 2006 which has gone on to become a highlight of the Club’s annual community engagement programs.
The Female ESL Cup was created to address the unique needs of multicultural females in the region especially in relation to sport participation and health and wellbeing.
The Western Bulldogs would like to thank its multicultural partner, Programmed, along with AFL Victoria, the Victorian Women’s Football League and Deer Park Football Club for supporting the initiative.
