The honours were shared by the multicultural teams competing in the Western Bulldogs’ 5th Annual CALDplay Football Carnival held at Whitten Oval today.
A large multicultural crowd saw a combined St Albans Adult Multicultural English Services (AMES) and Werribee AMES team take out the Women’s competition in the curtain raiser before a combined team from Yarraville Community Centre, Footscray AMES and Victoria University Sunshine reversed the results in the men’s division.
CALDplay Cup winners in each division had the added bonus of being presented their trophy by Western Bulldogs Senior Coach Brendan McCartney.
St Albans and Werribee AMES took out the women’s curtain raiser match by 7 points, defeating Victorian University and Footscray AMES.
The 9-a-side women’s match is fast becoming the highlight of the carnival with the women displaying skills which were at times athletic, tough and silky, but always entertaining.
In the end, the younger women from Werribee AMES and St Albans AMES youth class were too strong for the much improved VU Sunshine / Footscray AMES team whose ages ranged from 18 to 52.
Jessica Liu from China was awarded the best on ground for Victoria University Sunshine - a remarkable feat considering she attended her first training session last Friday! Ilda Thoxhu from Albania was the best on ground for St Albans / Werribee AMES.
When the men’s teams ran through the team banner to the sounds of ‘Sons of the West’, Whitten Oval’s notorious chilly, windy conditions were beginning to playing havoc.
Both men’s sides had a mix of players who first learnt the game six weeks ago through the CALDplay training sessions to players returning from last year’s carnival, lured by the opportunity to once again play their newly adopted game.
For the first time in 5 years, all positions were filled with new arrivals (in previous years, teams have often played 16 or 17 a side with the Western Bulldogs community team, coaches, policemen and firefighters making up the numbers).
The combined team from Yarraville Community Centre, VU Sunshine and Footscray AMES got off to a flyer with a goal kicked in the first 2 minutes of the game.
Yarraville / VU Sunshine / Footscray AMES continued to dominate play with the wind on their back, kicking 2.3 (14) and holding their opponents scoreless in the first term.
It was a lead that proved to be match winning with St Albans / Werribee AMES struggling to make up the margin, despite kicking 2.1 in the second quarter.
The best on ground in the men’s division was aptly awarded to two refugees from Burma as the football carnival was held in celebration of Refugee Week.
In what is a truly a multicultural event, participants represented over 25 different nationalities - 80 per cent having lived in Australia for less than 5 years.
The Carnival was hosted by Western Bulldogs, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) and the Maribyrnong Refugee Week Organising Committee.
The Carnival marked the conclusion of the six week CALDplay Football Program in which over 200 migrants and refugees have engaged in football and fire safety over the past six weeks.
Teams were coached by local Victoria Police members and Deer Park Football Club representatives.
The CALDplay centres will now prepare themselves for the next CALDplay sports program in Term 3 - a 5-week badminton program at the Club’s Community Sports Hall.
But first, many of the players and students from the centres will attend their first AFL game this weekend to watch the Bulldogs take on Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium.
The Western Bulldogs are the only Club to develop a dedicated program and competition for adult migrant English learning students, which runs as part of the Settlements Grants Program with the Department of Immigration & Citizenship.
FINAL SCORES
Women’s Division:
AMES St Albans / Werribee 3.3 (21) defeated AMES Footscray / VU Sunshine 2.2 (14)
Men’s Division:
Yarraville Community Centre / VU Sunshine / AMES Footscray 3.5 (23) defeated AMES St Albans / Werribee 2.2 (14)
