The AFL will now include a ‘My Passport’ initiative that will see anyone with an international passport get a ticket to a game of footy in the multicultural round.

The AFL believes 18,000 people from multicultural communities across Australia will be eligible in the program, aiming to get as many diverse fans flocking to the sport as possible.

Launching the multicultural round last week, the AFL has introduced a number of new measures that will make the game more inclusive, while targeting grassroots players to pick up a Sherrin.

They have now introduced a ‘unity wrap’, a headscarf that will be available in all 18 AFL club colours designed to be worn by players and fans. The idea came from a local Melbourne mum, who decided to throw a little bit more team spirit in her daughter’s uniform and customise her usually white headscarf to match her team colours.

New AFL Multicultural Ambassador, Melbourne’s Jimmy Toumpas, says the AFL has a lot of room to grow in regards to making the sport more accessible to multicultural communities. He wants to see all AFL players become ambassadors.

“It’d be good if every AFL player was a multicultural ambassador, it would definitely spread the word a bit quicker,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

“If all 400 players want to jump on board it would be great, but I think the work the nine or 10 of us ambassadors are doing does share the load a bit.”

Currently, only 15 per cent of players come from a multicultural background, meaning at least one parent was born overseas. The figure is low considering
that in Victoria 48 per cent of people have a parent born overseas.

The multicultural round is a fairly new initiative, and something Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides would have liked to have seen when he was playing.

“Maybe we can look back in hindsight and say it was a little bit too late, but it’s just a good initiative by the AFL, its so important for us, there are so many cultures in Australia and it’s the future of our game,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

“We’ve got to target those players and not lose them to other sports.”

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan says this multicultural round will be the biggest the code has ever undertaken, hoping to highlight the “new communities entering our game”.

“Wherever you come from, you’re welcome in our sport,” he said launching the round.

McLachlan will be taking over former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s vision of a much more multicultural sport, starting from Auskick and ending at the top tier league.

The code will also create a national umpiring strategy to create talent pathways for multicultural and Indigenous umpires.

Joining up with the year long multicultural ambassador project, the multicultural round will feature food, music and dance at the games.Crowds will be able to grab something to eat at the Cultural Footbridge Festival at Etihad Stadium while watching some amazing dance performances before the matches.
Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs will also host citizenship ceremonies during round 18.

For more information on the AFL multicultural round, visit www.afl.com.au/multiculturalround