Gold Coast Sun’s player, Joel Wilkinson, thinks the AFL has come a long way in finally accepting ethnic players.

With a Nigerian background, the young recruit thinks he might not have had the chance to enter the AFL 30 years ago.

“Culturally your chances to qualify were slimmer, but the growth in Australia socially and the AFL leading the way in Australian sport, there’s opportunities here now for multicultural backgrounds,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

Wilkinson is joining the one-year-old group of Multicultural Ambassadors for the AFL this season and has been participating in a number of programs in Queensland.

He’s involved with the Queensland Multicultural Schools Program and is a mentor to the Talent Agency and brings AFL to new migrant communities to promote inclusion.

They’re programs he’s very keen to get involved in because he can see the good it does in bridging gaps and promoting inclusion.

“On a human level it’s about giving them (new migrants) an organisation to come to and feel safe and included in society,” he says.

The AFL has 11 multicultural ambassadors who work with local groups across Australia in engaging programs. Round 16 of the AFL premiership season will be the multicultural round, celebrating “Many Cultures. One Game”.

AFL Chief Andrew Demetriou said the game has a great power in bridging the gap of race and uniting everyone with a common goal.

“Australian football has the extraordinary power to bring people together regardless of their background,” he said.

“We are proud of the insight and cultural guidance they (the ambassadors) provided to communities and the AFL industry.”

Newcomer to the group, Port Adelaide’s Alipate Carlile says the AFL has changed for the better, with a bigger emphasis on talent rather than race.

“Especially nowadays, they don’t really care where you’re from, as long as you’ve got the talent, the skill and determination to make something of it,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

But there’s still a way to go. Unlike soccer, only 14 per cent of the AFL players are from a culturally diverse background.