Refugees Building a Life Through Sport

Photo: Western Bulldogs Football Club

Refugees Building a Life Through Sport

The Western Bulldogs Football Club in Melbourne, playing in the elite Australian Football League, is committed to helping refugees and other disadvantaged settlers make a new life in Australia.

This is achieved through its community arm “Spirit West Services” with a focus on building smarter, engaged, healthier and ‘sustainable’ communities. The aim is to encourage education, employment, strong families and a healthy life style through sport.
The program is ongoing and attracts participants from various newly arrived African and Middle East communities. The desired outcome is to contribute to better educated citizens, with skills that will enable them to find a job, who have a healthier lifestyle and who have respect for their community.

The Club is committed to connecting new settlers with their community and is active in promoting civics through the hosting of a Refugee Week Australian citizenship ceremony. The programs are peer- and government- evaluated and build on recommendations from partner organisations. The Club recognises it has a responsability to help its community while at the same time keeping a focus on it key priority of being the best team in the elite national football competition.

Location:

Western Region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Policy/practice area:

Socio-economic integration

Keywords:

Anti-discrimination, Citizenship and regularization, Community building, Culture and diversity, Education, Employment, Empowerment, Equal access, Ethnicity, Family and marriage, Gender, Health, Housing, Intercultural outreach, Interfaith work, Literacy, Media and diversity, Refugees and asylum seekers, School, Training, Women, Work, Youth,

Integration Practitioner:

Civil society organization

Name of Organization:

Western Bulldogs Football Club

Website:

http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au

Contact Information:

Whitten Oval, 417 Barkly Street
Footscray West Vic 3012 Australia
Phone: +61396806189
Email: chris.christoforou@westernbulldogs.com.au

Other stakeholders involved in this practice:

Through it community arm ‘Spirit West Service’, the Western Bulldogs Football Club has developed partnerships with the following organisations:

• Victorian University
• Maribyrnong Secondary College
• Western English Language School
• Department of Education -Western Region Office
• Federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship
• Victoria Police Force and other emergency service organisations
• Australian Multicultural Education Services (AMES)
• Maribyrnong Council
• Australian Football League
• Victorian State and Australian wide Sporting Organisations and Local Sports Clubs
• Migrant Resource Centres and Settlement Service Providers, and
• community and multicultural groups.

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