North Beach’s inaugural multicultural footy carnival success

More than 300 students from diverse backgrounds in Years 3 to 10 participated in the first ever Intensive English Centre Football carnival held at Charles Riley Reserve in North Beach on March 15.

The four-division carnival, run by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC), saw sixteen different nationalities represented from five different schools, with all participants born either overseas or had a parent that was.

The carnival aims to provide students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to learn the basic skills of football in a fun, enjoyable environment whilst also playing a vital role in strengthening social inclusion within the school community.

Nollomara Primary School won the Primary Girls and Boys divisions and Melville Senior High School were named winners of both the Secondary Girls and Boys divisions.

A teacher from Melville SHS said the program is a fantastic initiative run by the WAFC that offers the kids an opportunity to experience something completely new and learn about the Australian culture.

“One of my students arrived in Australia a week ago and only knew three words of English and one of them happened to be ‘footy’”, she said.

The WAFC would like to thank the North Beach Junior Football Club and the club’s President Scott Campbell for providing their facilities to help run the carnival.