By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS: clucadou-wells@mmpgroup.com.au
THE “world game” has harnessed migrants and refugees in Dandenong into a potent strike-force on the pitch.
With a core group of 10 men, Team Maihan — an Afghani word meaning
“my country, united as one” — trains at Pop Up Park on Tuesdays. Many
of them joyfully blast point-blank shots at their agile goalie, Abdullah
Sharifi.
In the past month, under the watch of their Brazilian coach known
as Junior, Team Maihan has taken out an indoor soccer tournament in
Cranbourne and bagged silver medals in a Refugee Week indoor soccer
tournament at Dandenong Stadium.
The team is part of the Centre for Multicultural Youth’s boyspace
project which uses sport to help newly arrived males aged 12 to 25 feel
at home.
Some of the 100 or so players involved so far have gone on to join
established soccer clubs and six have earned a Football Federation
Victoria level-4 referee badge.
The only obvious split in the multinational team is the debate on
who is the world’s best player: Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo.
Arif Nooh, 18, who plays left wing for the side, is a committed Ronaldo fan.
He learned the game in the Afghani village of Aaghil Baio. He
hopes to play for a local soccer club and kick on professionally — with
Melbourne Heart, if he has a choice. “There’s a long way to go,” he
concedes.
A brickie in his homeland, Nooh has found it tough to land a job
outside soccer since settling in Dandenong last year. He says he needs
recognised skills and training.
Nooh, persecuted as a Hazara in Afghanistan, arrived in Australia
by boat and spent five months in detention centres as an unaccompanied
minor. He says he’s happy with life, mixing with the growing numbers of
Hazara settling in and around Dandenong.
A Centre for Multicultural Youth spokeswoman said there had been a
significant increase in boys and young men arriving in Melbourne as
orphans and unaccompanied minors in the past year, particularly from
Afghanistan.
“Young men and minors who arrive without the support of family
face additional pressures which can work against positive settlement,”
she said. “Soccer is quite a popular sport among migrant and refugee
young people. Many are keen on joining local soccer clubs and have asked
for support.”
