By Casey Neill
A soccer team helping young Afghan refugees now needs a hand to continue its positive work.
The Afghan Victory football club needs to raise $20,000 to keep running for another year, and is looking for corporate sponsorship as a more permanent solution.
The side has cracked $10,000 in donations to an online appeal.
The cash will cover jerseys, soccer balls, refreshments, venue hire, registration fees and travel.
Zakarya Shojaie, himself a refugee, founded the club, and for nearly four years invested more than a third of his own earnings to finance the teams.
But he was recently retrenched and can no longer afford it.
“I used to see these kids wandering around Dandenong Plaza and the train station with nothing to do,” he said.
“I thought, no – that’s not good, that’s not fair…to spend their life like this…I feared they may get into drugs and alcohol.
“So I decided to start the soccer team to get them away from all those things, and to make their future bright.
“In our first week, we had 25 kids sign up!”
More than 50 young people have been involved in the club, and it’s become a family for many.
Young refugees are often placed together in community houses, and many are students who’ve lost their parents to conflict.
The club gives them a purpose and helps them to develop confidence, focus, friendship, teamwork and a will to win.
Afghan Victory has a men’s under 17s and under 25s sides and a women’s under 19s team.
All three practise two days a week and play other registered clubs around Melbourne on weekends.
They’ve won several trophies and interstate matches, and the women’s team is the current league champion.
Visit chuffed.org/project/afghan-victory-soccer-club to donate.
