The Greater Western Sydney GIANTS will host the inaugural Many Cultures match against Melbourne at ŠKODA Stadium this Saturday August 3.

GIANTS CEO David Matthews said the match was a great opportunity to celebrate the cultural diversity of Western Sydney.

"As the AFL's newest club, we want to embrace the different cultures that make up Western Sydney,” he said. “One of the great strengths of our game is that it is inclusive and open to everyone regardless of their background.

“This will be our second last game at ŠKODA Stadium this year as we look to hopefully bring up our first win and we’d love to see as many people as possible come out and enjoy a great day at the football.

“We believe ŠKODA Stadium is one of Australia’s premier venues, particularly for families who can enjoy things like the AFL playground and kick to kick on the ground after the game.”

As part of the AFL's and GIANTS' commitment to diversity and inclusion, there will be a number of initiatives to recognise multicultural communities. 

The GIANTS in partnership with the Multicultural Youth Affairs Network, will also be inviting refugee and new migrant youth to attend. Students from local secondary schools in Western Sydney will also present cultural performances at the game.

“This is an opportunity for migrant and refugee youth to come together and celebrate diversity through our indigenous game,” said GIANTS Community Engagement Manager Ali Faraj.

As part of the match day activities, the Gaelic Athletic Association will also play a  special curtain raiser with involvement from the large Irish population across Sydney. The match will be played between NSW and Victoria and should be a great spectacle to watch before the main game. The curtain raiser will kick off at 11:30am

AFL NSW/ACT runs programs across the state that are designed to engage multicultural individuals and communities in a number of different ways. In 2012, more than 4000 multicultural participants were involved in school, community and talent based initiatives.

The main game will start at 1.45pm and tickets can be purchased at www.gwsgiants.com.au or www.ticketmaster.com.au

To mark the occasion, the GIANTS are offering a special 2 for 1 ticket offer simply by going to www.ticketmaster.com.au/irishgiant and entering the code word STANDTALL.

There will be plenty of activities to get involved in throughout the day, including:

  • Arabic drum workshops
  • Henna Art
  • Haka performances
  • Chinese lion
  • Chinese ribbon dancers
  • Vietnamese singers
  • Polynesian singers
  • AFL Playground and Kids Zone
  • Extended kick-to-kick 
  • Post-match player signing session 
  • Live band

As part of the activities planned we have worked with SBS to produce our radio ad in the languages below, which they have been playing on their language radio programs.

You can click on the below links to listen to these:

File: Arabic AFL.mp3, 1,221.43 KB  
File: Cantonese AFL.mp3, 1,221.43 KB  
File: Dinka AFL.mp3, 1,221.43 KB  
File: Hindi AFL.mp3, 1,221.43 KB  
File: Mandari AFL.mp3, 1,221.43 KB