The sixth annual Welcome to Geelong event, presented by Viva Energy, saw a record 220 newly arrived Australians from a range of communities attend a family day and their first footy match on Sunday.
Eight countries were represented with participants initially migrating to Australia from Afghanistan, Burma, Thailand, Sudan, Iran, South Sudan, China and Congo.
Welcome to Geelong provides its guests with an opportunity to belong to the Club and connect with other Australians.
General Manager of Community, Sarah Albon, says events such as Welcome to Geelong highlight the club’s continuous commitment in advocating and leading as a role model for positive change on social issues facing the community.
“Sporting clubs offer a fantastic opportunity to generate inclusion and break down ethnic and cultural barriers,” Albon said.
“Geelong Cats embraces our community’s cultural diversity and sees it as an opportunity to generate and enhance social inclusion.
“We recognise that there can be many barriers for CALD communities to participate in sport. It’s through events such as Welcome to Geelong that we hope to encourage involvement and make new community members feel welcome.”
The day commenced with attendees experiencing a traditional Welcome to Country, enjoying an Australian inspired lunch, learning some basic football skills and forming a guard of honour as our AFLW team ran onto the ground to play Brisbane.
More than 30 volunteers took part and the Club would like to acknowledge the contribution of event sponsor Viva Energy along with Geelong Cats players, SEDA, Catholic Care, AFL Victoria, Deakin University, Diversitat and North Geelong Secondary College in helping make the event a success.
