As Australia celebrates Refugee Week 2023, we shine a light on Melbourne's Community Soccer Hub and Satellite City United SC - two clubs that help people feel at home through football.
While the role of refugees representing Australia at the elite level in recent years has been widely celebrated, it is well worth acknowledging how sport at the grassroots level can positively impact the lives of many more.
Two prime examples of this are Satellite City United SC and the Community Soccer Hub.
Satellite City United SC
Satellite City United SC works with refugees by providing them opportunities to join the soccer club.
When South Sudanese refugees arrived in Melton, the club invited them to join and took the time to show them the Australian way of life. The club also helped them integrate into the local community and assisted with their needs.
Over time, the club has welcomed refugees from other African nations and has been educating themselves about their cultures while also sharing their own. As the club continues to grow, they are now also welcoming more Indian refugees.
Through this approach, Satellite City United SC plays an important role welcoming and supporting refugees in their new home, while also fostering intercultural exchange and understanding.
Community Soccer Hub
Established in 2014, CSH creates opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to know what it feels like to belong to a local Australian sports club.
Initially a safe space to enjoy playing soccer and connecting with community, it has grown to over 500 participants.
Based in the Western Melbourne suburb of Albion, the Community Soccer Hub's participation base reflects the demographic of an incredibly diverse region.
The club was established upon the role football plays in helping achieve a sense of connection and belonging to the local community.
The mental and physical health benefits of sport participation are well known, however, many people of refugee, migrant and low socioeconomic background can face significant barriers to sport participation such as financial restraints, language barriers, lack of culturally sensitive facilities and lack of communication between mainstream sporting clubs and settlement organisations.
The CSH was founded to remove these barriers.
This is achieved by working in collaboration with community leaders and organisations to design programs suitable and accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, all days of the week.
Programs include:
- Casual men, women and juniors "turn up and play" sessions
- 12 team "Communities League" competition
- Miniroos
- Competitive pathways through the club's Albion Thunder side
- Summer Sevens
Apart from playing the beautiful game, the Hub uses football as the catalyst connecting communities with support services, settlement organizations, employment as well as capacity building opportunities such as referee and coaching courses.
While every week is refugee week at the Hub, this week's celebrations mark a great opportunity for the wider community to reflect on the issues facing these communities, as well as their achievements.
