The Australian Football Harmony Cup is an amateur

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

competition featuring teams drawn from Melbourne's migrant communities. The tournament is coordinated by

Australian Football International Australian Football International (AFI), is a world development body for the sport of Australian rules football. The organisation has developed a version of the sport known as Footy 9s that it claims will support global expansion of Austral ...

. It was first held in 2004 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

around National

Harmony Day Harmony Day, an event officially expanded and renamed as Harmony Week for its 20th anniversary in 2019, is a government-declared observance celebrated annually on or around 21 March in Australia. It was introduced by the Howard government in 19 ...

Background

Australian Football is also known for a high participation rate amongst migrants, particularly amongst Europeans. Many such players reach the highest levels and some like

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi (27 February 1936 – 16 September 2023) was an Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the greatest and most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player ...

Stephen Silvagni Stephen Silvagni (born 31 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Coming second in three generations of Silvagnis to represent the Blues, he is regarded a ...

, Robert DiPierdomenico and

Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; , ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a ...

are legends of the game. Some

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

clubs, such as Carlton are renowned for the high number of players of Mediterranean origin.

Teams

The Harmony Cup has included teams representing multicultural communities from

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

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Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

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New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

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Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. A side drawn from the Melbourne Aboriginal community has also competed at the Harmony Cup. Teams under the banner of "United Nations", "Team Harmony" and "Team Africa" have also competed at the Harmony Cup.

History

The first Harmony Cup was held in 2004 at

Skinner Reserve Skinner Reserve is an Australian rules football stadium located on Churchill Avenue, Braybrook, Victoria. It is most notable as the former home ground of the Sunshine Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). Prior to Skinner ...

, Braybrook in 2004, with Israel 8.9 (57) defeating Samoa 1.0 (6) in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

. The 2005 Harmony Cup was won by Greece 5.5 (35) over Turkey 3.3 (21) in front of a crowd of 2,300 at

Optus Oval Princes Park (also known as Ikon Park under naming rights) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a hi ...

in Carlton,

. The Harmony Cup returned in 2010 and has been held every year since.

Results

References

{{Reflist

External links