Jewish AFL sponsored by St Kilda
Melbourne AFL side The Jew Crew is now wearing its Magen David guernsies in the red, white and black colours of their new sponsor St Kilda Football Club.
The players began their training on Sunday at St Kilda’s elite facility in Seaford as they prepared for the annual Unity Cup hosted by the AFL Multicultural Program and the Australian Federal Police.
The Unity Cup has been designed to break down barriers while teams from African, Asian, Indian, Afghan, Muslim, Aboriginal and Jewish teams kick around a Sherrin while battling it out for the coveted Unity Cup Premiership Trophy.
The competition turns ten this year and every year it gets bigger and better.
Veteran team manager of the Jew Crew, Ryan Kuperholz explains “When I first got involved in 2012 with my brother’s MUJU Peace Club, there were only about 6 male teams, now we have 12 male and 8 female teams representing 14 different cultures and coming from all over regional Victoria! It has become more inclusive of different communities and has broadened to include the female competition which is a huge triumph. If we are serious about inclusion we don’t disqualify 50% of the population!”
“This year many AFL clubs were contacted and we were ecstatic to learn that St Kilda footy club had elected to sponsor and support our Jewish teams” Ryan enthused. “It gives us new purpose and legitimacy, up until now, we never had any organisation behind us; it was just me and my mum trying to ensure that the Jewish community was represented. All the other teams had clubs or mosques or community centre’s behind them. With my Jewish team, it was just me recruiting and trying to find a uniform to borrow for most years. Now I feel like we are more than just a bunch of mates, we are a proper team with support and a facility that are interested in our participation and success.”
Ryan and the Jew Crew would love to see as many of the community as possible come down and support them at Unity Cup on Sunday 2 April at J.J. Holland Park in Kensington for the day of round robin tournaments from 9.00am climaxing in the Premiership Match from 3.00pm. There will be a kosher, Halal and vegetarian sausage sizzle as well as food trucks and kids entertainment.
For those wanting to aquire Jew Crew guernsies, we will have a limited number available for purchase via donation if you email [email protected] or fb message Sharon Kuper.