Tennis and cricket aside, while much of the sporting world’s attention locally has been focused on the Australian-hosted AFC Asian Cup (and excitement builds towards the final between the Socceroos and South Korea), another less well- known event has been taking place alongside it.
Scores of children from across Sydney took part last week in the Dream Asia Unity Football Festival held in support of One Goal, an international campaign that uses soccer as a vehicle to help improve the nutritional status of children across Asia and in Australia.
The football festival, which was held at the Hockey Centre in Sydney’s Olympic Park over three days, brought together some 150 teenagers who come from a range of different ethnic backgrounds.
Anne Bunde-Birouste, chief executive of Football United – a group which uses soccer to bring people together with the aim of creating harmonious and cohesive societies and which was one of the organisers of the festival, said the festival was about highlighting soccer’s capacity to “promote inclusion, a healthy and active lifestyle and the chance to support youth to become champions in life and football”.
“The tournament reflects Australia’s extraordinary multi-cultural diversity, uniting girls and boys aged between 13 and 15 from more than 50 different backgrounds including Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America as well as indigenous and Australian-born youth.”
As well as the soccer, last Friday saw representatives of the sport gathering with those from non-government and government organisations, the food industry and academics to discuss the issue of child malnutrition in Australia and across Asia.
Statistics show that Asia still contains more than half of the world’s 160 million stunted infants. They are not only more likely to die before their fifth birthday but even if they survive, are likely to learn less when in school, earn less when in the workforce and be more prone to diabetes and heart disease later in life.
One Goal is a partnership between World Vision, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, global science-based company DSM and the Asian Football Development Project.
Funds from the campaign are used to support World Vision’s health and nutrition projects in Australia, Nepal, Vietnam, Mongolia and India.
