Launched in December 2019 by the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV), the All One Together alliance is a collaborative platform for business, local governments, and not-for-profit organisations and community groups to innovate and take positive actions to tackle racism.
The Port Melbourne Soccer Club has signed up to the alliance, and is proud to be the first member of a new category of “Community Champions,” created to celebrate change makers at the local level.
“As Australia has grown in diversity, so has our club. A key component to the growth of our club has been the increased inclusion and acceptance of community members of ethnically diverse backgrounds – all bound by love of the world game. The only colour we see is red and blue. We’ve also seen a recent increase in female participation which has been welcomed by the club and supported with the official recommencement of our women’s program,” said James Vakrinos, President of the Port Melbourne Sharks.
Kamal Ibrahim, Port Melbourne Sharks player and winner of the National Premier Leagues Victoria’s gold medal in 2015, individually championed the idea of bringing the club to the All One Together campaign. Kamal came from Ethiopia to Australia with his family when he was only 11 years old, and now uses his experience and the power of sport to inspire a new generation. “The first step starts with us, we need to better ‘ourselves’ as individuals in order to fight against racism and inequality in our communities,” said Kamal, who is also the founder of One Ball.
You can read the full statement by Club President James Vakrinos here and the media release from the ECCV here.
