By Kath Gannaway
In an odd turn-around, the soccer pitch on the hill at Toolangi was more a home-ground to the ‘visitors’ who travelled up from the city, than it was for the Healesville Soccer Club members who travelled up from the valley below.
The inaugural Soccer on the Hill project was played out in a mix of pelting rain, spurts of sunshine and typical Toolangi mists on Anzac Day afternoon between soccer-mad young migrant kids from the inner-city and their soccer-mad peers from around Toolangi, Kinglake and Healesville.
Hosted by Toolangi-Castella Community House, the underlying theme was just bringing people of differing cultures together with the universal game as the drawcard.
Organiser Raenor Priest of TCCH said the idea was sparked at a lecture she attended on the refugee issue in Australia.
When Raenor asked Mr Burnside what a small community such as Toolangi could do to help people’s understanding of refugees, the answer was simple – breaking bread together.
Raenor decided to put soccer into the mix and the results spoke for themselves.
A number of the visitors are part of an adventure camp organised by police officers from the Fitzroy area which is based at the Anglicare facility ‘Teamster’s Hill’ – including the soccer ground.
Yarra Junction-based Koha Cafe caterers provided a delicious multi-cultural lunch fuelling the players and spectators for the main game, a ‘friendly’ with mixed teams playing for fun and for goals in equal measure.
The winners? Everyone. Visit Mailcommunity.com for photo gallery.
