As Australia celebrates Refugee Week 2023, we shine a light the role Melbourne’s Community Soccer Hub plays in making many feel at home through football.
While the role of refugees representing Australia at the elite level in recent years has been widely celebrated, it is well worth acknowledging how sport at the grassroots level can positively impact the lives of many more.
One prime example of this is The Community Soccer Hub (CSH).
Established in 2014, CSH creates opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to know what it feels like to belong to a local Australian sports club.
Initially a safe space to enjoy playing soccer and connecting with community, it has grown to over 500 participants.
Based the Western Melbourne suburb of Albion, the Community Soccer Hub’s participation base reflects the demographic of an incredibly diverse region.
The club was established upon the role football plays in helping achieve a sense of connection and belonging to the local community.
The mental and physical health benefits of sport participation are well known, however, many people of refugee, migrant and low socioeconomic background can face significant barriers to sport participation such as financial restraints, language barriers, lack of culturally sensitive facilities and lack of communication between mainstream sporting clubs and settlement organisations.
The CSH was founded to remove these barriers.
This is achieved by working in collaboration with community leaders and organisations to design programs suitable and accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, all days of the week.
Programs include:
- Casual men, women and juniors “turn up and play” sessions
- 12 team “Communities League” competition
- Miniroos
- Competitive pathways through the club’s Albion Thunder side
- Summer Sevens
Apart from playing the beautiful game, the Hub uses football as the catalysts connecting communities with support services, settlement organizations, employment as well as capacity building opportunities such as referee and coaching courses.
While every week is refugee week at the Hub, this week’s celebrations mark a great opportunity for the wider community to reflect on the issues facing these communities, as well as their achievements.
