Sudanese refugees The Australian 19 August 2006

Sunday 19 August 2006.

John Stapleton

Born in Sudan in Africa, William Deng, 11, goes very quiet when asked about life before he came to Australia. ``It was bad in Sudan, there was fighting,'' he mutters into the ground. ``There was too much people fighting, I saw that, there were people fighting.''

In reality William remembers little of his life in Sudan, where his father was killed in a long-running civil war. He fled the country to Egypt with what was left of his family when he was four years old, and after gaining refugee status came to Australia last year.

Yesterday, all smiles, he was part of the launch of a Refugee Youth Soccer Development Program at Granville Park in Western Sydney, initiated and sponsored by the University of NSW's School of Public Health. The program is designed to bring together different refugee groups from all over Africa with volunteers and professionals. The recent high profile of soccer in Australia has made it an easy sell to the kids, who yesterday participated in a ``mini-World Cup'' series of games.

Michael Deng, who acts by tribal tradition in the role of William's father, said: ``It's been a hard time for these kids. It was a difficult life. They like the soccer. They play very well. It is good for them.''

Originator of the program Anne Bunde-Birouste from UNSW, said skills training, referee and coaching clinics, after school and holiday camps and workshops and team and sports management would all be part of the program, which at this stage is being largely run by volunteers.

``Sport is increasingly being looked at as an effective way of bringing people together, to promote not only health, but social cohesion and even peace-building,'' she said. ``Young refugees are particularly vulnerable due to the difficulties of transition to a new country, potentially traumatic experiences before they left their home country and the normal challenges young people encounter.''

One of the helpers at yesterdays event Michael McGlynn said Australia had united behind soccer during the recent World Cup and as such it was an excellent vehicle to unite disparate groups. ``Soccer is truly the one world game, it crosses so many boundaries and it is fantastic to be able to use that to grow a sense of community,'' he said.

Former Socceroo and SBS commentator Craig Foster said many of the African refugee children had arrived in Australia with little but a love of football. ``I say to them we are united in loving the greatest game in the world,'' he said. ``This wonderful initiative demonstrates to these young kids that Australia cares about them. This gives them a chance in life, and that is all they need.''

Youth leader William Dat, from Sudan, said playing soccer helped the kids to settle. ``It is very important, it helps people to forget everything that happened, you have a new life, new friends,'' he said. ``For this country, we need to bring Australia up in the world soccer, and we believe we can help. These boys playing now, they will make Australia number one in the world.''