On Friday April the 4th, just under 150 energetic primary school children arrived on Max Basheer Reserve, ready for a day full of Football. Four multicultural schools, East Torrens PS, Marion PS, Salisbury North PS and Virginia PS, had each participated in and completed the AFC/SANFL Multicultural Development Program. Once completing the 6 weekly sessions, the schools then chose 32 of their keenest footballers to come down and battle it out against other schools. Each school submitted both a boy’s and a girl’s team, consisting of 16 players each. East Torrens even brought along a cheer squad, consisting of 15 junior primary school students to help support their school.
The schools arrived between 10:15 and 10:30, with a briefing of the rules, layout and schedule held at 10:45. Round 1 began at 11:00, round 2 at 11:30 and round 3 at 12:00. Each game consisted of 2x10 minute halves, with a 3min half time break and 7mins between each game.
After the 3 minor round games, the students, coaches, teachers, parents and friends were escorted in to AAMI Stadium. For many this was their first viewing of the home of football here in South Australia. During this, one school at a time was also taken through for a tour of the Adelaide Crow’s facilities. Tour guides, Trent Hentschel and David Mackay, explained the different rooms to some very excited students.
After returning from the tour, the students and teachers then prepared for their final game of the carnival. 1st vs. 2nd would battle it out for glory, with 3rd vs. 4th playing each other for the minor placing. East Torrens PS, with the help of their cheer squad, finished first in both grades. Marion PS would take on them on in the boys grand final, and Salisbury North PS in the girls. East Torrens PS and Salisbury North had submitted teams consisting of only New Arrivals students (meaning they had been in the country less than 12 months), so it was great to see East Torrens do well in both grades, and it was especially pleasing to see the girls Grand Final consist of purely international students.
In the boys Grand Final, East Torrens started off strong kicking a goal in the first couple of seconds, but from there it was all Marion as they ran over the top to win 3.1.19 to 1.1.7. The Marion team, who were easily defeated by East Torrens in the first minor round game, were ecstatic and could barely contain themselves as Trent Hentschel and David Mackay presented each team member with a crow’s football.
The girls Grand Final was an absolute thriller! East Torrens again started well, leading by 5 points at half time. Salisbury North, after coming back and hitting the lead with only 3 minutes to go, then fell behind again after some great team work from East Torrens. With only seconds to go, Salisbury North took a strong mark in the forward lines and goaled right on the siren, to hand them victory.
