FOR MOST children from football families, club loyalties are decided before they can even say "speccie".

For others, like 11-year-old Tony Vo, having parents who know nothing about the sport can be a liberating experience. Without long-standing loyalty to a particular club, the Melbourne primary school student has the unusual freedom of supporting both Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans – for no reason other than he "just likes them".

Vietnam, Iran, Kenya, Sudan and Spain were just some of the nations represented at last Friday’s Multicultural Schools Cup inter-regional play-offs at Richmond's Punt Road Oval.

Ten schools from five regions took part – from a total of 8500 students from 101 Melbourne and Shepparton schools who participated in the joint AFL and Victorian government program in 2008.

Between 70 and 90 per cent of students involved are classed as 'CALD' – having culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Nathan Lange, community development officer with the Richmond Tigers, says families that immigrate to Australia find settling in a foreign country tough enough without taking on additional challenges like children's sport.

The Multicultural Cup helps children to integrate more easily through an activity their parents may be unlikely to pursue on their behalf.

"They’ve got enough to worry about. Even if the kids are interested, the parents might not support it because they don’t understand it," Lange says.

"We try to bridge that gap and give them information and experience with the game."

The children can then help to bridge the cultural divide at home. Vo explains that aside from keeping up with the AFL on television, he and his older brother – who plays football for local club Clifton Hill – try to educate his parents on the game through their playing experiences.

Sportsmanship and fair play are central to Multicultural Cup values, with rules modified to accommodate nine-a-side teams. And there's no tackling, giving children new to the sport the best opportunity to learn.

The program is open to Australians as well as CALD students, with a better understanding of different cultures shared among the teammates. Making friends and having fun were the two most common responses from children asked what they like about playing football.

Fitzroy Primary School student Mohamed Hassan was born in Kenya and knew nothing about Australian football before he started playing at school two years ago.

He aspires to play club football but describes the challenge as "a bit hard" for now, endeavouring to work on his skills and continue to enjoy "kicking goals, making new friends and having fun".

Hassan’s Australian-born teammate, Mitchell Hill, has dreamed of following in the footsteps of his Collingwood heroes Nathan Buckley and Anthony Rocca since he started playing Auskick as a young boy.

"I like making friends, I like tackling, and I like goalkicking. I’ve made some African friends and I learn a lot about their culture,” Hill says.

Eleven-year-old Irani Farhad Husseini has only played football for a year. Kicking goals and marking the ball are his favourite skills, while the game also gives him common ground to develop friendships with his Australian classmates.

Many of the Multicultural Cup participants are from mixed backgrounds, like 10-year-old Jackson Georgi. Born in Australia to a Spanish mum and a Cypriot dad, he was introduced to football by his father, who also played in his youth and passed on a strong affection for Collingwood. Georgi sees himself as a young Dale Thomas in the making, but what he gets most out of the sport is "making friends, helping my team and scoring goals".

For the record, Sunshine Heights Primary School won the boys division, while the girls was claimed by Glengala Primary School.