The Port Adelaide Football Club congratulates the Kilburn Football Club on receiving a Governor’s Multicultural Award for its efforts in promoting social harmony and diversity in South Australia.

Kilburn was nominated for the award in November last year among 253 nominations from around the state.

The club was shortlisted into a group of 33 finalists from which 11 eventual winners were selected from an independent nine-member judging panel.

Power Community Ltd, the community development arm of the Port Adelaide Football Club, has worked closely with Kilburn for over a year promoting social cohesion and involvement, particularly with the development of an underage girls football team made up of members from the local African migrant community.

The program commenced last year with a grant from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The program has continued in 2014 with a grant from Community Benefits SA. Other partners have included the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the African Communities Council.

The Kilburn area has long been a multicultural melting pot and the Kilburn Football Club has worked hard to promote and engage members of the local migrant communities from diverse areas including Africa, Asia, the middle east and Europe.

Port Adelaide’s AFL Multicultural Ambassador Alipate Carlile has worked with Kilburn to develop opportunities in football for the local youth in the area and said the Governor’s Multicultural Award was a great recognition for the hard work put in by the Kilburn Football Club’s volunteers and coaches.

“Footy is a great way to engage people from culturally diverse backgrounds in Australian culture and it’s great that the Kilburn footy club has been recognised for their efforts in this area.

“The girls and boys at the club have really enjoyed the social cohesion program that we’ve run as well as the opportunity to play our game in organised competition thanks to their club

“They’ve had some pretty good success adapting to the oval ball too!”

The citation in the Governor’s Multicultural Award recognised the Kilburn Football Club and the social cohesion program for using “Australian Rules Football as a tool for engaging young students of African background, helping participants gain confidence, stay active, operate as part of a team and develop and demonstrate leadership.”

Organisations and individuals interested in participating in this or similar social cohesion programs should contact Michelle Cioffi at mcioffi@pafc.com.au