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GWS targeting ethnic groups

Sam McKeith 22/06/2011 03:49:59 PM Comments (0)

Greater Western Sydney assistant coach Mark Williams says the club must do whatever it takes to turn the area's multicultural youngsters into AFL fans, despite the indigenous code being an unknown quantity to most of them.

With more than 120 languages spoken in western Sydney, it is one of the most ethnically diverse parts of Australia, and represents a key market that GWS is keen to crack as it enters the AFL in 2012.

Speaking at the Intensive English Cup, an AFL program for young migrants and refugees, Williams said the club was working to get as many youngsters on board with the Giants as fans, irrespective of ethnicity.

"Out here, it's an untapped market for us," he said on Wednesday.

"It's a different culture and setting out here than in the traditional states, and we've got to bend over backwards to show that we care about them learning the game and not just say `there the game is'."

With large communities hailing from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Williams said the club would have to toil long and hard to spread the AFL gospel among people for whom soccer is traditionally the football code of choice.

He said while the club would be rolling out grassroots programs to develop local talent, it would probably take generational change for the sport to take hold among many ethnic communities.

"It won't be one week, one month or one year, it'll be a generational change, it'll take time," he said.

"We have to break it down, show them the skills, what the rules are, understanding what the umpires doing, and the scoring system, all those things, so it's not a mystery."

The former Port Adelaide coach was confident of unearthing future Giants stars from non-traditional Australian rules backgrounds.

"Some of the kids are really really fast, there are some Jamaicans here today, they're the fastest in the world, and have some great strength and high jumping ability," he said.

"If we can put that all together, make them understand and play football, we're going to develop some great players of the future."

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