{"id":488674,"date":"2026-06-12T04:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488674\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T04:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:30:15","slug":"socceroos-promote-multiculturalism-with-video-address-on-immigration-football-is-for-everyone-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488674\/","title":{"rendered":"Socceroos promote multiculturalism with video address on immigration: \u2018Football is for everyone\u2019 | Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Socceroos have addressed growing anti-immigration sentiment in a powerful video message ahead of the World Cup<\/a>, speaking of their pride in their heritage and playing for the national team.<\/p>\n

Compared to their equivalent release ahead of the Qatar World Cup, which directly addressed the hosts\u2019 human rights record<\/a>, the Socceroos\u2019 statement on Friday was uncontroversial.<\/p>\n

However, in a climate of harsh deportations by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the rise of One Nation in Australia<\/a>, the Socceroos\u2019 simple language held a clear message and its timing carried weight.<\/p>\n

Awer Mabil, a winger playing for Castell\u00f3n in Spain, begins the video: \u201cI was born in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. My parents are South Sudanese.\u201d Defender Lucas Herrington, who has Zimbabwean heritage, \u201cwas born in Brisbane, Australia\u201d. Full-back Aziz Behich adds: \u201cMy family migrated from Cyprus.\u201d Jason Geria, who has Ugandan roots, says he was born in Australia.<\/p>\n

The message is a result of meetings in recent weeks with the players, organised by players\u2019 union Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) and largely led by co-president Jackson Irvine.<\/p>\n

PFA chief executive Beau Busch said the Socceroos \u201chighlight the profound impact of multiculturalism\u201d on the country. \u201cAt a time when some seek to divide us and question who belongs, the Socceroos stand as a powerful reminder of who we truly are as a nation and as Australians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the meetings, the Socceroos were invited to consider what kind of statement they wanted to issue ahead of the politically-charged tournament. They agreed to promote multiculturalism, and 20 of the 26-player squad recorded videos that make up the near-two minute message.<\/p>\n

Irvine, the Socceroos\u2019 outspoken midfielder who said last month Fifa\u2019s awarding of a peace prize to Donald Trump \u201cmakes a mockery\u201d of football as a force for positive change<\/a>, presented the video\u2019s key theme: \u201cNo matter where you come from, football is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

That slogan is repeated by Jacob Italiano, Aiden O\u2019Neill and Harry Souttar, the latter in a strong Scottish accent. \u201cThe Socceroos aren\u2019t just a team, we are a reflection of modern Australia,\u201d continues Irvine.<\/p>\n

In the video, Mo Tour\u00e9 explains his upbringing, as a child to Liberian refugees, born in Guinea before moving to Adelaide as a refugee<\/a>. Milos Degenek fled Croatia as an 18-month-old, living in Serbia as a refugee before moving to Sydney at the age of six.<\/p>\n

The World Cup has brought players, staff and supporters of 48 teams to the United States, Canada and Mexico over the next six weeks. What should be a celebration of difference began on Friday amid tension around the place of migrants within US society.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has undertaken sometimes cruel mass deportations, including sending 21,000 people to places US calls too dangerous to visit,<\/a> and this month threatened to send more ICE agents to New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur diversity is our strength,\u201d says Mat Leckie in the video. \u201cThe Socceroos are the best representation right now of what Australia is,\u201d says Geria.<\/p>\n

In Australia, political party One Nation has surged in popularity. The populist party founded on anti-immigration policy has occupied the fringes of politics since its establishment in 1997.<\/p>\n

One Nation has emerged, however, as a major electoral force, winning its first federal lower house seat and challenging the mainstream incumbents in polling.<\/p>\n

Captain Maty Ryan, Paul Okon-Engstler, Jordy Bos and Herrington speak of the pride in playing for the Socceroos, as does Mabil. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of journeys behind the jersey, so to be a Socceroos has many different meanings, but with one purpose and that is to do the country proud,\u201d Mabil said.<\/p>\n

Irvine concludes: \u201cWe are proud of where we come from and who we represent, and proud to represent Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Socceroos play their first World Cup match against Turkey on Saturday evening in Vancouver (Sunday AEDT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Socceroos have addressed growing anti-immigration sentiment in a powerful video message ahead of the World Cup, speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-488674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}