STUDENTS of the Adult Migrant Education Services program played out a thrilling match at the Whitten Oval on Tuesday - despite having only a handful of training sessions in Aussie rules.
The Inter-AMES Football Carnival pitted the service's Footscray and Werribee offices against each other.
In a tight match, Footscray stole the title by five points, 3.2(20) to 2.3(15).
In last year's inaugural match, Werribee won by a single point.
All players, aged 18-25, are newly arrived to Australia via countries including Ethiopia, Burma, Vietnam, China and Sudan.
Western Bulldogs multicultural development officer Sash Herceg said he was impressed by how quickly the students picked up the game, their enthusiasm and athletic ability. "Sport is one of the best tools of integration because in football's case you don't need to know language to take part, you just need to know the basic rules."
As part of the program, the Bulldogs will host an AMES student trip to the National Sports Museum at the MCG on Friday and to a Doggies match against North Melbourne on Sunday.
AMES will also investigate employment opportunities for students through AFL umpiring.
One success story is Tedros, a former AMES student who is employed as an umpire by the Western Region Football League. He umpired the carnival game.
Best on ground: Kler Doh (Footscray) and Dit Dit Poe (Werribee).
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