Baru – baru ini Majalah Buset mendapatkan kehormatan untuk hadir sebagai perwakilan dari komunitas Indonesia dalam acara jamuan makan malam yang diadakan oleh klub sepakbola yang berbasis di Melbourne, Melbourne Victory.
Acara yang diadakan di Rumi Restaurant, Brunswick East tersebut mempertemukan para duta dari berbagai komunitas yang juga memainkan peran untuk membantu membesarkan nama Melbourne Victory.
Stella Smith yang sudah menjabat sebagai General Manager Community & Government Relations di Melbourne Victory selama 6 setengah tahun mengawali acara tersebut dengan menyambut dan mengucapkan terimakasih kepada para hadirin yang sudah menjadi bagian dalam membesarkan nama Melbourne Victory. Di tengah menyantap makanan khas Timur Tengah, semua tamu berkesempatan berbincang sesama lain, dan juga diijinkan menuangkan ide-ide yang mereka dapat pikirkan untuk meningkatkan kerjasama dengan berbagai komunitas.
“We do a lot with football to get the community engaged, so we worked with a lot of communities, like the Victorian Police as well. We do a lot about using football to reach people, who are like kids who might not have things to do, to stop people from getting into trouble because they understand football. It’s something familiar. So we have weekly programs that we run for free because it can be expensive to play football in Australia, so we run a lot of football programs for young people to come,” Stella berbagi kepada kepada Buset tentang salah satu strategi Melbourne Victory mendekatkan diri dengan komunitas muda.
Salah satu bentuk nyata kerjasama yang Stella ungkap Melbourne Victory telah lakukan untuk memperkenalkan sepakbola kepada anak-anak muda termasuk menjalani program sepakbola gratis di Parkville Youth Detention Centre dan Youth Justice.
Selain itu, mahasiswa-mahasiswa internasional juga menjadi salah satu komunitas yang Melbourne Victory selalu berusaha untuk merangkul. “My work is to look after the international students at Melbourne City council. So everything we do is around the International students. Because around 25% of the population of people living around the Melbourne CBD are international students, so that’s massive,” ujar Garry Lee, International Education Project Coordinator di Melbourne City Council yang juga aktif memperkenalkan Melbourne Victory kepada mahasiswa internasional di Melbourne.
“Soccer is popular especially among the Southeast Asians or Asian students, so in term of tickets is very popular. The club is so good, the club is a champion, I think we can do more. A lot of the work, because it’s gonna be about you, they will come because of you, which means you have to make time, take them there, make sure that they’re well looked after,” ujar Garry tentang salah satu tantangan yang dihadapi sebagai seorang duta.
Raj, pria asal Nepal yang juga tergabung di komunitas Nepal di Melbourne, turut mengungkapkan salah satu keuntungan yang didapat dari mendekatkan diri dengan berbagai komunitas.“This community group, it grows the supporter base, that’s the whole idea of the community group. One thing is you’re helping the community, growing football, making it more popular, the other benefit is the supporter base grow bigger and bigger. I came from Nepal, the Nepalese community in Melbourne, we organize a football tournament every year, so we have team coming from all over Australia, like 16 teams, Melbourne Victory is also involved in it,” tuturnya.
Namun, ada juga yang merasa bahwa Melbourne Victory masih perlu melakukan lebih. “With Korean community, they didn’t use it wisely. I know they just keep sending me email, press release. So I say, they have to wake up more,” ujar Estelle, wanita asal Korea yang sudah menjadi ambassador selama 9 tahun.
Ia pun turut menyumbang saran agar aktif mengadakan acara, bahkan dengan para pemain yang sudah pensiun. Seperti contohnya yang pernah dilangsungkan di Korea adalah dengan pemain Piala Dunia 2002 yang menunjukkan kelihaian mereka meski sudah berusia sekitar 40 tahun. Hal-hal seperti ini tentunya dapat mencuri hati masyarakat untuk lebih menyukai sepakbola.
Pada penghujung pertemuan malam itu, semua tamu melakukan sesi foto bersama sekaligus memberikan selamat kepada Stella yang akan mengakhiri masa jabatannya di Melbourne Victory dan bekerja di Crime Stoppers.
Apa Kata Mereka
Sanjit, pendukung Melbourne Victory
I’ve been supporting Melbourne Victory for about 7 years or more as a fan. I came from the Indian community. I feel like they have engaged with the Indian community but need to step up a little bit more. Melbourne Victory is very friendly and a family oriented club, because it started from a family.
Ron Sinclair, Victoria Police Station commander Box Hill Police Station
I’ve been a Melbourne Victory supporter since it started, even though the first season in the A-League was horrendous, we finished second last. It was rough start, but it then moved to Telstra dome, which became Etihad and then Marvel, and playing at AAMI Park, so it was good. The police have been involved with Melbourne Victory right from the start as well. I don’t think that anyone would argue that sport is one of the ways to prevent crime. When you get kids and adults to get involved in sports, it gives them a form of outlet, get involved with other people, getting rid of their pent up energy, give them a sense of pride and achievement.
Denis
