Vice-Captain Dayne Zorko returned overnight from a trip to Melbourne where it was announced he will represent the Brisbane Lions and the Australian Football League as a 2016 Australia Post Multicultural Player Ambassador.
From an Eastern European background (former Yugoslavia), Zorko, in addition to his role as an NAB AFL Auskick Ambassador, will support the ongoing development of the Queensland multicultural strategy to help unite diverse communities through Australian Football and will assist in programs including the Queensland All Nations Cup.
“My story is a little different,” Zorko told LionsTV.
“My father was born in Yugoslavia that no longer exists. The area he is from is Slovenia. His parents lived there for the majority of their lives. They decided to flee the country when he was quite young – around six or seven and headed to Australia by boat and arrived in Melbourne.
“That’s where dad’s love of AFL really grew. Once he moved to Queensland and had the four of us children he decided AFL was the number one choice for us.”
Zorko joined other ambassadors including Nic Naitanui and Stephen Coniglio getting to know one another and their role as well as hosting a football clinic with children from many different cultural backgrounds.
“The day was filled up with learning each other’s stories and backgrounds, what their childhoods were like growing up as well as hearing their ancestors stories whether it be their parents or great grandparents.
“During the day we also learnt different statistics of the direction the AFL is growing in terms of setting up multicultural programs and just realising how many different cultures are really playing in the AFL system.”
Multicultural players currently make up 15 per cent of AFL player lists across the 18 AFL Clubs.
“We’d like to really build it up keep it nice and strong, so eventually throughout the AFL whether it be coaching staff, broadcasters, the staff throughout a football club and the players – every culture is welcomed and the game can continue to grow in Australia.
“Hopefully my job along with being the NAB AFL Auskick Ambassador in Queensland is to really grow it from the grassroots position.
“In conjunction with that role and running those clinics, I’ll be hosting the All Nations Cup that’s held in Queensland later on in the year. Within the Club we’ll also discover some of the backgrounds that some of our players have and where they’ve come.”
