Israelis and Palestinians play Australian Rules Football together

An even mix of athletes from Israeli and Palestinian backgrounds competed as one team in a match which not only improved relations between the two groups, but also acted as rare opportunity to reduce the gulf between those from this region and Oceania.

The 'Peace Team' was the brainchild of Tanya Oziel, executive director of the Australian branch of the Peres Center for Peace, and James Demetriou, chair of non-profit Sports Without Borders and the brother of AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who together came up with the idea a few years ago of using Australian Rules football to form bridges between young Israelis and Palestinians.

The game was umpired by former champion footballer and now International Cup ambassador Brett Kirk, who suggested that the match was a clear illustration that sport can play a positive role in bringing together people from both sides of the conflict.

"Sport, music and art are the universal languages and you don’t really need to be able to communicate to be able to play the game but it’s the medium that actually brings you together and that’s the wonderful thing about this" he said.

Since the Peace Team was founded it has gained a lot of support but, due to the historic and current conflicts between the two nations, some people from these areas are still opposed to this kind of collaboration. This continues to limit the impact of such sports interventions and in turn the reconciliation between the two sides.

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