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Last update - 16:42 20/08/2008
From Australia to Israel, on a footballing peace mission
By Nadav Shlezinger
Tags: פליטים, צה"ל, מצרים, Israel

To most passers-by, it would have appeared as if the group of men chasing an oval-shaped ball around Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park in late July were playing rugby or American football.

Not many would have heard of Australian rules football, let alone have known that the group they were watching were preparing to represent the "Peace Team" - a mix of Israelis and Palestinians slated to participate in this year's Australian Football League International Cup.

The Peace Team is funded by the Peres Center for Peace and the East Jerusalem-based Al-Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue. The idea for the team first came up when James Demetriou, brother of AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou, was introduced to the Peres Center during a trip to Israel. Soon afterwards, the AFL approved the project, and five time VFL premiership player Robert DiPierdomenico was appointed head coach.
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DiPierdomenico, better known in Australia by his nickname "Dipper," spent a week in Israel traveling to all the major tourist attractions with one of Australian Football's legends, Ron Barassi. He coached the Peace Team during their Tel Aviv practice match, which they won against a group of Australian expats and gap-year students.

Everything he said to the players was translated into both Hebrew and Arabic.

Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport in Australia. National league matches draw an average crowd of 40,000, but the sport is limited to only cult status abroad.

Played between two teams of 18 men on an oval-shaped field bigger than the average football pitch, the sport is - according to Barassi - a difficult game involving courage, speed, strength, and a lot of skill.

Barassi, who won ten Victorian Football League (the precursor to the Australian Football League) premierships as a player and coach during a career spanning more than four decades, has been one of the main people behind the game's push abroad. Most notably, he was the architect of the Irish experiment of the 1980s, which has seen many Irish players with a Gaelic football background (similar to Aussie rules) make it to the top of the Australian game.

Now retired from official duties, 72-year-old Barassi came to Israel out of love for the game and a desire to help bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The main reason why I'm here [is] to try and help in this cause," Barassi said. "Having a father who was killed in the Second World War, his body still lies in northern Africa, in Tobruk, I hate war."

The veteran player said the sport's emphasis on team work could help peace efforts.

"That's a very passionate objective they have, trying to use sport, in this case Australian football, to get peace down into the thinking of the community; unless those people [in the community] agree, in the finish you won't get peace," he said.

During a career spanning 18 years, DiPierdomenico gained a reputation as one of Australian football's hard men. He famously played out the 1989 grand final - which his team Hawthorn won - with several broken ribs and a punctured lung. He said the physical aspects of Australian rules were an advantage for peace efforts.

"It doesn't matter where they come from, what their background is, it's a level playing field," he said.

"None of these boys have played our game, and they're doing this together. They're representing their regions and their families, and they're absolutely loving it."

"It's the only game in the world [that] when the ball's on the ground I can put my body over my teammate's so he can get a kick, and hopefully he does that for me [too]."

With half the squad coming from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, there have been some difficulties. Training sessions, held mostly at Kibbutz Netivah Lamed Hey, near Ben Shemen, have been cancelled a couple of times due to closures of the West Bank.

One player from the West Bank city of Hebron quit the team after receiving threats from fellow Palestinians who suspected him of collaborating with Israel.

But as Barassi said, the project's success is best measured by its effect on ordinary members of the community. And judging by the friendly interaction amongst team members, the project has been a success.

The team has stuck to a tight schedule, given only a few months to learn the game and train before they leave for Australia on August 19.

The Peace Team has been drawn to play against Great Britain, Papua New Guinea and the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru in the group stage of the 16-nation International Cup.

The tournament will be played between August 27 and September 6, with games taking place in Melbourne and the country town of Warrnambool, 265 kilometers west of Melbourne
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  1.   Aussie Rules 01:20  |  Michael 19/08/08
  2.   Peace Team 02:22  |  Jon Hornstein 19/08/08
  3.   #2, JON, come on will ya 03:08  |  VIPER 19/08/08
  4.   NOTICE HOW Israeli-Palestinian "peace" projects are in Israel 04:16  |  amir 19/08/08
  5.   Cheer them all on Michael! 16:00  |  Rafi 19/08/08
  6.   No, Michael 18:18  |  Jay 20/08/08
  7.   Jay 20:31  |  JR 20/08/08
  8.   #7 JR 36 wild men mix it up! Hoo Boy! 01:48  |  JIm 28/08/08
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