The players' cultural backgrounds ranged from all over sub continental Asia including Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan. The game was dubbed “The Lion Cup” as the lion is a symbol common to most of the player’s cultural backgrounds and represented the unity of their nations.
Both the MUSLSA and MUSLCC aim to service their community through charity fund raisers and a dynamic social calendar. Being two of the largest cultural clubs in Victoria, a healthy rivalry has developed between the student bodies over the years. It was first decided to take this healthy rivalry to football field in 2008, where the MUSLSA has won every game since.
Given that both clubs represent international student bodies, a cap of eight domestic students was imposed on both teams. As most of the newly arrived students were unfamiliar to AFL, the domestic students acted as mentors, assisting with the rules and skills of football as well as the social cohesion of the group.
Players from past years assisted with training sessions that were held from the beginning of August. The teams trained separately so as to not give away any of their secret strategies or new recruits.
At the final siren, MUSLCC had defeated MUSLSA 74 to 39 and managed to get their hands on “The Lions Cup” for the first time. All students joined in a celebratory sausage sizzle after the game and reflected on what was for most, their first game of Australian Rules football.
