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Departure 2: WALEED ALY + TONY BIRCH

WALEED ALY is a writer, lawyer and executive member of the Islamic Council of Victoria who also belongs in the category ‘Richmond football club supporter’.

TONY BIRCH is writer, lecturer and indigenous scholar in the Department of English & Cultural Studies at University of Melbourne, but really he is Tony from Brunswick.

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Listen:

10 Nov 2006

Sport and sporting teams are one of the cultural vehicles that Tony and Waleed bounce around to explore ways that people in Australia gain senses of place, purpose and belonging. Tony sorely lost a feeling of belonging with the demise of the Fitzroy football club. Will the round ball version of football (soccer)threaten the reign of Australian rules football as migration increases? Not so thinks Waleed, who proposes these sports impart values of courage, selflessness for the team and honesty. And when they move on to talk of concerns about social disconnection, a newly boarded passenger wearing earphones sits next to them, looking around with bemused eyes wondering where am I?

Post to discussion

Discussion

It was only when I stood up from my seat and walked toward the door to exit the tram that I realised what was going on. I thought I had been listening to a radio broadcast and was wondering what it was. Then I saw the two guys with microphones - ah! I get it. What a strange shift from just listening to then seeing what and who I was listening to. It was a nice suprise. (and long live richmond)

trevor
Wednesday December 06