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Hockey Victoria prides itself on providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for people from all backgrounds to play hockey in a safe and fun environment free from discrimination and abuse. Hockey Victoria actively engages with our diverse community in growing participation as well as understanding the social responsibilities sport has in providing opportunities for all.
We are committed to learning about the diverse cultures within our sport to educate the hockey community to change attitudes and promote positive language to ensure those from all cultural backgrounds feel welcome, comfortable and recognised in today’s game.
Hockey Victoria has zero-tolerance for any form of bullying, harassment, and/or vilification towards people from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Should you require additional confidential assistance, please contact Dominique Bebbington (she/her), Outer Suburban Growth Manager at dbebbington@hockeyvictoria.org.au
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Rajpreet DeolLocal Club: Caroline Springs Hockey Club Hockey to me means good quality family time. I was introduced to this game when my son started to play. Over the last 2 years, I have become personally involved and I have felt connected with my local community. This game has given me belongingness to Australia, my home for the past 15 years and yet I feel connected to my roots. I believe that sustainable community behaviours cannot be imposed but can be developed in cooperation with your peers. I see hockey providing a common ground for our youth to learn this aspect of life, where they come together as one team irrespective of religion, belief or race and develop shared ownership towards the game.
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Karan GanghokLocal Club: Whittlesea Hockey Club
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Jiwanjot KaurLocal Club: Craigieburn Falcons Hockey Club I work as a doctor, specifically in the field of psychiatry. I grew up in Shepparton and started playing hockey when I was in high school at one of our local hockey clubs after my dad introduced both me and my two brothers to it. He himself grew up playing it back in Punjab in Northern India which is where my cultural background stems from. We now all play with the Craigieburn Falcons Hockey Club and it is honestly one of the best parts of my week. It has been such a joy to be able to be a part of the CFHC community and witness the passion with which hockey is played - something that has been embedded in Punjabi culture for generations - and to be able to advocate for this community in my role as a Multicultural Ambassador at HV.
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Tawinder KullarLocal Club: Whittlesea Hockey Club
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Rashpal NahalLocal Club: Craigieburn Falcons Hockey Club Rashpal Singh Nahal is a Service Technician in the garage door industry. He is a Sikh/Punjabi originally from New Delhi, India but moved to Australia in 2008. Rashpal started playing hockey in 2017 when he moved to Craigieburn. He has been an active member and volunteer at Craigieburn Falcons HC since 2018 and currently serves at Treasurer. As a Multicultural Ambassador Rashpal aims to promote hockey in culturally diverse communities and to promote cultural awareness and education to other clubs.
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Avanthi SelvaratnamLocal Club: Toorak East Malvern Hockey Club Avanthi plays hockey at Toorak East Malvern hockey club, is a mother of hockey players and daughter of a hockey player. She migrated from the UK and is of Sri Lankan background and has personal experience of engaging with hockey at multiple levels as a migrant. Avanthi’s professional career has seen her engaged in the diversity and inclusion of women and culturally diverse communities in the field of Orthopaedic surgery both nationally and internationally. She brings this experience and passion to this role in Hockey Victoria.
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Manpreet SinghLocal Club: Greensborough Hockey Club Manpreet Singh moved to Melbourne from India in 2017. His children started playing hockey with Greensborough Hockey Club in the same year. Manpreet has spent many years volunteering with Greensborough Hockey Club as a coach, team manager and umpire. He still volunteers for a local hockey tournament organised by the Indian Community.
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Dwayne RabelLocal Club: Waverley Hockey Club In 1975 Dwayne joined the Waverley Hockey Club, where three generations of his family have played. He has been on various club committees including being a past Club Secretary. Waverley Women’s Premier League player, Caley Manzie, a Proud Whadjuk and Ballardong, Noongar woman, says "Dwayne has been great at supporting the women's unit and myself as an indigenous player through organising a Respect for Woman dinner and inviting me to speak with junior teams he's coached. This has helped in younger people understanding indigenous culture and gender equity". Dwayne looks forward to continuing his work to promote and grow diversity within sport and the workplace.
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Rajendran ThangarajLocal Club: Craigieburn Falcons Hockey Club Rajendran in a Senior Product Development Engineer for the Ford Motor Company Australia. He started playing hockey in school, where it quickly became his favourite sport. He competed in a number of interschool and district competitions and still holds a stick today. Rajendran is from a Tamil speaking community in India, one of the oldest languages spoken in the world. In 2012 Rajendran moved to Melbourne where he currently plays hockey for Craigieburn Falcons Hockey Club. He strongly believes that by providing support at a grassroot level that we can help aspiring hockey players continue their journey to sporting excellence. Rajendran believes hockey should be an inclusive sport for everyone and is focused on encouraging young players into a structured and inclusive environment to help develop them from grassroots to the elite levels.
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Udesh VirdiLocal Club: Melbourne Sihks Hockey Club |
Hockey Victoria is committed to developing welcoming and inclusive environments that are equitable for all Victorians. HV recognises the importance of engaging diverse community groups in growing participation, as well as valuing inclusivity and understanding the social responsibilities sport has in providing opportunities for all.
To ensure we are inclusive and welcoming to people from all backgrounds it is important that we understand the current sentiment and attitudes towards those from racial minority groups within our sport.
In 2023, Hockey Victoria invited all competition affiliates and social media followers to participation in the Racism in Sport Survey. The survey asked participants provide their understanding and experiences of racism. Read the news article 2023 Racism Survey results.
In response to these results, Hockey Victoria has developed an Action Plan to help our community learn more to better understand and prevent racism. We are taking the approach of awareness through education.
Throughout 2024 Hockey Victoria will deliver provide several education and networking sessions to help educate our members and breakdown barriers within our community. These sessions will be combined with a marketing campaign to bring awareness to the issue and encourage our members to help be the change that we want to see. HV will continue developing welcoming and inclusive environments that are equitable for all Victorians.
If you have any questions regarding the Racism Survey results and Anti-Racism Campaign please contact Dominique Bebbington, Outer Suburban Growth Manager on dbebbington@hockeyvictoria.org.au
Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.
It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
In 2024 Harmony Week runs from Monday 18 March to Sunday 24 March. It is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community.
Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.
Facts and figures
There are some fascinating statistics about Australia's diversity that can be good conversation-starters:
- nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was
- we identify with over 300 ancestries
- since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia
- 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia
- apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi
- more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
These facts are taken from ABS 2016 Census Data. Check out the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
Within Hockey Victoria:
- nearly a quarter of our members (24%) were born overseas
- we identify with over 70 ancestries
- apart from English, the most common languages spoken are Punjabi, Spanish, Tamil, Afrikaans, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese, Thai, Turkish, Konkani, Mandarin and Sinhala
How to report racist behaviour?
Hockey Victoria's Inclusion Policy outlines the expected behaviours of all members and any breach of this policy shall be dealt with in accordance with the Hockey Australia Complaints, Disputes & Discipline Policy
- For incidents that occur on game day, or at a Hockey event please lodge an incident report which can be found here on our disciplinary page.
- For any club concerns, Hockey Victoria encourages you to follow your club’s grievance procedure and/or contact your club’s grievance officer or Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) to discuss the incident confidentiality.
CMSport is a leading service provider with over 30 years of experience in diversity and inclusion assessment and training, coaching and mentoring, and consulting support in the Australian sports sector.
They help bridge the gap between the sporting world and Australian multicultural communities, providing deep knowledge, breadth of expertise, and lived-experience of multicultural communities and their needs.
Contact the CMSport team today to build a stronger, more inclusive sporting organisation.