The Winner is Respect

Win or lose, the annual ‘Respect Soccer’ tournament gave its participants an opportunity for not only friendly competition but greater understanding and respect in diversity.

Organised by Manningham Interfaith and supported by the local Victorian Police Community Liaison Office, the tournament was held over two weekends in September, with eight teams from local faith groups competing. In its fifth year, this year's competition was an indoor round-robin event hosted by the United Muslim Migration Association.

New to the competition this year was a team from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Players not only enjoyed competing but the spirit of fun and friendship was felt throughout the event.

Braden Young, a member of the Latter-day Saint team said, "It was wonderful to find common ground with people amongst other faiths.

“We had a great time playing, and even though we didn't win the competition, it was an awesome experience to be amongst our brothers, and a great opportunity to represent our Christian values through good sportsmanship.

“In the world it can often seem unpopular to be involved in religion but it was lovely to see that there are many other faithful people in our community."

The tournament kicked off with a demonstration match between teams from the local Victorian Police Community Liaison office and Manningham Interfaith.

Friendly competition wasn't the only thing on the agenda, with each team granted the opportunity to share their faith along with activities provided by the Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light movement (HWPL) that encouraged working together towards peaceful co-existence, unity in diversity and harmony in the community.

As Mayor of Manningham, Andrew Conlon, closed the competition with presentations to the teams, there was a sense among players that despite their differences, they were really on the same team.