Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Football is more than a game; it's about community, too. To make our community sporting organisations work, we need committed volunteers who have a love of the game and a love of our community. One of these volunteers is Jean Kouriel from the Ashfield Pirates Football Club. He started the club from scratch and spent years building it up to the success that it is today. He did it because of the love of the game and everything that comes with it—friendship, community and fun. Imagine Jean's joy when I was able to announce that a Labor government would commit funds to improve the facilities at their home ground at Hammond Park in Ashfield. A Labor government will give our kids great facilities in local parks, because it's here that a love of the game is developed.

I want to congratulate three star players from my electorate who are representing us on the international stage: 11-year-olds Marcus Castelvetere and Luca Andreassi, who played for Australia in the IberCup in Portugal a few weeks ago, and Daniela Galic, who will be heading to Costa Rica to play in the U-20 Women's World Cup. They are the future of the game, and they do us all proud.

We love our sport here in Australia, and rightly so. These sporting moments inspire us, give us hope and bring us together. So I can't wait for the Women's World Cup in Australia next year, to see how many young girls and boys are inspired to take up the game.

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