Melbourne United launch The Multicultural Game

Melbourne United have today announced that the club’s first Semi-Final, which is to be played against the South East Melbourne Phoenix at 7:30pm Friday June 11^th at Qudos Bank Arena, will be themed as The Multicultural Game.

During 2020, various global events caused there to be some internal reflection at Melbourne United, that spurred discussion and education sessions about issues such as racism and inclusion. From those sessions, the club chose to take a more proactive stance on such important issues.

As a result, the club signed up to support the Racism. It Stops With Me campaign and now shows an anti-racism video at the beginning of each home game. The decision was also made to highlight the many cultures and backgrounds within our basketball club, via a bespoke jersey and a themed game.

Last season, the NBL conducted the City Jersey round, with Melbourne United’s jersey design evolving into what was named the ‘Diverse-City Jersey’; a jersey that represented Melbourne’s multiculturalism and diversity.

This season, the club wished to continue to acknowledge the many cultures not only within our city, but within our club. This is where the concept of The Multicultural Game has been conceived.

The jersey that Melbourne United will wear for this game is an evolution of the NBL20 Diverse-City Jersey design. However, rather than highlight Melbourne icons such as the Art Spire or a tram, this season’s design focuses on the flags of the countries that are represented within the Melbourne United Basketball Club’s players, coaches and staff.

Designed with the assistance of brand and design agency SouthSouthWest, flags from 11 different countries are included within the design: Australia, New Zealand, USA, Samoa, South Sudan, Japan, Philippines, Cherokee (Native American), Italy, Armenia and Serbia. A small motif of the flag that best represents each player’s background is also included within their numbers on the back of their jerseys.

Following the conclusion of The Multicultural Game, the jerseys worn by the Melbourne United players will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going toward Helping Hoops, a charity partner of the club. Helping Hoops provides free community-based basketball programs to children and young adults, who often herald from migrant or refugee backgrounds, live in inner-city public housing estates, have an intellectual disability or special needs, or are socioeconomically disadvantaged in some way.

Long-time Melbourne United sponsor Roll’d Vietnamese, a proudly multicultural organisation in their own right, are also getting behind The Multicultural Game via additional support and activation. Melbourne United will also be proudly representing the Roll’d brand on the front of this Multicultural Jersey.

Melbourne United’s Multicultural Game against the South East Melbourne Phoenix will be played at 7:30pm Friday June 11^th at Qudos Bank Arena in front of no fans. The game will be broadcast on SBS VICELAND, ESPN, SBS On Demand, Sky Sports and Twitch.

The Multicultural Jersey will be available via Melbourne United’s online store.