Our boys from Red Sea won the best soccer team award at the James Cup.

In a tough game, our boys from the Eritrean soccer team, Red Sea, made it through until the semi-finals of the James Cup tournament. They finished in third place and took home the ‘Best Team’ award and winning the ‘Coach of the Tournament’ recognition. This team was supported by our Ready Set Goal program.

For the past seven years, MCCGC have delivered the Ready Set Goal program for newly arrived refugee young people to connect through the universal language of soccer. This has been identified as a positive sport to promote health, team building, and cultural awareness. The majority of the players on this team have been through the program, and they now independently coach themselves to play as an Eritrean community team. They get together every Sunday to train and prepare for community competitions and tournaments.

Our support worker from the Settlement Engagement Transition Support (SETS) program, Majid Kerar, commented on the team, "We start the tournament placed in the toughest group, playing the former champions and finalists. We went undefeated through the group stage, only to play the African Lions, the best team in Toowoomba. We beat them in the quarterfinals in the final five minutes after being 2:1 down for most of the game. In the semi-finals, we got Best United, the best team in Brisbane. Additionally, we won champions of the tournament. We were winning until the final minutes, when we conceded a late penalty."

We congratulations our boys from the Red Sea team for this amazing achievement.