00:00In a reversal of long-term trends, young people all across Australia, like myself,
00:05have began moving to country towns for new opportunities. But with that comes risks,
00:09loneliness, alienation, cultural differences, and more, particularly for the large contingent
00:15of new arrivals from overseas. But it's the oldest of old Australian traditions that's helping people
00:20integrate. Sport. We spoke to two South Asian players at Dubbo's Newtown Cricket Club to see
00:26just how big a difference sport makes on the topic of integration. Honestly, it's really positive
00:30because sport is the kind of thing, you know, no matter where you're from, it brings all the people
00:35together. And playing against each other with the different people from culture, from local Australians,
00:41and maybe different players from different culture, it builds positive beliefs and respect
00:45towards each other. And it feels, you know, confident and I think, you know, you feel more
00:50confident and you think like you belong to this community. Yeah. In the start, I've been nervous,
00:55but when I joined to the Newtown Clubs, when I see the players from different culture,
00:59they introduce themselves. They invited me to do training and, you know, they feel that they make
01:04me comfortable in the community. And so when we play together, so it feels like you can know the
01:10people more rather than sitting in the house. Like I had dream, like when I was a kid, you know,
01:15I wanted to play cricket for my country, but I didn't get an opportunity. But when I came to Australia,
01:20wherever I went to live, I represented that suburb here. And it, this is how you become,
01:26you know, like in, you become Australian national. They respect my religion. They respect like today,
01:31I told them, you know, I can't push my body a lot because I'm fasting. And they, even though
01:37if I try to run in the field, like today, they said, no, no, don't go run, don't run hard,
01:41you know, you're fasting, don't push yourself hard.
01:44So you feel, you know, like you're in the right place.
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