Clash of a different kind: Vic.Police – Indian students play a cricket match
By our community reporter
Melbourne: Victorian police cops and Indian students ‘clashed’ in a cricket match here on Friday (19 June) in a lane of the Central Business District (CBD). The match is being seen as a step towards easing the tension after many attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney.
Welcoming the cricket match Amit Menghani, President of the Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) said: “It is wonderful to see such a positive initiative from the cricket community and the Victorian Police,” he said. “Recent weeks have been extremely tough so it’s most heartening to see cricket helping reinforce the need for mutual understanding and respect.”
Victorian and Australian cricketer Brad Hodge, who joined the teams of mixed players, said he found the rules in his first game of laneway cricket a bit different to what he was used to. Multicultural liaison officers from Melbourne metro police stations were glad for the chance to spend the afternoon playing cricket and getting to know the students.
Leading Senior Constable Craig Spicer from Maribyrnong’s multicultural liaison unit said it was great to play socially with the students and build relations.
“The police here are genuine sportsmen so it’s been great to interact with the students on common ground.”
The match was part of Cricket Victoria’s Harmony in Cricket program, which has involved social matches between international youth and students and Victoria Police.
