Shepparton’s Ducat Reserve – Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District

When Mezhgan Alizadah and her friends began organising casual games of soccer at Shepparton’s Ducat Reserve last November, they had to use makeshift goals from plastic water bottles.

Four months later, the now 30 person-strong group of multicultural youth and newly arrived refugees have been gifted not one soccer goal, but two, and a range of merchandise from Melbourne City Football Club.

Ethnic Council of Shepparton strategic engagement coordinator Sam Atukorala organised the sponsorship when he saw an article in the Shepparton News, calling for help to secure goals.

	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District acknowledges the Yorta Yorta People of the land which comprises the Goulburn Valley. We pay respect to tribal Elders, past, present and emerging and we celebrate their continuing culture and acknowledge the memory of their ancestors.
	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District is a peak body whose mission is to promote and represent the social, cultural and economic well-being of ethnic communities in the Goulburn Valley Region through the provision of quality and innovative settlement, refugee support, community development, and information and advocacy services.