Evans High School’s, Intensive English Centre has taken out the inaugural IEC Gala day, hosted by the AFL at Fairfield High School in Western Sydney.

One hundred and twenty international students took to the football fields at the high school to compete on the day, after taking part in the AFL’s six week Multicultural Schools program.

Evans High School won the competition after beating Fairfield High School by 41 points - Evans Head 46 def. Fairfield High School 6.

“It was a really great day for everyone involved,” said Maria Cosmidis, Multicultural Programs Manager for AFL (NSW/ACT).

“While the day was really about getting out there and having fun it was quite competitive with the students really getting out there and giving the sport a go which is terrific.

“We have had a number of enquiries from the students about AFL programs in the area and how they can become more involved with the sport, which is a really positive result in terms of growing AFL in the Greater Western Sydney area.

“We will certainly look at hosting this event again next year with more schools. The feedback has been really positive and next year hopefully the event will be bigger and better,” said Maria.

The students, many of which have only spent several months living in Australia are from Fairfield High School, Chester Hill High School, Lurnea High School and Evans High School and belong to the school’s Intensive English Centres which operate across High Schools in the News South Wales.

The students ranged from 12 to 18 years of age and are from all over of the world including Lebanon, Afghanistan, India, China, Vietnam, Sudan, Nepal, Africa and Sierra Leone. Click here to see some of the action from the day thanks to SBS.