"It's about collaboration and unity"
That was the mantra of the Western Australia Sikh Sports Club and Fremantle-Cockburn Hockey Club as the second hosting of the Kids Diwali Hockey Carnival took place celebrating sport, spirit and Diwali.
Diwali, the Festival of Lights, celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance and the brightness was on full display at The Nest” over the last weekend of October.
Boys and Girls teams in both the under 17 and under 14 division took to the field for a five-a-side tournament with hotly contested game interspersed with learning the game, encouragement of younger players and getting to know more about the festival through food, dance and hockey.
While there were trophies and medals to play for in each division, this was the only division as young players from many different cultural backgrounds showed the goodness in sport and its ability to bring people together.
Ravinder Singh Brar, President of the Western Australia Sikh Sports Club with his team including WASSC Co-Ordinator Harveer Singh and FCHC Operations Manager Matt Allan worked hard over the last 10 months to bring the event to life.
“There are between 15,000-20,000 Sikh people in Western Australia,” Ravinder said.
“We have two Sikh temples, over here.
“One in Canning Vale and one in Bennett Springs and preparing for the third one coming.”
The population continues to grow and the combination of Diwali and hockey seemed a perfect mix for both Harveer and Allan.
“In 2023, I spoke to Matt Allan with this program and I mentioned this to a few clubs and I didn’t get any response so when I met up with Matt and said, ‘I’ve got this program and I want to do this,” Harveer said.
“He said, ‘Harveer, I want to talk to you and let’s do this.”
“The first program, we only had three months but managed to run the whole show in three months.
“This is the second one.
“I think it’s very important because of the way we are growing multi-racially.
“The most important thing is India loves hockey, Australia loves hockey, I am Malaysian born and we are full of hockey and it’s important to introduce culture for the kids to grow and to understand each other.
“Today there was Bhangra dancing and you can see Australian kids jumping and they know.
“They might go to uni and see a Punjabi and say, ‘I did Bhangra school.’
“We are not making any money or profit; we are for the hockey first.”
With club hockey in a lull period outside indoor hockey, the timing may seem a little off, but the Kids Diwali Hockey Carnival shows that a standalone event with a few twist has a genuine place on the WA hockey calendar.
Ravinder believes the late October event is great for young players and families to reacquaint after a break.
“This is a most attractive time for hockey for the kids because they can have fun, use their skills and meet their friends again,” Ravinder said.
Harveer agrees and the call from him and Allan is the same, participation is the key in answering, “why should other people come and play this tournament next year?”
Harveer –
“Because it’s hockey.
“We try to bring everyone together, respect each other, be as a team and enjoy the food and enjoy whatever you can at that moment.
“I would tell the whole world that’s what it is.”
Allan –
“Because it’s fun, that’s it.
“We’ve got great food on, the Bhangra dancing, raffles, tunes pumping all day long and everyone is nodding their heads.
“Everyone is into it whether they are on the field or watching.
“A lot of people have switched off hockey by now or die-hards playing indoor and while it doesn’t fit into the usual hockey season, it’s a unique standalone event and I can see it can succeed just off the back of that.”
Allan is an adamant believer in the benefits of bringing people from all walks of life together to enjoy hockey and is proud that the Magpies are able to partner with the WASSC to hold such an event.
“It’s important for us to use our platform as a premier club, with a premier venue, premier turf to increase our engagement into the community,” Allan said.
“Marrying Diwali with a junior tournament is a perfect opportunity to celebrate Diwali, celebrate multiculturalism and to continue to open our arms to the wider hockey community.
“The Bhangra dance was the absolute highlight.
“To get that number of kids out there on the field to follow the dance steps and try something different goes miles to increase ties across the community.”
But more than just the competition, Allan spoke about the links to different communities and enjoyment of not just hockey.
“It’s more than hockey, who would think that musical chairs would be so much fun?” he said.
“We put it in last year as a time filler and it was a must return this year.
“To see the competitive nature of the last two kids where one kid picked up the chair and ran off with it was brilliant ingenuity.
“I love the fact that it brings communities together.
“I’d like to see us build it up to six teams in each category.”
Heaps of brilliant photos like these from the Kids Diwali Hockey Carnival can be found on Facebook through Banworth Photos.
Even videos of dancing like this.
Editor’s note.
There is so, so much more to say about this day and, as a first timer to this carnival, I can safely say that I have hardly experienced anything like it in more than 30 years of being involved in many sports and many levels. Congratulations to the Western Australia Sikh Sports Club and Fremantle-Cockburn Hockey Club.
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