United Multicultural Stories: Akech Aliir

As you can see by the way he plays on the court, competing hard is something Akech Aliir has done across his entire life.

The South Sudanese/Australian was born in Kenya, into a large extended family which would come together often, providing an opportunity for Aliir to get out and play with his siblings and cousins.

“It was always competitive, no matter what the game was,” he said. 

“Sometimes we would just play ‘Tips’ just running around playing that.

“I remember growing up having, not even family events, but community events, where we’d all go to a hall, everyone would be there to celebrate. There’d be food, and then the kids would all go and play in the grass, so there was a big sense of community and family.”

Once in Australia, Aliir settled in Canberra, before moving to Adelaide and then Melbourne to chase his professional basketball dream.

Perhaps the toughest part of moving has been how far he now is from his mother’s cooking; especially her Kombo.

His heritage is something the 204cm forward is very proud of, with that pride extending to his hope to one day represent South Sudan on the world stage as part of the national basketball team.

“It’s been great to see. Obviously we didn’t have much representation through sports but seeing all these guys come up and come back to play for their country has inspired the whole country, it’s inspired kids everywhere to want to come back represent their country which has been good to see.

“It would give me a lot of pride, but not even so much for me, but for my family back home to see me put on our country’s jersey, it would be great.”

But since arriving in Melbourne, Aliir has embraced the diversity of the city, and is excited to represent that through The Multicultural Game, which is coming up on the 20th of October against the SEM Phoenix.

“It’s good to see a city embrace so many people,” he said.

“I think The Multicultural Game is very important because there are so many different people in sport who represent so many different people.

“For Melbourne to put that on show is great, obviously I haven’t been to one yet, but it’s going to make it even more special. Hopefully I see some flags in the crowd.”

Tickets to The Multicultural Game remain available here, while The Multicultural Festival is free for all.

Fans can also tune in live at home on 10 BOLD, or ESPN via Kayo.