Syrian refugees to back NZ
Shea Ili and the Tall Blacks will have an unexpected group of fans cheering them on when they play Syria in Wellington next week.
Twelve Syrian refugee families will be supporting their new country against their home country during the World Cup qualifier at TSB Bank Arena on December 2.
They will be in attendance after Basketball New Zealand gifted them tickets to the match.
The gesture came about after Rami Shawaf, a Syrian refugee who moved to New Zealand 20 months ago via a camp in Lebanon, heard about the match and started asking his manager at the English Language Partners’ Porirua centre, Jacqueline Wilton, about how his family could attend the match.
Others became interested and soon Wilton was on the phone to BBNZ, who were only too happy to oblige.
Shawaf had been a basketball fan and player most of his life.
He had supported the Syrian national team in the past, but said he now wanted to support the team of his new country.
‘‘New Zealand is very good at basketball and I’m going to support the New Zealand team,’’ Shawaf said via a translator.
‘‘I would like to thank the team, Basketball New Zealand and Jacqueline for what they did for us. We are very grateful.’’
As BBNZ presented the centre and some of the families with the tickets yesterday, Shawaf was also gifted a signed Shea Ili singlet for his part in making the initiative happen.
So it was little surprise who Shawaf’s favourite Tall Blacks player was, answering a question about that by pointing to Ili’s name on the back of the No 55 singlet.
Initially 30 tickets were made available, then 55 as more people became interested. More families at the centre from other nationalities who know the Syrians were also keen to go, so the number had reached 80 yesterday.
BBNZ also gifted basketballs to each of the 12 families and plan to gift more Tall Blacks singlets to the families. Chief executive Iain Potter said it was a small gesture on their behalf which he hoped would have a big impact for the families.
‘‘From just from a few conversations I’ve had with them, they’re really grateful for the opportunity to be here, which makes me almost embarrassed to hear them say that, given the journey some of them have had.
‘‘They’re very grateful and want to be supportive of their new country. I think that’s amazing really, very humbling.’’
The Tall Blacks beat Syria 107-66 in their first meeting in Lebanon in September. They also play Jordan in Christchurch on November 29 as part of this World Cup qualification window.