AFL star’s post on Gaza could lead to suspension of Jewish-Muslim match

Former Richmond player Bachar Houli’s sharing of a video that accuses Israel of a ‘genocide’ in ‘Palestine’ has led to the likely suspension of the Unity Cup.

First it was the university campuses. Then the arts community. And now, the anger, trauma and community division over the October 7 massacre by Hamas of 1400 Israelis, and the subsequent retaliation by Israel in Gaza, has spread to the Australian sporting field, leading to the likely suspension of a ground-breaking Australian Rules football partnership between the Jewish and Islamic communities in Melbourne.

The central figure is Bachar Houli, the three-time Richmond Muslim AFL premiership player, whose foundation has partnered with Maccabi Victoria and the Henry Jolson Foundation to stage an annual football game, the Unity Cup. The event pits teams from the Jewish and Islamic communities against each other, after a week of joint training sessions and cross-cultural educational and social engagements.

There have been three matches, dating back to 2019, with the first of these played at the iconic MCG the day after the AFL Grand Final in front of large and enthusiastic crowds.

But all it took was for one inflammatory post from Richmond’s former player Houli last Saturday to jeopardise all that work. Houli, who has 46,400 followers on Instagram, shared a video, titled “A genocide is occurring in Palestine”.

Alarm bells went off everywhere almost immediately and it was particularly troubling for the AFL and the Richmond Football Club, both of which are key partners of the Houli Foundation. Newly-minted AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon is a board member, while the Melbourne Cricket Club as well as the Victorian and Federal governments are also listed as partners.

By virtue of his AFL stardom, Houli has come to be regarded as one of the Islamic community’s most celebrated figures and certainly one of its most influential. In the aftermath of the bombing of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, for which Israel was initially, but soon after wrongly accused of instigating, Houli was implored to say something on behalf of his people.