Penrith Rams new recruit, Seltine Yohannes, has been given the rare honour of tossing the coin at the Swans V Essendon NAB Challenge match at Blacktown on Saturday. Seltine hails from the conflict ravaged African country of Eritrea and spent two years in an Egyptian refugee camp before making his home in Australia just 8 months ago. The popular 19 year old has shown a great love of AFL.
Seltine was introduced to AFL at Evans High at Blacktown where he is studying advanced English. The AFL's Multicultural Programme introduced Seltine to the code and he immediately fell in love with the game. With no other family in Australia and a life in Eritrea that we could not imagine, Seltine has embraced his new home with both arms.
Rams Chairman, Kevin Tate has been very impressed by the youngster. "It has been wonderful to see the development and integration into the club for Seltine. He is certainly a gifted athlete and will be a great asset to the club both on and off the field" Tate commented. "Penrith and the AFL Multicultural programme will be working closely to assist Seltine with his aspirations. The Multicultural programme and our club are providing both financiial and developmental assistance to this young man. Special thanks to the AFL Multicultural Program Manager, Maria Cosmidis and Marist Youth Care caseworker, Rosie Sestak for their great support and assistance
Seltine will be a "guest of honour" at the Swans V Bombers match at the new Blacktown Olympic Park AFL facility on Saturday night and will be tossing the coin at the commencement. "We might have to drag him off after that" said Rams Football Operations Manger, Greg Corless. "Seltine is chomping at the bit for his first game. He is the first one to training and jogs the 6 k's from his home to the ground. Then he has annihilated his team-mates in the 3k runs. With his involvement on Saturday, Sheeds and company will have to work hard to convert him from a Swans supporter to a GWS fan before 2012
Last Modified on 27/04/2010 18:04