Tanya Oziel Honoured

Tanya Oziel has been honoured at the Essendon Women’s Grand Final Lunch at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium, for her services to the community as a result of her work in arranging the 2008 AFL Peace Team and has been awarded the runner up in the 2009 AFL Football Women of the year award.

Mrs Oziel is Executive director of the Peres Centre for Peace, which focuses on bringing Israelis and Palestinians together through joint projects including basketball and soccer competitions.

In 2007 Tanya floated a plan with the AFL to bring players from the war torn countries of Israel and Palestine together to compete in the 2008 AFL’s International Cup.

The monumental project that was undertaken by Tanya and the Perez Centre was documented by writer, producer and director Marc Radomsky who produced Tackling Peace in conjunction with Network Ten which was screened across Australian in July 2009.

“What we were able to do with the Peace Team is really challenge every perception of what an Israeli or Palestinian is. It was amazing to see everyone in the crowd stand up and cheer as they ran onto the stadium for the first time,” said Tanya Oziel.

“What we had to go through to get the teams to the International Cup can only be described a logistical nightmare but a completely memorable experience.

“There were so many factors that we had to take into account but eventually everything  it all came together and in August 2008  twenty six young athletes from the two war-torn nations joined forces to compete at the AFL International Cup, winning two of five games and taking out the award for best developing nations.

Mrs Oziel considers herself to be a typical footy mum after becoming involved in AFL after her son Haim joined the Maroubra Saints AFL club in 2005. 

Mrs Oziel rapidly became a passionate AFL fan and believes the game had great potential to bring players from the two nations together.

“From the moment I became involved with the Maroubra Saints Football Club, I realised that there is something very special about the game and about the AFL community, said Oziel.

“This is a game that has the potential to break down barriers and bring people together.

“I believe that what we saw in 2008 was that football has a bonding power which can transcend national boundaries and every time I have contact with members of the Peace Team I am given a firm reminder of how strong the game of AFL can be.”