It was expected to last 10 weeks. Instead, the unique initiative continues to go from strength to strength.

The free, weekly Refugee Program - run with support from Multicultural Communities Councils Illawarra and Football NSW - allows people from different cultural backgrounds to join together and play football.

More than 80 participants, aged between 12 to 24 years, have taken part in the initiative since October 2018.

FSC chief executive officer Ann-Marie Balliana said the program provided a pathway to play in a local comp.

"A lot of the guys that have arrived and settled into the Illawarra love football but don't understand the logistics of how to play and where to play," Balliana said.

"This is a really good entry for them to get together, play the game that they love, meet new people and become comfortable in that environment so they can go on and play with local clubs."

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Balliana said the program begun from humble beginnings 18 months ago.

"We used to run irregular sessions during school holidays and we noticed we were getting a lot of interest," she said. We then got funding from the IMB Bank Community Foundation and extended it to a 10-week pilot program. And the popularity of that meant the guys wanted to keep running it."

"We've had about 80 people involved from 21 different cultural backgrounds. It's a really diverse number of people that football has brought together."

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