Awer Mabil said the Socceroos' diversity video went viral because Australians could relate to its raw message. The 30-year-old forward, now at his second World Cup, said the clip worked because it felt unpolished and direct.
“The reason why it went viral is because it was raw. It was not edited. It was just purely what the players wanted to say and all put together,” Mabil said on Wednesday afternoon in Oakland. He added that the video had an effect because “individually Australians can feel and relate with it.”
Oakland and Awer Mabil
The two-minute video began with Mabil’s words before the tournament, and he said it was “a moment to describe what Australia is.” He described Australia as “a very multicultural country,” and said the Socceroos are “a representation of that.”
“You have the whole world in one place and the Socceroos now are a representation of that. You have many different backgrounds representing one jersey,” he said. That message gave the clip its reach, because it matched the team’s makeup to the country it represents.
Mo Touré and Nestory Irankunda
Mabil, born in a Kenyan camp to South Sudanese parents, said he has tried to be “a big brother” to Mo Touré and Nestory Irankunda. Both are fellow refugees from Africa who grew up in Adelaide, and he said their growth over the last couple of years has been noticeable.
“It’s something that’s special for me to see their growth over the last couple of years and their maturity has been amazing,” Mabil said. “I can just only be there, allow them to be themselves, and protect them when they need protection.”
That younger group already has a visible mark on the story. Irankunda scored against Turkey, and that goal sparked a new wave of people sharing the video message that had already spread widely on social media.
Refugee Week message
Mabil used the same platform to send a message beyond football. “It’s a week that I would like to say to anybody that is misplaced all over the world that we are with you,” he said during refugee week, adding that the tournament shows “everything is possible” and telling people to keep going.
For readers tracking the Socceroos’ public face as much as their results, the point is blunt: the team’s diversity message did not travel because it was polished. It traveled because Mabil and his teammates sounded like themselves, and that made the clip easy to share, easy to recognise and easy to connect to the jersey they wear.
