ANZAC values: NRL referees reach out to Ukrainian refugees
- Author
- Timestamp
“Are you still alive?”.
That’s the message 13-year-old Anastasiia Pyshna and her mother text from Sydney to her grandfather and cousins serving on the front lines in Ukraine.
“It is very dangerous, so I worry about them all the time,” Anastasiia said. “It is very hard to talk to them so we just text them and ask, ‘are you okay, are you still alive’.
“They just text back, ‘I’m fine thanks, love you’, or that sort of thing. But sometimes it takes time for them to reply because when they are fighting, I don’t think they are able to check their phones.”
Anastasiia was among dozens of displaced Ukrainian children living in Australia after last year’s Russian invasion who attended a coaching clinic and ANZAC Day tribute with NRL match officials at Accor Stadium.
The event was inspired by a visit leading NRL referee Gerard Sutton made to the Western Front in northern France, where his great grandfather had fought in World War I.
Sutton, who refereed his 350th NRL match last Thursday night, was moved by accounts of how Australian soldiers, marching to meet the Germans in combat, had given their food rations to the streams of women and children fleeing in the opposite direction.
“ANZAC Day is about commemorating and honouring those who are still serving, but I think it is also about looking for ways that you can live those values, and this just seemed like a way to do that,” Sutton said.
“We have done a lot of different things around previous ANZAC Days, and like everyone else we are seeing the events in Ukraine.
“There are about 2000 refugees living in Sydney, so people impacted by this war are not just sitting somewhere over in Europe, they are here trying to rebuild lives among us.”
Those who have escaped the war to Australia are mainly women and children.
Most men have remained behind to defend Ukraine, which has endured bombing by 8,000 missiles, 73,000 registered war crimes - including 14,000 against children - and the destruction of 3000 schools and 1100 hospitals.
Many of their stories are chilling, and the NRL referees heard how Dr Maria Mykytiuk and a group of women had survived in Butcha after she stayed to treat animals and humans, while her children were evacuated to Sydney.
“Maria, with the other women, realised they had to avoid rape so every day before they went out, they said they had to make themselves as unattractive as possible,” Ukrainian Council of NSW vice-president Andrew Mencinsky said.
“She said, ‘we didn’t brush our teeth, we rubbed our noses to make it look like we had a cold, we didn’t wash our hair’ and they did what they had to do to survive.”
As the refugees entered Accor Stadium with the NRL match officials to watch a video tribute to family members who had served in war, a woman started crying at the sight of the Ukraine flag on the big screen.
“As we listened to The Last Post and reflected on our family members and our own soldiers, we were able to share that moment with them and reflect on the soldiers and veterans who are serving in Ukraine,” NRL referee Wyatt Raymond said.
“We call them soldiers but some of them are just dads, brothers, sisters and mums, who are taking up those positions to defend the independence of their country, so that was really quite special.”
The match officials helped members of the NRL game development squad teach Ukrainian school children, like Anastasiia and 16-year-old Khrystyna Artemenko, rugby league skills.
“I came here with my mum one year ago,” Khrystyna said. “We escaped the war, if you can say that, and we spent some time in Europe but my mum has a sister and I have cousins in Sydney so we decided it was probably best if we could join them.
Now we are trying to create a new life here.
“Soccer is more popular in Ukraine, and in Europe, so I didn’t know much about rugby league, but it is so much fun. The husband of my cousin was a referee, and we know that there are a few players with Ukrainian heritage.”
There is a rugby league competition in Ukraine and Panthers star Nathan Cleary recently appealed for heritage players to make themselves available to represent the nation in 2025 World Cup qualifiers.
However, Anastasiia had only been aware of American football before she and her mother came to Sydney after their city, Kremenchuk, was bombed, while her father stayed behind in Ukraine as a volunteer.
“I didn’t know rugby league before I came to Australia, but it is fun and I love this game very much,” Anastasiia said.
“My mother and me came here to be with my aunty, who has lived in Sydney for three years. She is married to an Australian guy, who is obsessed with rugby league and the North Sydney Bears.
“I think it has helped me to fit in because at lunch time children play rugby league, so if I can play with them, it helps me communicate and I can get new friends.”
While Khrystyna’s mother, Marta, said Australians were welcoming, the dislocation from family and friends in Ukraine was distressing when they received bad news – such as the death of a loved one.
“For example, Khrystyna’s school has been bombed, and when my dad passed away two days before Christmas, we were unable to be with him for his last day or go to his funeral,” Marta said.
“My mother is on her own and we have an idea to bring her to Australia, but it is difficult because she is grieving, and she is also attached to the place where she has lived all of her life, so it is mentally very hard.”
Another woman, Irene, received a 2am phone call two months ago advising that her husband had been killed in the fighting.
“We have had quite a few displaced Ukrainians who have lost people in the war,” Mencinsky said.
“There is one woman here whose father was wounded just a few days ago on the front line, so they are living with this constant fear that family and friends are going to be killed.
“But kids are resilient, and they have thrown themselves into Australian life. A lot of them have done intensive English language courses, and they are trying to be Aussies.
You can see there are kids here in Parramatta jerseys or Penrith jerseys.
“There is some rugby league played in Ukraine and we asked them ‘what do you know about NRL’.
"A lot of these kids didn’t know much about it, but they are willing to learn, and we are really thankful to the NRL and the referees for putting this on because it gives these kids a bit of joy.
“They can come here, have fun and learn about one of the premier sports that we play here in Australia.
“One of the things that the referees said was that these Ukrainians are also demonstrating what we celebrate about the ANZAC spirit – you don’t give up, you keep fighting and you can be up against overwhelming odds, but you will still do it.”
To help provide support to displaced Ukrainians in Australia, tax deductible donations can be made to the or visit the website.
