EJP: Refugees and Migrants Project

Takuya Iwata, 29, who plays for Central United FC. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Club president Ivan Vuksich says the win, the fifth Chatham Cup title in the last 15 years, has made Central United "one of the greatest local clubs" and attributed it to its ability to attract migrant talent.

Vuksich said the club had been "pretty mediocre" for the first three decades, and really started to excel only after opening itself up to players of other nationalities.

"We couldn't have done it without our global players and I think Central would have fallen by the wayside if we had stuck to the principle that we are a club for just Croatians," Vuksich said.

"What makes Central great, I think, is its ability to spot skills and talent from players among the migrant communities, and make them feel at home once they get here."

Auckland Mayor Len Brown believes the growing number of celebrations have an important role for the region's melting pot of 180 ethnicities and will help bring communities together

Next week's Diwali celebrations will include traditional performances such as a Tamil dance by Ashwini Rohan (foreground). Photo / Natalie Slade.

  Publicly celebrated Asian festivals, such as Auckland International Cultural Festival, Diwali, Lantern Festival, are a recent development in the country's largest and most ethnically diverse city.

An Asia New Zealand Foundation report said these festivals were "highly visible manifestations of Asian ethnoscapes" in Auckland, and were being attended by increasingly diverse participants.

The annual Chinese Lantern Festival at Albert Park, held around Chinese New Year, is estimated to attract crowds of about 200,000 over three days, and the foundation estimates between 60 and 70 per cent of those are non-Chinese.

The foundation's research director Andrew Butcher said these festivals gave New Zealanders a window into Asian festivals and was also often a gateway into the different cultures.

Computer technician and Indian immigrant Sunil Rajoo, 31, attended his first Lantern Festival last year and described it as an "incredible experience".

"Often when we talk about experiencing another culture, we refer to European Kiwis experiencing an Asian culture," he said.

"But I think these festivals also give migrants a peek into how other migrant communities celebrate."

Mr Rajoo said the Diwali celebrations, due to take place next week, also helped him feel at home in Auckland.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown said more than 180 different ethnic communities were living in Auckland, and festivals and celebrations helped bring communities together.

A shortage of local Asian sporting heroes and role models is preventing Asian migrants from participating in mainstream sports.

Having other things to do on weekends and sports being too expensive were the two main reasons Chinese students did not participate in sports, a Harbour Sports survey found.

But its Asian community co-ordinator Jenny Lim said a lack of role models also played a "huge part".

"Now if we've got someone like a Jeremy Lin [NBA basketball star] in the All Blacks, you can bet there'll be thousands of Asians wanting to play rugby, but we don't," she said. "As part of our Chinese sports forums this year, we got Li Chunli, who was obviously a really successful Asian sportswoman [in table tennis] and she attracted quite a lot of participants."

Miss Lim said few Asians here play rugby because "there aren't any Asian rugby stars" they can look up to.

...

Our Asian migrant hall of sporting fame

Born South Korea: Lydia Ko, golfer Youngest person ever to win an LPGA Tour event South Korea: Danny Lee, golfer Youngest ever winner of US Amateur Championship in 2008 China: Li Chunli, table tennis 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist

Migrant Kiwi Olympians 2012

More Kiwis are turning to Asian martial arts, drumming and even lion dancing rather than play rugby or soccer on the sporting fields.

From Thai kickboxing to taekwondo and taichi, clubs and activities introduced after the second wave of non-European migration since 1987 have given New Zealanders plenty of alternatives to the tradition of playing sports in the weekends.

Marcel Taukamo, 22, grew up playing rugby on Saturdays but now spends weekends practising Chinese kung fu after a friend introduced him to a Pakuranga club three years ago.

Never before in history has there been as much mass migration as today. If, in many cases, they're fleeing war-torn countries, the evidence is clear that host nations are ultimately enhanced by the contribution of different cultures, despite occasional teething problems. But most are economic migrants and we should welcome them to our welfare-sated nation. They bring with them an independent mentality and self-respect, sadly non-existent with a large section of our population.

...

Embracing ethnic diversity: Melting-pot reality okay with New Zealanders

New Zealanders are accepting ethnic diversity as "part of our reality" and most no longer view migrant communities with suspicion like we did in the 1990s.

Almost seven in 10 Aucklanders in a Herald street poll said they were comfortable with the ethnic diversity in Auckland, and 72 per cent said they have a close friend or friends outside their own ethnic group.

More than six in 10 also felt New Zealand society today was "multicultural" and slightly more than half said they would be comfortable even if Asians, Pacific and Maori outnumbered Europeans in the city.

White faces will soon be a minority

White Europeans could lose majority status in Auckland in the next few years as the combined population of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Maori increases, Statistics New Zealand figures indicate.

While the city's population was 76 per cent white European in 1976, projections show it will be 51 per cent in 2016, with further reductions in later years.

...

Auckland Chinese Community Centre chairman Arthur Loo, a local-born Chinese, counts himself among those who would be "uncomfortable" if there were more Asians, Pacific and Maori than Pakeha in Auckland.

"I wouldn't want Pakeha to be the minority. I think we as New Zealanders have got to acknowledge what the founding peoples of New Zealand were, and it's Maori and people from the United Kingdom," Mr Loo said.