When Aliir Aliir migrated from Kenya to Australia, only one thing connected him to his new homeland.

Sport.

Born to South Sudanese parents, Aliir spent the first eight years of his life in a Kenyan refugee camp before his family settled in Australia.

“Problems” back home were now behind them and Aliir was receiving the education his parents had forever wished for him, but life was still extremely difficult.

“Everything was different,” Aliir recalls.

“I didn’t know a word of English so I didn’t know how to communicate with other kids.

“It was so unusual seeing so many white people.”

Aliir then realised the true power of sport.

He has only fond memories of Kenya, mainly because they’re filled with kicking the soccer ball with the other kids.

He was too young to focus on anything else going on inside the camp.

Soccer proved to be his saving grace in Australia as well with Aliir turning to his then favourite sport in an effort to reach a common ground with classmates.

“I looked forward to going to school so I could kick the soccer ball,” he added. “It was all I knew.”

It wasn’t until the family moved from Newcastle to Brisbane when Aliir was introduced to Australian Rules.

A schoolmate asked if he’d have a kick with him one day, but football was as foreign to him as what Vegemite is to the rest of the world.

He showed some potential and was invited down to local club Aspley Hornets for a run.

The coach had already reserved a ruck spot for him but, before he could start thinking about positions or game plans, Aliir had to first master the basics.

 “I didn’t know how to kick properly,” he said. “I didn’t know whether I was doing it right or wrong. I just didn’t understand it.”

Aliir gradually improved but never really embraced the game until catching some highlights of West Coast’s Nic Naitanui on the television.

He’s been hooked ever since.

“Nic Nat took a speccy,” he said. “That made me want to learn and to play AFL someday.”