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Posted: 2024-03-02 22:31:11

Soccer has a special ability to unify a country.

Whether it's getting behind Australia's national women's team or playing in small villages abroad.

Like Timor-Leste, one of the world's poorest nations, about an hour and a half flight from Darwin.

The tiny country is mad about the beautiful game.

a man bends over to kick a soccer ball in the middle of a game

One of the Timorese players from Mountford Berries prepares to take a kick during the game against Hillwood.(ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)

"Soccer is a game that helps me lose my stress," Timorese seasonal worker Soares Oliveira said.

"Sometimes I miss my family and they're far away, but when I play soccer I forget everything."

He's one of about 1,000 people from Timor-Leste employed on Tasmanian farms as part of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALM).

a group of Timorese men kick a soccer ball on a lush green pitch

The Timorese players take these friendly games pretty seriously and are well supported from the sidelines.(ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)

When they're not picking strawberries and raspberries, many of these workers love kicking the ball around.

The casual games have turned into something a bit more serious.

A few pickers approached other berry farms to set up a competition over summer.

a man stands on a soccer pitch

Long-term fruit picker Antonio Pinto helped establish the Hillwood Berries soccer team.(ABC News: Sarah Abbott)

Jemma Mackinnon was right on board; she manages the seasonal worker program at her family farm between Perth and Longford.

"When we've been over there [Timor-Leste], we've seen them play," she said.

"The fields aren't as big as this one and they usually play on concrete or gravel.

"So it's great we can bring them all together and get them excited about sport while they're working here."

a woman stands inside a greenhouse beside a row of tall raspberry canes

Jemma Mackinnon is the seasonal worker program manager at her family's berry farm in northern Tasmania.(ABC News: Sarah Abbott)

Teams were selected, training began and uniforms ordered.

"My father-in-law said if we were in England, we'd be very rich wouldn't we, we've got a soccer team named after us," Ms Mackinnon laughs.

a team of soccer players wearing bright red uniforms pose in two lines

The Hillwood Berries soccer team ahead of their game against fellow Timorese from Mountford Berries.(ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)

In the middle of the week, after picking shifts were done, the buses filled with Timorese players and more than 200 supporters rolled into Scotch Park, in the middle of Launceston.

It was a tight tussle and farm owners watched nervously from sidelines, including Simon Dornauf from Hillwood Berries in the Tamar Valley.

"We're all friendly, but even at a growing level, we want to grow the most berries per hectare, or yield or have the fastest pickers," he said.

"There's that rivalry and now that's stemmed out to a soccer rivalry."

Fernando da Costa Barreto took to the pitch for Hillwood.

"It's been amazing today and we hope to do more of this in the future."

He said it's important seasonal workers find something they enjoy outside of farm work.

"Some of us are here for six months or a year. If we keep working and not do these extra activities, it can make your life feel boring."

A man from Timor Leste showing his tatoo of a strawberry on his neck.

Hillwood Berries top picker from Timor-Leste, Joel Martins Babo, showing off a tattoo of his employer's company logo.(ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)

For the record, Mountfound won the game 3-2.

Jemma Mackinnon and the rest of the farm crew are pretty proud of her teams efforts on the night. She hopes to facilitate more games in the future.

"We feel that it brings the extra morale to the group.

'We want them to earn money and enjoy their time here in Australia

"We're friends with the bosses of the other farms, so it's good bragging rights that our team has won."

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