Bulldogs Ready To Embrace Multicultural Round at Home

Viliame Kikau still gets goosebumps at the scenes while walking from Canterbury Leagues Club to Belmore Sports Ground for Multicultural Round last season.

The proud Fijian wore a sulu and donned his country’s flag proudly as he was greeted by Bulldogs legend and his childhood hero, Sonny Bill Williams at the gates for a pre-game interview.

From Josh Addo-Carr walking onto the field with an Aboriginal flag to Jacob Kiraz celebrating a victory by sporting the Lebanese flag around his arms, it’s become Kikau’s favourite round of the year.

“It just reminded me of being back home in Fiji and playing for my people,” Kikau said ahead of the NRL's Multicultural Round this Saturday.

“Everyone has a story and history on where their family is from. I’m a proud Fijian and a lot of the boys are from different cultures at the Bulldogs so it’s good that the Club celebrates that.

“It’s a massive round and was my first main experience of Belmore. I can’t wait to do it all again.”

Bulldogs Captain Stephen Crichton added he was eager to add his Samoan heritage to Multicultural Round this year after joining from the Panthers in the off-season.

The Bulldogs are represented by over 12 different cultures in the squad with Head Coach Cameron Ciraldo bringing the players closer together during pre-season training and camp over the summer.

“I saw a lot of the pictures from the boys last year walking through Belmore and wanted to be a part of that,” Crichton said.

“My brother Christian (Crichton) couldn’t speak more highly of the Club for how they’ve supported players and their cultures and ‘Ciro’ was always big on that at Penrith too.”

Bulldogs forward Ryan Sutton also appreciates flying the English flag at the Club having not represented England at the international level. While he still remains sidelined with a knee injury, Sutton won't be deterred from proudly representing his heritage at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m very proud of where I come from. I love my country and it is the world stage in a sense. You represent your culture every time you step onto the field,” Sutton said.

“You should be proud of where you’re from, it’s a part of who you are. There’s not many of us over here so it’s good to contribute.”

Front and centre on Saturday will be Kiraz, whose proud Lebanese family are heavily involved in the local community.

“There’s nothing better than being able to represent your culture,” Kiraz said.

“My family will probably cook for the boys and last year was incredible to get the win. Hopefully, we can do it again this year.”

The Bulldogs held off a fast-finishing Wests Tigers to take the two points at Belmore Sports Ground last year and will look to repeat the result for 2024 as they line up to face the Gold Coast Titans for Round 3.