Sixty-six heritages, one game: How Tigers are embracing Multicultural Round

The England Test coach, as soon as one is appointed, should take note: Alex Seyfarth qualifies for your Rugby League World Cup squad.

“My mum was born in Bradford in England, she came over here when she was 14 years old,” Seyfarth said.

But that’s just the beginning of Seyfarth’s ancestral story. The West Tigers forward’s maternal grandfather, Edward, is of Sri Lankan heritage.

“When you see a photo of him, you’ll laugh, it looks like Bob Marley,” Seyfarth said. “He wears Bob Marley T-shirts.”

His father, meanwhile, has Slovenian roots.

“My grandfather on the other side, my dad’s side, he was here in 1932, he came over on a boat,” Seyfarth said. “I didn’t get to have as many conversations around what life was like over here. He’s come over here and he’s just worked up until the age of his mid-80s when he passed.

‘I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team that’s been so mixed, culturally. It just mixes so well together.’

Tigers co-captain Apisai Koroisau

“He was a bricklayer. I’m a third-generation bricklayer with my old man. I was a bricklayer by trade before I went full-time NRL.”

Seyfarth is sharing his heritage story as part of the NRL’s multicultural round celebrations. There are hundreds like it: players with familial links to far-flung destinations including Russia, Iran, Rwanda, Japan and Norway. There are 66 national heritages represented across the NRL and NRLW squads, while 27 per cent of NRL players were born outside Australia.

Over half the NRL players have a father born overseas (57 per cent), while 47 per cent have a mother born overseas.​​

The NRL is in an expansionist phase. The game has been taken to new frontiers, as evidenced by its decision to open the season in Las Vegas. At the same time, there’s a nod to its Pasifika heritage, whether it be via the promotion of more Test football or the introduction of PNG into the competition from 2028.

Like all clubs, the Tigers have players from a range of backgrounds. Their cultures are celebrated with flags on their lockers showing which countries their family is from.

“I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team that’s been so mixed, culturally. It just mixes so well together,” said Tigers co-captain Apisai Koroisau, who posed alongside Seyfarth in the club’s multicultural round jerseys.

“The personalities of the guys here are all just so laidback, they can all just make fun of each other so much. You get to know each other off and on the field.”

There are further statistics that tell the NRL’s multicultural tale. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of NRL players have a father born in the Pacific Islands, while 18 per cent have a mother born in the Pacific Islands.​​ Over two-thirds (68 per cent) of NRL players have at least one grandparent born outside Australia.​​ And 12 per cent of NRL players identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, while 10 per cent are of Māori descent.

Seyfarth believes his work ethic was instilled by his parents and grandparents.

“My mum coming over when she was young, she worked three jobs raising us, me and my brother,” Seyfarth said. “Always watching them, working hard all my life, it sort of flowed onto me.”

Which is why Seyfarth would love to honour his English heritage by pulling on the white jersey in this year’s Rugby League World Cup.

“If I can play some good football and put my name in the ring and get a chance to tour with them, that’d be awesome, representing that side of my family,” he said. “It would mean the world, especially with my grandfather too, he’s a very proud Englishman.

“Same with my mum. They came out here just for a better life at the time, and they’re still always wanting to get back to get back there whenever they can. If I do ever get the opportunity, yeah, I’ll be extremely proud to put the jersey on.”