Aliir Aliir was 15 the first time football took him to his family. He was on a bus in western Sydney, part of a junior ''world'' team, boys from around Australia and some overseas countries brought together to play in the AFL's under-16 championships three years ago. The team was on its way home from a game when Aliir mentioned to one of his teammates, a kid from Perth called Reuben, that the road tunnels in Sydney were similar to those in Brisbane, where he had grown up.

Aliir was seven when he moved to Australia, after being born in a refugee camp in Kenya that he struggles to remember, other than how big his family was, how there were always people around. Reuben had moved to Perth with his family, after growing up in Uganda. After Aliir noticed the tunnels, Reuben told him that a girl from Brisbane had been trying to contact him, believing they were related, that their families had been separated when escaping the war in Sudan.

Aliir Aliir, with siblings David, Piath, Atong and Dombia in Perth, is determined to go all-out to get himself drafted by an AFL club. Credit:Tony Ashby

It turned out the girl was Aliir's older sister. To the boys' surprise they realised they were first cousins; their mothers were sisters who had not seen each other in many years. ''It was an amazing thing that happened. Both of us went to Sydney to play football for this team, and at first we were strangers,'' said Aliir.

''It was kind of weird, because he came and hugged me, and I was thinking, 'Who is this guy?' But as soon as he started talking I knew it was true. We went from just talking on the bus to hugging each other, being family, and it was a good feeling … to know that there were people out there, that I had a family that was bigger than I knew.''