THIS year's Multicultural Round will feature a marquee clash between Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle, with a festival to be built around the game.

Hawthorn and Sydney will kick off round 19 on Friday night at the MCG, but the League's festivities will be focused on the NSW capital the when the Giants and the Dockers meet at Spotless Stadium on Saturday, July 29. 

The NSW Government announced on Monday that it has committed $480,000 over the next four years to support the festival in Western Sydney, considered one of Australia's most diverse regions.

Last year the AFL trialled a similar festival in Western Sydney for the GWS-Collingwood match in round 16 that drew more than 12,000 people, and AFL NSW/ACT chief executive Sam Graham said Giants territory was the perfect setting.

"The AFL's commitment to diversity and inclusion in sport is one of our key strategic pillars and nowhere is this more prevalent than Western Sydney," he said.

"Multicultural Round acknowledges the vital contribution diverse communities have made to the game and we're committed to encouraging new communities to embrace the game in the future."

GWS midfielder Stephen Coniglio, who is of Italian heritage, is one of the AFL's multicultural ammbassadors, and said connecting with people in Western Sydney wasn't just good for the game; it was vital to the club's future.

"A lot of our players have come from interstate, but being the strong club we are, we want to get bigger, and to do that we need players from this region," he said. 

"The more and more participants we can get (to these events) the better off we'll be.

"I've seen a big change from the school visits and clinics we do, and there's plenty of work we're doing and have done, but I still think there's a long way to go in terms of what the potential can be in this region."

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