Essendon captain Jobe Watson has joined the AFL's multicultural ambassador program as "the token white guy" to help grow the game's accessibility.
 
Watson was one of five new multicultural ambassadors who helped launch the 2014 program on Thursday, joining Melbourne’s Jimmy Toumpas, Collingwood’s Patrick Karnezis, Greater Western Sydney's Stephen Coniglio and the Western Bulldogs’ Lin Jong.
 
"We've got Greek, we've got Italians, we've got everything," West Coast star Nic Naitanui said at the launch at AFL House. 
 
"We've got Jobe Watson on board and people ask, 'Why do you have Jobe?'
 
"We're all about inclusion and diversity and instead of having the token black guy we've got the token white guy now.
 
"We're inclusive of everyone and what they're all about."
 
Watson said he was surprised to be approached about being a multicultural ambassador, but the pitch to get him made sense.
 
"The more I thought about it the more I wanted to be a part of the program," he said.
 
"How can you expect society to be inclusive if a proportion of society only think multiculturalism is the responsibility of people with multicultural backgrounds?
 
"To build on being an inclusive game and being accessible to people from all different backgrounds, it's important that someone who doesn't have as diverse a multicultural background as others is interested and is part of the program.
 
"That's why I'm really happy to be a part of it."