DARREN MONCRIEFF
Friday 18 May 2012
FOR many Indigenous young people this weekend, it will be their first taste of stepping on to fields tread by their football heroes.
Across the country this weekend, during the AFL's Indigenous Round, junior footballers representing country will be playing curtain-raisers to the big games.
In Melbourne, at the MCG, an under-23s match will be played before the Essendon-Richmond game. It will be between participants of the AFL's Footy Means Business program.
The match starts at 4.12pm on Saturday and will be broadcast to the following locations on television: Southern Cross to Darwin and Central, and GWN7 to Regional WA. Radio coverage will be provided by NIRS into Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin and Perth and various regional centres around Australia.
In Adelaide, the fifth Aboriginal Power Cup Grand Final will be played ahead of the Port Adelaide-North Melbourne clash tomorrow.
The grand final, boys and girls matches, is the culmination of the Aboriginal Power Cup carnival which, other than football, includes school-aged children from across SA in skill and personal development workshops and future career expos.
At Subiaco Oval in Perth, the Yamatji Sharks (Mid-West, Gascoyne and Murchison regions) and Noongar Country (Metro and Regional) 16s teams will play for the Stephen Michael Cup before Sunday's West Coast-St Kilda match.
The Stephen Michael Cup match, named in honour of the South Fremantle legend, is being funded by the Department of Sport and Recreation's Indigenous Sports Program, and organised in partnership with the WA Football Commission and the local Indigenous community.
For a lot of the youngsters, it will be the first time they attend the ground let alone having set foot on it. It will also be a chance for them to play some representative footy and get a taste of what it's like another level.
Michael will be there as special guest and to present the cup named in his honour.
In his 243 games played over 11 seasons with South Fremantle, Michael racked up just about every achievement the game had to offer, including Sandover Medals in 1980 and 1981, a Tassie Medal and five club fairest- and-best awards. He was selected as captain for the 1983 All Australian team, and was part of South Fremantle's 1980 premiership team.
Michael was later inducted into the 1999 Australian Hall of Fame and named in the 2005 Indigenous Team of the Century.
The curtain raiser kicks off at 12.15pm on Sunday, May 23. There will be a Welcome to Country before the main game, and the young Indigenous players will form a guard of honour for West Coast and St Kilda players.
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Last Modified on 18/05/2012 16:54