It's a fine art, this football caperABORIGINAL artist Richard Walley's West Australian Football League jumper designs transcend football and convey stories of traditional customs practised in the Perth area before white settlement. The nine WAFL clubs will over the next two rounds wear the guernseys to celebrate NAIDOC Week in what's believed to be a first in top level Australian sport.
The WAFL's NAIDOC Week celebrations will run from Rounds 15 and 16, with the South Fremantle-v-Claremont Jimmy Melbourne Cup match at Fremantle Oval on Saturday, and the Bulldogs' Indigenous Team of the Century function that night, the centrepiece of the rounds.
Aboriginal players from each of the nine clubs will unveil the jumpers tomorrow. The players will be: Casey Sibosado (Claremont), Anthony Kyanga (East Fremantle), Daniel Macaulay (East Perth), Quinton Bolton (Peel Thunder), Troy Cook (Perth), Toby McGrath (South Fremantle), Raphael Stack (Subiaco), Lewis Jetta (Swan Districts), Stephen Hill (West Perth), and WAFL umpire Brandon Simpson.
The WAFL has provided
AboriginalFootball a sneak peak at the jumpers (two pictured here -- they can be viewed in full in the Photo Gallery, linked above).
Walley said he was honoured at the opportunity to design the jumpers. He's incorporated Aboriginal themes into all the jumpers based on each of the clubs' geographical area and tying that in with traditional Aboriginal history. Walley designed South Fremantle's and Claremont's Aboriginal-themed jumpers those clubs have worn during NAIDOC Week since 2007. He said his pride will be directed at what the jumpers represent.
"It's really about recognising us as a people -- that's the feeling and emotion you get rather than, 'Oh, look at my wonderful designs out there'," Walley said yesterday.
The NAIDOC Week celebration by the WAFL is yet another step by football in giving Indigenous people rightful acknowledgement of the role they have played in shaping the game. The initiative, which comes from the WA football commission, follows on from the original NAIDOC Week celebration match involving South Fremantle and Claremont, now in its third year. This, of course, follows the lead of the Australian Football League with its Indigenous Round, first held in 2006. Last month, the North Tasmanian Football Association held its own Indigenous Round -- its first -- where Rocherlea, with a sizeable Indigenous roster, played Longford, with that match the NTFA's centrepiece to week-long celebration.
Walley's WAFL club jumper designs tell a story of each club’'s location and the traditional, historical aspect of Aboriginal culture before white settlement.
"For example," Walley explains, "the Swan Districts jumper, the mark of the (Swan) River is there. And part of the Balladong trail where the river runs through the area (is depicted). That's where our people used to travel, through that area coming into what became of Perth.
"When we spoke about putting these games on, it wasn't a hard sell. The commission let us try it with the South Fremantle and Claremont game to see how this works. Now the league's embraced it."
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Last Modified on 30/06/2009 02:48