This weekend’s Indigenous Round will see two MCDFNL clubs wear specially-designed jumpers this weekend to honour the indigenous heritage of their club and region.
Talbot and Navarre will both wear special jumpers in their Round 6 clashes against Newstead and Maldon respectively as part of the MCDFNL’s annual Indigenous Round celebrations this weekend.
This is the second year that Talbot, a club with a rich indigenous history and four current indigenous players in their senior ranks, will wear an indigenous-themed guernsey after kicking off the tradition against Navarre in 2015.
“We got the jumper designed [in 2015] and produced through [preferred MCDFNL jumper supplier] TWP, and we’re very much looking forward to continuing the tradition this year”, said Talbot vice-president Troy Cunningham, who was instrumental in orchestrating the club to commission the special jumper last year.
“We have four indigenous players – Brandon McRedmond and Jorde Bux in the seniors and Darren Burns senior and junior in the reserves – that are a huge part of our club and [wearing this jumper] is a small way of showing our appreciation of not just them, but the indigenous history of our club and area”.
Talbot’s indigenous foursome and their families also had a say in the design of the 2015 indigenous guernsey, which the Hawks will wear this weekend as they take on Newstead.
“We got a number of designs drawn up, and with the help of Brandon McRedmond, the Bux family and the Burns family, they helped us choose the one they liked”.
Navarre, who played Talbot in the league’s indigenous round game last year, have also decided to wear a specially-designed jumper for their 2016 Indigenous Round clash against Maldon at home this year – a process that was kicked off by a discussion between Grasshoppers president Andrew Murphy and their superstar player and three-time premiership coach Daniel Parkin, who is of aboriginal heritage.
“I put the feelers out with “Parko” at the start of the year to see if [the players] would be interested in wearing an indigenous jumper this year, and he said “yeah, yeah, yeah” and organized it all”, Murphy commented.
“He got an aboriginal elder to do some special paintings, and they’ve been transferred onto the jumper”.
The paintings were designed especially for Navarre and their jumper, and have special meaning to the football club and the local community.
“The paintings are spectacular, incorporating local and indigenous history, and we know they’ll look fantastic on the jumpers”, Murphy said.
“The painting signifies our current football club as the painting stands with 'NFC' and the grasshopper present”.
“The large cluster of yellow and white circle dots centered under the grasshopper represents the main community and signifies not just the Navarre community and our club, but any aboriginal community, whilst the little white dots leading away forming the main cluster represent tracks and pathways to the smaller communities which are represented by the smaller cluster of yellow and white dots – which in the case of our club represents neighbouring towns that support Navarre FNC”.
“The back of the jumper features a gold eagle, which is centred below the player’s number, with tracks running through the number as well”.
“The words “EST 1911” that also feature on the back of the jumper have been given a make-over, and instead of solid letters and numbers as they usually are, they will be made up of small dots representing the larger letters and numbers, again representative of our communities”.
Maryborough Castlemaine District Football & Netball League Operations Manager Jake Dunne has applauded the Hawks and Grasshoppers for their initiative, and hopes it could be something that other clubs emulate in coming years.
“We’re thrilled that Talbot and Navarre will be wearing specially-designed indigenous jumpers this weekend”, Dunne commented.
“With the initiatives the league have in place for our annual Indigenous Round, including using footballs featuring a special design by a local Ballarat indigenous artist for the first time this year, we know that what Talbot and Navarre have done will help add to the occasion, and that it’s something that other clubs consider doing in the future”.
More information on the MCDFNL’s Indigenous Round and the initiatives that the league have implemented for this weekend are available in the front pages of today’s specially-themed edition of the MCDFNL Advocate.
Round 6 – 22/05/2016
Last Modified on 27/05/2016 13:44