West Australian Football

THE West Australian Football League will join NAIDOC celebrations this weekend when each club wears special NAIDOC jumpers designed by Aboriginal artist Richard Walley.

For the very first time in Australian sporting history, all clubs in one competition will participate in the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) celebrations across two weekends, beginning this Saturday and continuing in Round 16 on July 10 and 11.

Aboriginal players from each WAFL club and league umpire Brandon Simpson unveiled the NAIDOC jumpers at Subiaco Oval yesterday (Wednesday, July 1), with each club’s design representing features and landmarks relevant to the history of the club and its indigenous players.

The jumper designs were also presented and promoted to the United Nations (UN) in New York last month by Mr Walley, with the UN congratulating and recognising his work and achievements in leading this project.

The Department of Indigenous Affairs has funded the production of all jumpers and is the sponsor of the WAFL NAIDOC weekends, which will be based on the theme of “honouring our elders, nurturing our youth”.

WA Football Commission Director of Football Grant Dorrington said the WAFL was very excited about this year’s NAIDOC events.

“With the two WAFL clubs, Claremont and South Fremantle, initiating this journey in 2007, it has taken only two years for the WAFL NAIDOC themed rounds to come into fruition.”

NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia in July each year to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of indigenous Australians. 

South Fremantle Football Club will also announce its Indigenous All-Star Team before clashing with Claremont this weekend.

Other NAIDOC games this Saturday will see West Perth take on Perth at Arena Joondalup, Swan Districts host East Fremantle at Steel Blue Oval and East Perth meet Subiaco at Medibank Stadium.

Peel Thunder has the bye but will host a NAIDOC game at Rushton Park next weekend against Claremont as the celebrations continue in Round 16.         

Milestones – Round 15

50 Games

Chad Jones (Claremont) – 49 games

Brett Jones (Claremont) – 49 games

Andrew Foster (East Fremantle) – 49 games

Steven Armstrong (Perth) – 49 games 

EAST Perth and Claremont consolidated last weekend’s upset wins with two more spirited performances in Round 14 of the West Australian Football League on the weekend.

The Royals and Tigers took down finals contenders East Fremantle and West Perth respectively on the back of strong wins last weekend to move up the ladder, while Perth fell to last place with their 29-point loss to South Fremantle.

Subiaco’s win over South Fremantle last weekend saw their premiership defence gather momentum and with Swan Districts having the bye this weekend, the Lions can create some breathing space at the top of the WAFL ladder.

South Fremantle can climb to equal second with a win over Perth at EFTel Oval tomorrow, while West Perth will stay hot on their heels if they can take down Claremont at home. However, the Tigers won’t be easy targets after a confidence-boosting win over East Fremantle last weekend.

ABORIGINAL players from each of the nine West Australian Football League Clubs, including West Perth and Fremantle player Stephen Hill, will showcase specially designed NAIDOC Week uniforms at Subiaco Oval (Gate 8) next Wednesday, July 1 at 5pm.

For the very first time in Australian sporting history, all clubs in one competition will participate in the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) celebrations across two weekends, beginning in Round 15 on July 4 and continuing in Round 16 on July 10 and 11.

A HOME game in Margaret River was a success in more ways than one for East Perth last weekend, with the Royals snapping a five-game losing streak and attracting a big crowd of 1948 to the WAFL game in their country zone.

Kicking into the breeze in the opening quarter, East Perth were only three points adrift at quarter-time and kicked the only goal in the second term to lead by four points at the main break.

They increased their lead to five points at the last change to set the scene for a thrilling finish, but weren’t troubled in the fourth quarter, dominating with six goals to one to run out 16.12 (108) to 10.12 (72) winners.