PORT ADELAIDE will celebrate the contribution of its current and past Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players at Alberton Oval on Saturday, as part of the SANFL’s First Nations Rounds.

Commencing this weekend during Rounds 11 and 12 of the SANFL season, the First Nations Rounds will allow each of the clubs to host a game and pay tribute to the ongoing and significant influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players have had on the competition and sport as a whole.

Throughout the two-weeks of the league’s First Nations Round, the club’s SANFL side will adopt the name Yartapuulti, using the significant occasion to elevate the culture and language of the local Kaurna people, generate awareness and encourage productive and meaningful conversations.

Kaurna senior and past player, Uncle Mickey Kumatpi Murrutya O’Brien previously explained that Yartapuulti was the name the Kaurna people gave to the land around the Port River with ‘Yarta’ meaning place or land and ‘Puulti’ meaning sleep or death.

The club will also wear a variation of the special guernsey that it wore in the AFL Sir Doug Nicholls Round that was designed by two-time Premiership player Peter Burgoyne in partnership with Adelaide artist Laz Gein.

The guernsey is a tribute to three generations of the Burgoyne family which have represented the club, using Emu tracks on the back to signify the family’s journey and cultural totems - the Southern Right Whale and Eagle - to represent Peter Burgoyne’s Grandmother and Grandfather respectively.

The guernsey will also be worn in next weekend’s away game against Woodville-West Torrens.

Uncle Mickey will be present at Alberton Oval to conduct a special Welcome to Country ceremony from 2:05pm.

Presentations with coach Tyson Goldsack and players will happen after the match upstairs in the Precinct.

The Yartapuulti Football Club has an opportunity to move into the competition’s top five when it takes on West Adelaide from 2:10pm at Alberton Oval.

Gates at Alberton Oval open at 12:40pm.