Last Saturday night was a special moment for Port Adelaide.
We sang our club song in the rooms after winning against Richmond, but we weren’t alone.
Joining us in the circle were members of the Aboriginal AFL Academy, fresh from a win over the Laguntas earlier that day.
It was such a proud moment for everyone and, most importantly, a symbol of the work non-Aboriginal people at the club have been doing to bring cultural awareness to a broader audience.
It was Ken Hinkley who got the lads in the circle, in a tough fortnight for the club when there was pressure on the group, it was great to have the support from our senior coach to embrace the Academy playing group.
In the same way, we’ve had other members of our club embrace Aboriginal culture.
The incredible Welcome to Country played before our home games was suggested to us by our club’s events team. Would we like to have one? The answer was (of course), yes!
The next step in bringing Aboriginal and non-indigenous cultures closer is the translation of our club song into Pitjantjatjara language for Sir Douglas Nicholls Round.
Pitjantjatjara is one of the languages of the APY Lands from where we run many of our remote community programs.
Many speakers of this language will make the journey to Alice Springs to see us play the Demons. This will be a special moment for them, but will also be special to many others, to hear one of Australia’s traditional languages in a club song for the first time.
It’s so important for our communities, just like it’s special to see 18 clubs wear indigenous guernsey designs.
As Australia has a bigger conversation about recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the idea of recognising our cultures through song and music is simple, but so significant.
Our club song represents our players and fans, just like how our national anthem represents the people of our country. Perhaps even one day we’ll even hear our nation’s song speak of our first languages.
When you watch our game in Alice Springs, take a moment to understand the importance of footy for Aboriginal communities, the significance of the round and know that clubs around the country now accept and are actively working towards building strong, culturally aware places for indigenous people to work and play footy in.
The next big challenge is to get footy clubs into communities more and more, and to build even closer relationships with our people in places where AFL footy isn’t played.
We can’t wait to pull Karl Amon’s Bambara jumper on in Round 10 and hope that you love seeing our boys wear it with pride.
Thank you for the support you’ve shown to the club’s Aboriginal programs this year, and we hope you’ll continue on a journey towards greater awareness and understanding of Aboriginal culture and people with the club.
Chad Wingard Brendon Ah Chee Nathan Krakouer Karl Amon
Jarman Impey Jake Neade Aidyn Johnson
Paul Vandenbergh (Manager – Aboriginal Programs)
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