THE seventh Aboriginal Power Cup Carnival has concluded with the finals played at a sold-out Adelaide Oval.

Maitland Area School defeated Murray Bridge High School in the Boys Final, while Murray Bridge defeated Maitland in the Girls Final. All students then performed a cultural dance in front of 52,233 spectators, the highest crowd figure recorded at an AFL game in South Australia.

Earlier in the day all students and staff attended an Awards Ceremony at UniSA with Maitland AS winning the South Australian Government Curriculum Excellence Award. The Maitland teams performed successfully in all areas of the curriculum, with Coordinator Melissa-Kate McPharlin and her staff winning the Santos Staff Leadership Award.

The UniSA Best Guernsey Design was assessed by UniSA students and awarded to Windsor Gardens Vocational College, while the SA Police assessed the team war-crys and awarded the SAPOL Best Team War-Cry to Salisbury HS. The behaviour and sportsmanship of students was also assessed over three days, with teams from Mawson Lakes (girls) and Whyalla (boys) winning the Beach Energy Solid Team Award.

Two individual awards were also presented for the first time. Anthony Stengle (Le Fevre High School) and Yutika Timothy-Nam (Mawson Lakes Academy) were successful in winning Maxima Student Leadership Awards.

Following the Award Ceremony all students and teachers participated in a cultural walk through the streets of Adelaide to celebrate National Reconciliation Week and the Recognise Campaign, a national initiative to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our Constitution. The students and teachers arrived at Adelaide Oval as One Mob Leading Together and experienced the atmosphere of a Power victory at Adelaide Oval.

Power Community Ltd works with the SA Aboriginal Sports Training Academy to deliver the Aboriginal Power Cup. We thank our long term Major Partners Santos and the South Australian Government. We also thank our Support Partners Transfield Services, Beach Energy, Motor Accident Commission, UniSA, Maxima, Defence Force Recruiting, Fairmont Homes, Anglicare, SA Dental Service and the Aboriginal Health Council of SA. Thank you to everyone for supporting this program – we are kicking goals together.