WA Football proud to support NAIDOC WeekMonday, July 3, 2023 - 2:10 PM

The West Australian Football Commission is proud to celebrate NAIDOC Week and support this year’s theme ‘For Our Elders’.

NAIDOC Week will see people celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People across Australia.

‘For Our Elders’ recognises that across every generation, Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in our communities and families.  

The theme acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders are cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and our loved ones. 

WA Football’s NAIDOC Week celebrations will be highlighted by in the WAFL’s NAIDOC Round on Saturday 8 July, with each club wearing specially designed Indigenous jumpers.

Community Clubs will fixture a NAIDOC Week game between Saturday 1 July through to Sunday 16 July. 

WAFC Aboriginal Program Manager Phil Narkle said this year the Commission is providing more support to local clubs by developing an information booklet.

“Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working group created an Indigenous Round and NAIDOC Week booklet to better assist clubs on how to run activities and build cultural awareness,” Narkle said.

“NAIDOC Week presents a great opportunity to continue to strive for better representation of Indigenous players across our pathways throughout WA.”

Thanks to WA Football’s NAIDOC Round Partner, Rio Tinto, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players within the Perth Metropolitan Junior Football Competition and Country Football community have been invited to design a NAIDOC Round jumper for their club.

During NAIDOC Week one male and one female winner will be selected from each of the three Metro Junior Football Conferences, along with two entries from Country. Each design will be reproduced as one set of jumpers for the associated football club and one jumper for the artist to keep.

WAFC CEO Michael Roberts said NAIDOC Week is a time to reflect and celebrate the strong relationship football shares with Indigenous communities in Western Australia.

“This is an opportunity to recognise the contributions Indigenous players have made to our game and to society,” Roberts said.

“Thanks to our partnership with Rio Tinto our junior players can become more engaged in NAIDOC Week, with funding assisting clubs producing gameday activities and incorporate cultural awareness sessions.”

Winners of the design a NAIDOC Round jumper will be announced later this week.