AFL Clubs Inspire Productive Conversations on Indigenous Culture During Sir Doug Nicholls Round

Melbourne Football Club has announced that it will once again change its name to Narrm Football Club, Woi-Wurrunge for Melbourne, during the AFL's Sir Doug Nicholls rounds in 2023. The move is inspired by the club's efforts to educate on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and to generate awareness and encourage productive conversations across the footy community.

The Dees' AFLW team also played under the Narrm banner last year. The club hopes that the rebrand will further its vision for reconciliation, which is to unite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with non-Indigenous people, to understand history, culture, and community.

"This initiative, which was a passion and focus of our RAP Committee, is about acknowledgement, education and celebration, and it was fantastic to see our fans and the football community really embrace it," Melbourne Football Club chief executive Gary Pert said.

"Our vision for reconciliation is to unite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with non-Indigenous people, to understand history, culture and community, and it's exciting to be building on this further in 2023."

The initiative was a passion and focus of Melbourne's RAP Committee. It is about acknowledgement, education, and celebration. The club was thrilled to see the football community embrace it last year and is eager to continue building on it this year.

The Dockers announced in February that they would run out as Walyalup Football Club in Sir Doug Nicholls round matches. This move will give representation to the Noongar name for the area now called Fremantle. The club hopes that this will help share their culture with the wider community.

"I'm really proud of Fremantle's history, we've always had a strong culture of representing Indigenous players and who we are as a Club and I think this continues with what we're doing now to rebrand as the Walyalup Football Club," past player, academy coach and Indigenous and multicultural liaison officer Roger Hayden said at the announcement.

The two sides will meet in the second week of Indigenous round celebrations at the MCG on May 27. Sir Doug Nicholls Round spans across rounds 10 and 11 of the AFL season.

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Courtesy National Indigenous Times