Brisbane Lions' AFL success roaring out loud in one remote WA Community

Andrew Mathieson Published October 9, 2024 at 9.05am (AWST)

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Kiwirrkurra resident, Pintupi man and Brisbane Lions fanatic Eric West boasts how the AFL premiership has been celebrated in remote WA Community (Image: Brisbane Lions).

The Kiwirrkurra Community is considered to be Australia's most isolated settlement, but not when it comes to football.

So distant in the Gibson Desert, it counts Mparntwe/Alice Springs - 800km away - as its closest major town.

The 180 residents living there are more than 3000km from Brisbane, but its remote location does not dampen their lionheart loyalty to the Queensland capital's AFL club.

On grand final day, Kiwirrkurra was in many ways the heartbeat of the nation, glued to a TV in its community hall with sore lungs after cheering every one of Brisbane's 18 goals.

Every power pole and even the cars were decorated on the day in the Lions' maroon, blue and gold.

It could quite possibly be the only place in Australia where its entire population barracks for a single AFL team.

In spite of their people's eagle totem, the WA remote Community chose the Lions over the West Coast Eagles. After all, most have never seen the West Coast of their state.

"We all go for the Brisbane Lions," Eric West, one of Kiwirrkurra Lions top footballers, speaks to the camera in a social media video post.

"Of course, we've got our own team, the local Brisbane (Kiwirrkurra) Lions.

"We've also won a couple of premierships too, a couple of years back.

"We were really happy when we beat the Cats in that final and when we won (the grand final)."

The reigning AFL premiers brings the largely Pintupi mob together.

Whether its following Brisbane on the largest stage of the MCG on grand final day or on the red dirt of the Kiwirrkurra home ground, they are tighter as a Community through the game.

They have descended from one of the very last nomadic First Nations people in Australia.

A number of the Pintupi mobs settled in their current location around four decades ago right on the cusp of the Traditional Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

It was beside the site of a bore for water in the rugged sandhill terrains the Pintupi resettled in the return to their Country after government forced the mob out decades earlier to assimilate into other towns that affected the social fabric of their Community.