Wilston Grange don jumper to celebrate inclusivity as AFL Queensland celebrates Indigenous Round

Jackson Clark
Jackson Clark Published May 21, 2024 at 6.45pm (AWST)

AFL Queensland club Wilston Grange has honoured the contributions of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples with a striking jumper design created by Indigenous artist Emma MacNeill.

MacNeill is an accomplished artist and has previously created Indigenous jumpers for North Melbourne and Brisbane.

Her design centres around the club's inclusivity and captures the journey of the past, present and future players.

The two power elements – the boomerang and digging sticks – are used to represent the and men's and women's sides.

MacNeill – who also plays footy at Wilston Grange – used every player's home totems to include the players' past stories along their present stories at the club.

The fierce weapon was used as the men's representation, while the digging sticks honour the women and all the stories handed down through the generations while these instruments were traditionally used.

MacNeill said she was grateful to receive the opportunity to create the jumper design for Wilston Grange.

"Creating the guernsey was such a journey, one I am grateful to have been able to contribute to," she said.

MacNeill added that AFL Queensland's Indigenous Round was all about respect, inclusivity and pride.

"It's such an important round; I love all the special elements of it," she said.

"At Wilston Grange, the celebrations begin with an Acknowledgement of Country, followed by Indigenous dancers preforming pre-match and then a ribbon or balloon banner for the girls to run through.

"It's a day where we get to embrace our culture and really celebrate our Indigenous players and heritage."

AFL Queensland clubs wore specially-designed jumpers as part of the league-wide honouring of Indigenous Round.

AFL Queensland clubs wore special jumpers as part of the competition's Indigenous Round. (Image: AFL Queensland)

Yugambeh artist Luther Cora created Broadbeach's first-ever Indigenous strip, which represented the land that the club is built on and the traditional custodians.

The design demonstrated the way Traditional Owners lived sustainably off the seas, rivers, creeks and waterways to collect and gather pippies and oysters.

Wradjuri woman Narelle Urquhart designed the Bond University Bull Sharks jumper, which highlights the story of how sport brings people together in spirit and through culture.

It features a bull shark to represent the teams who play under that moniker, while the jersey tells the story of The Canal at Bond University.

Redland Victoria Point's jumper was a collaboration by traditional artist Patrick Coolwell and his partner Kaiyu Moura Bayles.

The 2024 design – which is the second design the club has used – includes five totems on the jumper to represent the five Indigenous players that play for the club.

The inside of each jersey reads "We gather on Noonuccal Country, united by our club/family. Generations and generations of legends make up our teams," which honours the players that have come before them and the land they occupy.

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