Celebrating Sir Doug Nicholls Round

NARRM Football Club and the Jim Stynes Foundation have come together to celebrate Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

The Dees hosted the Hawks on Saturday in a match that honored the culture and history of the AFL’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players and staff, and their important impact on the football world.

Students from Wowara Aboriginal College, a partner of the Jim Stynes Foundation, attended the game, with 15 students performing traditional dances at a match function.

Vanetta Nampijinpa Hudson, the talented artist behind this year’s Indigenous guernsey, was also in attendance. As a former student of Worawa Aboriginal College, it was a special moment for Hudson to reunite with students from the school.

Minum Barreng, the University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Eye Health Unit, who have a long-standing partnership with the club, joined the Worawa students in the guard of honour.

Minum Barreng and the Dees have worked together since 2010, the club using its platform to promote important hygiene messages such as ‘Clean Faces, Strong Eyes’ and ‘Milpa’s Six Steps to Stop Germs’ in the pursuit of eliminating trachoma in Australia.

Associate Professor Mitchell Anjou from Minum Barreng spoke at halftime with MC Megan Waters, announcing the exciting news that Australia has become the 30^th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health issue.

The Jim Stynes Foundation, in partnership with the Narrm Football Club, is committed to improving health outcomes and increasing access to sporting opportunities for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Foundation also works to promote reconciliation and strengthen cultural education.