The UTS Australian Football Club will celebrate and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over the coming weeks by wearing a special Indigenous guernsey design.
Tasmanian Aboriginal man and club player Ben Hodge created the guernsey’s design, which he describes as representing “a group of warriors or fighters who, when they each put on the guernsey, become a group going out to battle together.”
When will the Indigenous guernsey be worn?
The guernsey will be worn away by the UTSAFC Premier Men’s and Women’s teams this weekend against St George and Southern Power.
It will also be worn the following weekend (Saturday 9 July) by the club’s Premier Women and Division 1 Men’s teams at Trumper Oval to coincide with National NAIDOC Week.
Both premier division sides will then don the guernsey against Sydney University at Waverley Oval on Saturday 23 July.
National NAIDOC Week runs between the first Sundays of July each year in celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.
The UTS Australian Football Club acknowledges the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal people, who traditionally occupied the areas around which we train and play in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. We pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders both past and present.
