With the AFL and the GIANTS celebrating Sir Doug Nicholls Round this weekend by wearing a specially designed Indigenous jumper, we’ve gone back through our archives to look at the four previous designs worn by the GIANTS.
2014 – Hunting Ground
Designed by Western Sydney artist Chris (Wirriimbi) Edwards, a descendant of the Gumbaynggirr people from Nambucca Heads in northern New South Wales, ‘Hunting Ground’ was worn by the GIANTS in round 11, 2014.
The design’s larger circles represent areas where Aboriginal men would go hunting together as one.
“It’s about how the Aboriginal culture reflects on the game played today, how the men go out there today and play the game,” Edwards said.
“Back in the day the Aboriginal elders used to go out hunting for food and it reflects how the boys now go hunting to win a game.
“When they used to go hunting they used to spread out and they used to hunt in a S shape like a snake to cover more ground and come back to their tribe with greater food and greater quantities.
“The boys, when they run out, if they work together they come back with a greater prize, which is a win.”
2015 – The Five Rivers
Designed by Wagga Wagga’s Luke Penrith, a proud aboriginal man with ties to the Wiradjuri, Wotjobaluk, Yuin and Gumbaynggirr nations, ‘The Five Rivers’ was worn in their Sir Doug Nicholls round clash with Brisbane at Spotless Stadium.
“Four of the rivers concentrate around greater Western Sydney, the Hawksbury to the north, Nepean to the west, Georges to the south and the Parramatta River that goes through the centre,” Penrith said about his design.
“The fifth river is the Murrimbigee River that goes through Canberra and through the Riverina.
“The hand is the hand of hope that a lot of people need, a hand up, not a hand out.
“There’s the Sydney Tower there from driving along the M4, you can see it pretty clearly.
“On the back of the jumper is also the meeting place of the GIANTS in Sydney Olympic Park and there are footprints along the river as rivers are significant to Aboriginal people.”
2016
The second guernsey designed by Luke Penrith, it was worn by the GIANTS for the 2016 Sir Doug Nicholls round (Round 10) against the Adelaide Crows at the Adelaide Oval.
“There are big footprints across the jumper which represent the GIANTS, the boomerangs through the middle of the jumper represents earning your stripes as a team,” Penrith said in explaining the design.
“They also symbolise the way the GIANTS are performing in flying high, playing hard and playing as a team.
“On the back is the Blue Mountatins and the sunset means you are looking at it and thinking did ‘I put in everything I wanted to today.’”
2017
Artist Rheanna Lotter, an indigenous woman from the Yuin Nation, created a stunning design for the 2017 Sir Doug Nicholls round, based off the club’s away jumper.
Featuring a white background with unique indigenous artwork in the middle of the letter 'G' a larger design covered the entire back of the jumper.
Lotter’s design represents coming together as one community linked by a love of footy, while the dots and hands artwork representing the stories of the Indigenous GIANTS players.
“The design centred around the 50 year anniversary of the referendum,” Lotter said.
“In the middle, we’re all standing here in solidarity; Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The lines coming in represent the journey over the 50 years that we’ve been on.
“The boomerangs represent the fight that indigenous people had to go on to get to the referendum and the hands resemble the impact of people on the journey.
Zac Williams wore the number 67 on his back during the round 10 match against West Coast, paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum.
