Swans and GWS promote Indigenous Round

By Matt Rossleigh

The Sydney Swans and GWS GIANTS will both celebrate Indigenous Round this weekend with a number of initiatives planned by the AFL clubs.

The GIANTS will be holding their own Long Walk, which was made famous by former Essendon player Michael Long.

In 2004 Long embarked on a walk from his home in Melbourne to Parliament House in Canberra to meet with then Prime Minister John Howard.

The GIANTS Long Walk will begin at 1pm on Saturday at Sydney Olympic Park train station, before heading down to Cathy Freeman Park before concluding with a lap of SKODA Stadium before the clash against the West Coast Eagles.

“The Long Walk is a great initiative that I encourage all fans to get involved in,” Sheedy told gwsgiants.com.au.

“It’s a great way that we as people in this country can get together to raise awareness of racial discrimination that unfortunately still exists in sport and in society today.

“It allows us to celebrate Australian Indigenous culture and the history of our fantastic country.”  

Adam Goodes, Lewis Jetta and Tony Armstrong launched Indigenous Round for the Sydney Swans this week and advertised the colourful Sherrin which will be used during the round.

“It’s pretty cool, my mum paints a lot of footballs and paints a lot of designs on there so maybe next year we can get her to design a few which would be nice,” said Adam Goodes on SwansTV.

“It’s fantastic and the AFL’s support of Indigenous Round is awesome and I look forward to kicking a few goals with it on Friday night.”

All matches this weekend will have a Welcome to Country ceremony, and the centre circle at all AFL matches will be painted in the red, black and yellow colours of the Aboriginal flag.

The Swans and Collingwood will open Indigenous Round at the MCG on Friday with Dreamtime At The ‘G on Saturday evening between Essendon and Richmond.

To watch the Swans talk about Indigenous Round click here: http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/video/2013-05-23/swanstv-reflections-on-indigenous-football-history

CLICK HERE to register for the Long Walk.