Lions continue long-standing tradition to kick off NAIDOC Week

MANY supporters came out to Winter Reserve on Saturday afternoon as the Belmont Lions held their annual Indigenous Round Family Day to kick off NAIDOC week.

Despite both of the Lions reserves and seniors’ teams falling to strong competition against the East Geelong Eagles, it was a day filled with pride and recognition of the area’s Wathaurong community.

Activities such as fair rides, art displays and a president’s lunch were all conducted throughout the day, along with a flag-raising, ceremonial dance and smoking ceremony preceding the men’s senior game as the Lions wore specially designed Indigenous uniforms.

Vice president of the Lions football club, chairman of the Wathaurong Cooperative and proud Gunditjmara man, Craig Edwards, was grateful to continue the 41-year long tradition, a tradition that his father helped start.

“It is a big day,” Edwards said.

“Today is a day to showcase our community and our culture. We have been on Country for tens and thousands of years, and we are proud to be a part of showing and educating our non-Indigenous communities about what our culture is. It is still here today, and it is still practiced.”

Not only is it a day that excites the fans, but it is also a day the teams look forward to.

Seniors’ captain Alex Hann was out of action on the day but highlighted what it is like for a player to prepare for the special occasion.

“It is huge for us to be able to play on this day and for these guys it means a lot. When we put the jumpers on, we all know what it means, we put them on with pride and we try to represent the Aboriginal people as best we can,” Hann said.

Kristi Watts led the choreography for the pre-game dance prior to the smoking ceremony with numerous kids performing “The Bunjil Creation”, and as an Indigenous woman she could hardly describe her pride.

“We are here to share our culture on the start of NAIDOC, which for me and having all these kids dancing, it is hard to say into words – it is just amazing,” Watts said.

The uniforms designed for the day saw traditional Indigenous art patterns from the Victorian and New South Wales regions such as lines, cross-hatching, diamonds and X-Ray art.

In terms of some of the symbols the jerseys exhibited, they featured a lion on one side to incorporate the club, a shield on the other to represent the warrior and two handprints on the back signifying that each player has each other’s back.

NAIDOC Week runs through until July 11 with the main theme being ‘Heal Country!’.