Liddle leads Indigenous Round across region

FOOTBALL and netball clubs across the Barwon region will don Indigenous uniforms this weekend as part of AFL Barwon’s Indigenous Round.

At Geelong West, senior players will wear uniforms designed by one of its own in footballer and Eastern Arrernte/Alyawarre man Ethan Liddle, who first designed the club’s Indigenous guernseys in 2023, but has since updated the designs for 2024.

Liddle, who features in the Giants’ Geelong Football League seniors side, says it has been fantastic to see more clubs get behind AFL Barwon’s Indigenous Round.

“I think it’s awesome to see more and more clubs getting around it,” Liddle said.

“You always look forward to seeing what AFL clubs are doing for Sir Doug Nicholls Round, and because I’m a Hawthorn supporter, I always look forward to what their design is, as well as the other team they’re playing. It’s the same with local football.

“Last year when we were wearing the uniforms and the captain was addressing the side, I couldn’t stop looking at the jumpers just thinking ‘how cool is this?’.”

The Giants’ uniforms features a story combining Liddle’s life, his family, his club, and the region the club is situated within.

Symbols on the front feature the ‘G’ symbol of the Giants, filled in with emu and kangaroo tracks symbolising success, as well as symbols representing the club’s players, coaches, and supporters.

The symbols below the ‘G’ represents the region and the wider community spanning from Colac to Geelong to Leopold.

The back of the jumper features the male and female symbols as well as the lands significant to Liddle’s ancestry and history, namely his birthplace in Alice Springs (Arrernte Country) and his residence in Geelong (Wadawurrung Country).

Liddle said it was a surreal feeling seeing his teammates run onto the field last year, wearing his design for the first time. He suspects that feeling will remain this Saturday.

“It was a proud moment for me,” Liddle said.

“The important thing was it made my family proud too and when they saw the story, they were really happy. Some of them said they didn’t know I was an artist, which I found funny because I’m not, but the story that is represented is just as important to the uniform itself.”

Geelong West executive chair Sarah Naylor said the club was extremely happy to help Ethan is turning his design into a reality last year, and again this year.

“It’s amazing to wear something one of our players has designed,” Naylor said.

“He spent a lot of time on this, going back and forth with the club to make sure the design was perfect.

“We’re very proud of Ethan and what we’ve been able to do, and for other clubs who haven’t been able to jump on board yet, there is funding and grants out there to make this possible.”

Geelong West’s senior GFNL footballers, senior GDFNL footballers, senior women’s footballers, and A Grade netballers across GFNL and GDFNL will wear the uniforms.