2022 was a rewarding year for the advancement of our Reconciliation Action Plan, as the Club made significant progress on current Stretch RAP initiatives and innovations. 

Our RAP was launched in March 2020, right before Covid-19 hit, and almost two years on, we are proud to have achieved so much under some challenging circumstances.

Much of that can be attributed to strong support from our Indigenous Programs Partner Woodside, along with a renewed focus on our RAP governance structures.

In order to deliver on our RAP commitments we have a RAP Administration group who meet weekly to ensure we maintain momentum on projects and initiatives. I would like to acknowledge Roger Hayden, Jana Gernhoefer and Jade Holmes for championing this group.

We then have an internal RAP Working group who meet quarterly to ensure we are on track more broadly with our goals and objectives. This year, following a discussion with a fellow RAP partner in Starlight, we identified a need to have a representative from every department on the working group, and as a result, we have 17 passionate staff all working on our reconciliation goals.

The final piece of our RAP governance structure was put in place in May when we formed our External Advisory Group. Consisting of representatives from our members, sponsors, players, board, community, AFL and staff, this group has generated valuable feedback and guidance for the Club to build upon and start turning our attention to the development of our next RAP.

In 2022 we did some incredible work across the three reconciliation pillars of Relationships, Respect and Opportunities.

RELATIONSHIPS

The AFL landscape lends itself to some wonderful opportunities to maintain and grow respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We have been able to use the AFL & AFLW Indigenous Rounds to make meaningful connections and share experiences together. 

For our Sir Doug Nicholls Round in May against Collingwood, the Club welcomed Elders from the Kimberley Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation, as we have done for many years. However this year, the invitation was extended more broadly to the WA Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation and the Bringing Them Home Committee (WA) to ensure a strong and inclusive game day. It was wonderful to have Elders join us from across the State for the game, and take part in the on ground guard of honour. 

They were able to watch the team run out in the guernsey that was beautifully designed by Michael 'Sonny' Walters and Peter Farmer Junior.

The Peter Farmer Designs team worked closely with Sonny through the design process. Sonny’became the first current AFL player to provide a design to a Fremantle jumper, and it was a family affair with Walters’ and Junior’s grandparents being close cousins who both have heritage linking back to the Minang language group in the Noongar region around Albany.

For the 2022 AFLW Indigenous Rounds, the players wore the design of Mikayla Morrison and her Uncle Des Headland, who worked with fellow family member and local Ivvndigenous artist Kevin Bynder to create a design for both the 2021 AFL Sir Doug Nicholls Round and the 2022 AFLW Indigenous Rounds.

The AFLW version also featured eight circles to represent the language groups of each Indigenous AFLW player who have played a game for the Club, continuing the tradition started with Jasmin Stewart’s AFLW jumper design for the 2020 and 2021 AFLW seasons.

Morrison got to take to the field in her design in February against the Adelaide Crows, but unfortunately her knee injury meant she was sidelined for the Season 7 Indigenous Round against the Western Bulldogs. The Club was able to ensure Morrison made it over for the game and was part of the pre-game ceremony to celebrate her contribution.

As part of Reconciliation Week, in May, a number of our staff attended the Walk for Reconciliation and took part in staff and player yarning circles to learn more about First Nations history and culture. Further education opportunties were provided throughout the year, including an introduction to the Uluru v

The Club’s NGA has a strong focus on relationships and mentor support for young First Nations players, and it is a credit to Roger Hayden and Wade Spilcker for their significant work to ensure past players like Antoni Grover, and past NGA players like Keanu Haddow, come back and help guide these young men on their journey.

RESPECT

Respect is the foundation block to forming solid relationships and we worked with a number of partners and supporters to acknowledge and pay respect to our strong links to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

It is important to our Club that we demonstrate respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples by embedding cultural protocols. Each year, our staff group come together with our playing groups to undertake smoking ceremonies. For our AFLW program, the ceremony is held at Fremantle Oval and is open to members and supporters. This year for our AFL program, a smoking ceremony was held at our Cockburn HQ ahead of Sir Doug Nicholls Round. Unfortunately due to Covid protocols, the number of people in attendance was limited but it was still a special moment for those who were able to attend.

The management team and RAP working group took part in a personalised acknowledgement of country workshop lead by Curtin University’s Cultural Immersion Facilitators Jayde Conway and Elisha Jacobs-Smith. The workshop empowered and encouraged our people to not only understand when to deliver an acknowledgement of country, but to author a meaningful statement they could confidently deliver, that was personal to them.

In addition to this workshop, Jayde and Elisha also facilitated an on-country experience for staff at Wadjemup (Rottnest Island). The experience was incredibly powerful and educated staff more deeply about Aboriginal suffering on the island as a result of colonisation. Many staff have since reflected on the experience as the most powerful and impactful moment of their 2022 and I encourage our Freo family to seek out the opportunity take part in such an experience.

One of the more prominent projects that demonstrated respect for the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we play our great game in Perth, Whadjuk Noongar Boodja, was our Welcome to Country video played at the commencement of each home game this year. Our media team, with guidance from our RAP advisors and input from some talented performers, produced a stunning video that the Freo family are very proud of.

A ‘Moorditj’ jumper was introduced as a clash strip for AFL & AFLW games as a way of recognising and celebrating First Nations history and culture across the seasons, not just in Indigenous Rounds.

Meaning strong in Noongar, the Moorditj jumper features purple panels down the sides with elements from the Club’s first Indigenous jumpers, designed by Roger Hayden and Richard Walley (AFL) and Jasmine Stewart (AFLW).

OPPORTUNITIES

An important part of our RAP is that we work to establish opportunities that allow us to make a meaningful difference to the social, physical, employment and other outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

In 2022, the Club became members of Reconciliation WA and took part in the first SPORT RAP Rings event. It was an opportunity to unite with fellow sporting organisations across the State and talk about our progress, priorities and initiatives for reconciliation and what we can achieve together in the future.

When it comes to providing opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the Kimberley Connected program is at the forefront of the work we are doing in the community, alongside the Purple Hands Foundation, WA Police and Garnduw and Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service (KMAS).

Primary and Secondary School students from across the Kimberley are provided with education and wellbeing workshops across Terms 1 to 3. Those that attend school, participate in the programs and display positive social behaviour, are rewarded with a day of footy on Cable Beach for the Kimberley 9s carnival.

At the carnival, the KMAS presented further education workshops to the secondary school students on vaping and sexual health. 

The feedback from local police and teachers highlight the positive outcomes of the program and the opportunities it is providing the children.

We also helped one Kimberley school, Kulkarriya Community School, provide students with the opportunity of a lifetime when they travelled 2,400km to come and visit the Club and be part of the RAC Derby in August. It was a privilege to host the students, and it will be an experience the students and Fremantle staff and players will treasure for a long time to come.

Finally, it was wonderful to be able to work with Woodside to host the Moorditj Markets at both our Season 6 AFLW Indigenous Round at Fremantle Oval, and our Sir Doug Nicholls Round AFL game at Optus Stadium. The markets initiative is a highlight of our game days and creates opportunities for local Aboriginal businesses to showcase their products and services to the broader Fremantle community. We look forward to working with Woodside to run the Moorditj Markets again in season 2023.

To view the Fremantle Dockers Reconciliation Action Plan document, please click below.