Our community umpires joining in on the Sir Doug Nicholls Round celebrations with these deadly designs by local artists Jacob Severs and Rhan Hooper.
The overall message of this design is about community spirit and the coming together of all aspects of AFL football in Southeast Queensland. Depicted within this artwork are representations of both males and female, the three regions in which SEQ football umpire and play under and the Sand Goanna, the totem of the local language group in which the AFL Queensland building is built on at Yeronga. The title, ‘Uniting through footy’ is an overall summary of the story behind the design. It is bringing together men and women, players and umpiring through collaboration of the artwork.
The Sand Goanna – is the totem for the first inhabitants of Yeronga, the Jagera People. Yeronga is a place of significance as this is where the AFL Queensland building is based.
Gathering places – the three gather places that surround the totem, represent each region in Southeast Queensland that football is umpired and played on. From the Sunshine Coast, through Brisbane and all the way to the Gold Coast/Northern Rivers, footballers and umpires come from each of these regions.
Man campfire – men are represented in Indigenous artwork by an inverted “U” shape which represents the mark in which a person would love on the ground if they were sitting on the dirt of the earth, while the spears are hunting tools they would use for hunting.
Women campfire – women are represented in Indigenous artwork by an inverted “U” shape which represents the mark in which a person would love on the ground if they were sitting on the dirt of the earth, while the digging stick represents a digging stick, a sharp tool that is used to dig out bush tucker.
Thank you to AFLQ Umpires Association, Damien Mitchelmore, Rhan Hooper, Jacob Severs, and Tribal Sport for creating these shirts and allowing our Umpires to wear them with pride throughout Sir Doug Nicholls round.
Our iconic Sherrin footies also feature artwork by Tiwi Island artist Aunty ‘Lulu’ Coombes as part of the Sir Doug Nichols Rounds.
