Launceston to embrace culture

The jumper created by Darlene Mansell, the mother of Blues forward Rulla Kelly-Mansell, will be worn by all Launceston players at Lauderdale Oval on Saturday as part of National Reconciliation Week and the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

Kelly-Mansell said it was a special week for himself and fellow Launceston Aboriginal teammates Dylan Riley, Trey Clark, Thomas Dwyer and Ethan Tarrant.

“It’s the first time our men’s senior team has done something like this,” he said.

“It’s overwhelming for the club to show the support it has. This week is much more than football but sport is a good way to break down barriers.

“The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is a good conversation starter towards reconciliation but on a personal level these things are what I look forward to more than anything in sport.

“As an Aboriginal person it means more than I can put into words and probably the one week throughout the year where I feel I can be more like myself.”

Kelly-Mansell said the jumper’s design was explained to the whole playing group on Monday night.

“The jumper represents the connection to land and where we are, the river going through the middle is the Tamar with some wombats and kangaroos in Aboriginal artwork painted on it,” he said.

“It’s got some petroglyphs on there and the football in the middle is the story of marngrook.”