League ladies in harmony for footy festival
By PETER ROWE
Rugby league may be seen as a minority sport to many in AFL mad WA, but not to Kaisha Jetta and her Indigenous ladies team who will be competing at the NRLWA Harmony Nines tournament this weekend.
The Indigenous men took out their grand final in last year’s tournament and will be aiming for a repeat this year having recruited former NRL star Ben Barba to their ranks.
And the ladies, who made the semi-finals last year are also looking for success at the multicultural event – one of the biggest league events of its kind in Australia.
With the game being played on Noongar land, Kaisha said it’s a great opportunity to showcase culture and help with reconciliation.
“Our men won the tournament last year and our women made the semis – we’d like to achieve success again this year, but it is also so important to be able to represent our people on our land,” she said.
“We have a few non-indigenous players and that’s important for reconciliation and moving forward.”
The Harmony Nines, featuring 70 teams, 1300 players and over 3000 family and support staff kicks off tonight (Friday) at the Larkhill Sportsplex at Port Kennedy, south of Perth.
The England Community Lions, the best of their amateur competition in the north of the Uk, will be making their debut at the event and have commissioned a special jersey incorporating an Indigenous design.
The Lions have just completed a 2-0 defeat of WA in a Test series and round off their tour at the event before flying home on Monday.
Rugby League Cares director Steve McCormack said the narrative behind the jersey was to pay respect to the land being visited and acknowledge the people of the land.
Now in its eighth year, it will bring together teams from PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, the Cocos Islands, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia.
The tournament and all its multicultural facets with colours of many nations – with free entry – runs from today until grand finals on Sunday afternoon.