Donning their new Indigenous-inspired football guernseys, Round 15 of the Division 3 Heidelberg Golf Club Seniors saw the Kilmore Blues take on Heidelberg West for their annual NAIDOC round.
Designed by Taungurung Uncle Mick Harding of Ngarga Warendj, the new design features a light blue Bunjil soaring across the front of the guernsey, with accompanying geometric patterns, lines, and shapes.
In a statement to the Kilmore Football Netball Club, Uncle shared the significance of the design.
“Taungwurrung is one of the language groups of the Eastern Kulin Nation. Birds hold an important place in the creation stories of these groups. The most important of the birds being Bunjil, the Wedge Tailed Eagle – Our Creator -, and Waang the Crow – Our Protector. Bunjil and Waang are the totems of approximately 70 clans of the Eastern Kulin Nation,” he said.
After Uncle presented a Welcome to Country and concluded a speech to avid listeners, the Blues proudly ran out onto the oval and the game was on.
With the field covered in a light wash of rain, the cold and misty conditions made for a slippery start to the first quarter, with players sliding and fumbling for the ball several times throughout the play.
Nevertheless, the Blues kicked off the scoring with a goal at the three-minute mark, keen to sink their teeth into the game. Managing to keep the play at their side of the field, it seemed as if Kilmore would score back-to-back goals when they attempted a kick a few minutes later, but their second attempt proved unfruitful, and the team only managed a behind.
Not wanting Kilmore to make another attempt, the Eagles then took hold of the ball, kicking a series of back-to-back behinds broken up only by a point from Kilmore and a goal of their own, before scoring their final goal for the quarter at the 21-minute mark. With the score sitting 8-16, it was looking like the Eagles would end the quarter boasting a double of the Blue’s score, but a kick from the home team two minutes later sailed through the goal posts, and the quarter finished with a close 14-16 showing on the scoreboard.
The second quarter was a walk in the park for the Blues, if that walk was actually a run and that park was actually a slippery field, who kicked a pattern of goal-behind-goal-behind for the entire play. Not once letting the Eagles hold the ball long enough to score a goal, let alone a single behind, the Blues closed the first half of the game at 47-16 and came off the field quietly confident, ready to recap and warm up before the second half began.
From the ball up in the third quarter, it took the Blues all of two seconds to kick a behind. Though a single point, this was kicked much to the dismay of the Eagles who saw the Blue’s quick scoring as a threat, and thus proceeded to make several attempts to get the ball back to their side of the field. Kicking a behind and a goal, the Eagles tried desperately to even the score, but the Blues wouldn’t have it and kicked three consecutive goals to raise the stakes 66-23.
Despite a grim score, the Eagles wouldn’t let the quarter finish without one final attempt, and just before the siren managed a single behind to bring the score up 66-24.
Notwithstanding a disappointing end close in sight, the Eagles looked determined as they marched back onto the field for the final play, set on shifting the game in their favour.
It was back and forth between the teams for the better half of the last quarter, with the Blues and Eagles trading behinds in quick succession. A goal from each of the teams near the midway mark saw the Eagle’s score jump to 32, but the Blues continued to hold strong with their 74-point score.
Still, the Eagles battled on, not yet ready to give in and not yet ready to lose to a defeating score. Their game plan now was perhaps not so much as to score, but to keep the Blues – arguably the clear winners of the game by now – from delivering a crushing blow.
A successful game plan for the Eagles, the Blue’s final three attempts at goals were blocked by the away side, instead soaring through as behinds. With just a few minutes left of the game, the crowd watched on as the Eagles repeated their last-ditch efforts of the third quarter by kicking a final goal just before the siren.
But it wasn’t enough to bring the score close, and much to the delight of the local crowd, the scoreboard showed 77-39 in favour of the Blues, who now sit seventh on the ladder.
Across the grounds, the Old Paradians ruthlessly defeat Reservoir 137 (20.17) to 13 (1.7), while Ivanhoe narrowly lost to Old Eltham Collegians (46) 7.4 to (52) 7.10, and the Fitzroy Stars beat Mernda 55 (8.7) to 24 (3.6).
This weekend Kilmore will take on third place holders Mernda at Waterview Reserve.
