The Gold Coast SUNS in Perth visited one of the members of the SUNS family, the Kardinya SUNS Junior Football Club. 

The Kardy SUNS, as the club is affectionately known, are celebrating their 40^th year as a junior football club, and in 2019 have adopted the Gold Coast colours and playing strip for their football matches.

The word Kardinya is recognised as an Aboriginal word for sunrise and after a vote from the committee the Kardinya Cats became the Kardinya SUNS.

Gold Coast Assistant Coach Josh Drummond and midfielder Callum Ah Chee visited the club when the team was in Perth, with Drummond given the coin toss honours and Ah Chee the half-time speech responsibilities for one of Kardy’s matches on Saturday morning. 

There were players from Kardy at the Open Training session held at Optus Stadium and Ah Chee presented the club with a signed guernsey. 

The junior club recognised the work done by the Gold Coast SUNS through its Indigenous, Multicultural and Community Programs and saw an opportunity to participate in and promote that work in its own community. 

For the Kardy SUNS, it allows them to identify directly with an elite football club, with the aim of furthering junior football development and encouraging boys and girls to give AFL a try. 

For the Gold Coast, it means there is a junior club which becomes an advocate for the SUNS brand and supporters on the other side of the county, which is particularly important when the team comes to visit and play in Western Australia.

One lucky Kardy SUNS junior player, Oliver Geer, was able to run out with the team on Saturday night at Optus Stadium, with a brigade of players and families in the crowd cheering the SUNS on.

The Gold Coast SUNS are committed to growing the game at a community level, both locally, in North Queensland and also across the nation.  

The ability to form a partnership with a junior club like the Kardy SUNS, and our work within our local community helps the club work towards growing, engaging and cultivating local players and officials, and developing future SUNS players across men’s and women’s football.