Gold Coast captains Steven May and Tom Lynch will wear numbers #67 and #50 respectively for Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round this weekend, paying tribute to the 1967 Australian Referendum.
As the entire football community stands together to celebrate the 2017 Toyota AFL Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round, the club’s skippers will take their stand one step further, wearing the commemorative numbers when the SUNS meet Melbourne at Traeger Park on Saturday.
May will proudly carry #67 as the AFL celebrates 50 years since the 1967 referendum; when 90.77 per cent of Australians emphatically voted “Yes” for changes to the constitution which discriminated against Aboriginal people – the highest Yes vote ever recorded in a national referendum.
To further celebrate the historic day when Indigenous & non-Indigenous people came together, Lynch will also run out wearing No. 50 in a special club Guernsey designed by local Yugambeh man, Luther Cora, in consultation with the club’s six indigenous players in May, Brandon Matera, Jack Martin, Callum Ah Chee, Sean Lemmens and Jarrod Harbrow.
May is the only current Indigenous captain in the AFL - and the sixth indigenous player to captain a side – joining Adam Goodes, Gavin Wanganeen, Chris Johnson, Michael Long and Graham Farmer in the special group.
He welcomed the special #67 Guernsey and said it was a personal honour to carry the number and its strong relevance when he runs out onto the playing field this weekend.
“As a proud Indigenous Australian, I am delighted with what the AFL Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round represents for my people and our national game,” May said.
“It is an honour to play this weekend’s fixture wearing No. 67 on my back; it’s a significant moment in our nation’s history for all Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
“Personally, my ambition is to be the best possible leader for this football club and the city of Gold Coast, and also express strong aspirations to be a positive example for the Indigenous community both on and off the field.”
The Round also celebrates 25 years since the Mabo decision, named after Eddie Mabo, the man who challenged the Australian legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners of their land.
