The Wallabies will have Indigenous design on their regular jerseys starting from the South Africa test on Sunday to “celebrate and recognise First Nations peoples” in Australian rugby, the sport’s governing body said on Wednesday.
The design by artist Dennis Golding will be incorporated into the playing numbers on their jerseys for the Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks on the Gold Coast and in subsequent matches, Rugby Australia said.
“It will mark the first time an Australian representative team will bear both the coat of arms and a First Nations design in its primary playing strip,” RA said in a statement.
Australia already has an alternative Indigenous jersey with Golding’s artwork which was first worn in the 2017 win over New Zealand in Brisbane.
That jersey will be worn for the Rugby Championship test against Argentina in Townsville on Sept. 25. “To have the First Nations artwork now on our primary jersey is something incredibly special,” said Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.
“It was the players who had been advocating for the idea of a permanent First Nations addition, and I’m pleased we’ve been able to come up with a solution.”
Fourteen Indigenous Australians have played test rugby, including the celebrated Ella brothers. Utility back Kurtley Beale, who earned the last of his 92 caps at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, is the most recent Indigenous Australian to play for the Wallabies, though uncapped winger Andy Muirhead is in Rennie’s Rugby Championship squad.
“Having something like this on the jerseys on a weekly basis is a big step forward,” said ACT Brumbies’ Muirhead, an Aboriginal Australian, told reporters on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.
“That the boys can run out every week and display the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture is pretty special.”
