The Northern Districts Tigers takes pride in being inclusive all year round.
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But this Saturday the AFL South Coast side plans on celebrating the fact and will hold its own Inclusion Round at Hollymount Oval.
As part of its festivities the Tigers will support and try to raise funds and other essential items for the Homeless Hub and the South Coast Disabled Surfers Association.
During the day Tigers players will also wear rainbow socks during their games to highlight and show respect for Pride Round.
Northern Districts Australian Football Club president Leigh Forsyth said there would be three arms to the Inclusion Round.
"We've decided to wrap a whole lot of our club's interest into one special day," he said.
"The Inclusion Round is the whole picture.
"We've got the Homeless Hub, who we've been associated with for a number of years.
"Clearly, there's a huge problem with the homeless everywhere, but specifically in the Illawarra. We work with [Homeless Hub CEO] Mandy [Booker] with donations and that sort of stuff, doing collections to help out there.
"We've also been working hand in glove for a number of years with the Disabled Surfers Association.
"We take great delight in volunteering and giving the disabled folk an opportunity to get into the surf and do some swimming and some surfing. That's been very rewarding for everyone at our club.
"Then the AFL every year has a Pride Round, which is obviously for the LGBTQA+ community. We embrace that and we've got a number of people within the club who identify in that space, so we are happy to promote that.
"All together we're basically saying the club's a good family club, anyone's welcome regardless of what their interests and their gender or whether they're able or disabled, it doesn't matter, they're welcome here anytime."
Should the ground dry up and the council giver the go ahead the Tigers will play three games on Saturday.
The division one men's side will play Wollongong Bulldogs from 10.30am, with the women's premier division and men's premier division Tigers teams playing the Kiama Power at 12.30pm and 2.10pm respectively.
"Both the Bulldogs and Power are on board and fully supportive of what we're doing, which we appreciate," Forsyth said.
"The plan on the day includes having a lot of collection bins all around the ground for the homeless hub. They're obviously looking for nonperishable foods in particular, clean underwear, toiletries and all that sort of stuff.
"We've also got donations that we'll have throughout the day through our canteen for both the Homeless Hub and Disabled Surfers.
"Some years ago we were able to sponsor a beach wheelchair. Hopefully we can raise enough money on the day to be able to support them with some equipment that they'll need to keep that ticking over.
"With the Pride Round all our players will be wearing rainbow socks, in acknowledgement of that.
"Then we've also got some of the disabled surfers who we'll have tossing the coins at the start of each of the games, which they've done in the past, and they really get a kick out of that.
"We hope a lot of people come along and are generous with their donations, whether it be a monetary one or for goods for the homeless?
"And hopefully the weather's like now and it'll be a great day."
Wollongong Homeless Hub CEO Mandy Booker thanked the Tigers for supporting the charity for the past five years.
"We're happy to run a charity fundraiser for our food donations on the day. We will bring our outreach vans at the ground just to show the community what they're supporting and how they can get involved with us in the future," she said.
"We have people in crisis accommodation and family homes that are struggling at the moment and can't meet their bills.
"People are coming in for food support in the dozens at the moment.
"It is just really great that the community is coming together and together we can actually make a difference."
The Disabled Surfers Association South Coast were also happy to be involved in the Tigers' Inclusion Round festivities, the group's president Ian Picton said.
"They've been sending their volunteers to our events for 24 years so we try to help them out when we can as well," he said.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
