Harrigan Shield rivals Figtree and Mt Kembla will make Indigenous Round a regular part of their respective calendars after enjoying its maiden outing last weekend.
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The Crushers and Lowries went head to head at Noel Mulligan Oval, but not before observing a Welcome to Country and exchanging respective indigenous design jerseys.
It's a round both were set to observe last year before COVID intervened, with the clubs utilising their round-nine fixture to celebrate together.
"We want to raise the awareness of the local indigenous culture where we live and play," Figtree secretary Brett Ferguson said.
"We're not just doing it because the NRL does it, we're doing it with a genuine belief it's the right thing to do.
"We've got ties with Port [Kembla] juniors now and clearly Port is an area with rich indigenous tradition.
"We have an obligation to respect the culture of the place and obviously there's been a lot of great Indigenous footballers from our area as well.
"We've got [former player] Shannon Carlson who's designed it for us, we've got local artists, local people involved. We both run on shoe-string budgets, but we're doing it properly because we believe in it."
With plans to make it an annual event, Rod Broad from Mt Kembla said he hoped the initiative will expand across all grades and competition in the Illawarra Rugby League.
"For us it was about two things," Broad said.
"Obviously reconciliation. We're doing this together with non-indigenous people and we're acknowledging the history of Aboriginal players in rugby league in this country as well as the current and future players.
"No matter what division we're talking about, it's us leading the way in the Illawarra looking to be advocates for an [Illawarra] Indigenous All-Stars game.
"The other thing for us is that it's based around [respect for] the mountain.
"For the original custodians that occupied this part of country, it was a sacred site as an initiation ground for young men. We based our design on that, people coming together."