Thousands of people living in remote communities will get another opportunity to hear the call of AFL matches in traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language this weekend.
More than 50 remote communities and homelands will get another opportunity to hear the call of AFL matches in traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language when Yolngu Radio make the trip to Adelaide this weekend.
It follows the commentary team’s trip to Melbourne last weekend for the call of Dreamtime at the G during Sir Doug Nicholls Round which recognises and celebrates indigenous players and culture in the game.
The three-person commentary team called the match in Yolngu Matha, the local language in Arnhem Land and will this week call the Adelaide Crows and Brisbane Lions game in Arrernte language through the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association.
Tiwi locals and Northern Territory football greats Kevin Baxter and Laelia Dunn will join the Top End Aboriginal Bush Broadcasting Association to broadcast the Darwin match between Gold Coast Suns and the Western Bulldogs in traditional Tiwi language on Saturday night.
Proud Milingimbi woman Sylvia Nulpinditj, who made history last year as the first female commentator to call an AFL match in language, has been behind the mic alongside Yolngu Radio broadcasters William Gumbula and Baykali Ganambarr.
In their second year calling AFL footy, the team were supported by superstar Sydney forward Buddy Franklin at the MCG last weekend.
Commentator Sylvia Nulpinditj said she enjoyed the call with the team for the second year in a row.
“I think just to share the experience with William as a boundary commentator and Baykali, it was really deadly working with these young fellas,” Nulpinditj said.
“Myself as an experienced radio presenter, I had to look up to these young fellas for guidance and really work beside them.”
Yolngu Radio station manager Will Porter said he was moved by how far the team had come.
“We have been calling AFL games now since 2021 and the growth in the team over these last few years has been enormous,” Porter said.
“It should be something that everyone should be really proud of.”
Yolngu Radio creative producer Nicholas O‘Riley, who has travelled with the team, said it was powerful for the Indigenous communities to have AFL games called in their language.
“People this weekend will be able to sit at home and listen to their favourite game in their own language,” O‘Riley said on Katie Woolf’s Mix 104.9 on Thursday.
“It is not only important for them but it also puts first nations languages on the map to the rest of the country and says first nations languages are alive and well, and flying.”
Originally published as ‘It was really deadly’: Commentators relish AFL call in Indigenous language