St Joseph's Nudgee College

June 15, 2011

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A group of St Joseph’s Nudgee College students participated in a cultural exchange Aussie Rules game with a visiting Tiwi Islands team recently.

The Nudgee College team consisted of several of the College’s Indigenous students as well as some U15 AFL players.

“I was approached for the game by Greg McMahon, a teacher at Narangba Valley State High School which is an AFL School of Excellence,” said Coach Mr John Stackpoole.

“Annually, he organises a group of Under 15 AFL players from the Tiwi Islands, a nursery for many top AFL players, to visit his school. As we have a large Indigenous population at Nudgee College, he approached me to arrange a game against these boys.”

The match, which was held at Zillmere, received strong support from AFL Queensland who moved other activities off the oval on the night. After the game all involved enjoyed a barbeque and a chance to spend some informal time with the other students.

Nudgee College has a number of boys from the Tiwi Islands and surrounding areas currently at the College. Some of these students participated in the match which finished in a narrow defeat for Nudgee College.

"The other team was very quick out of the blocks and were in front by a couple of goals after only a few minutes," said Mr Stackpoole.

"The Nudgee College boys did really well to come back and were narrowly beaten by a late goal in the dying stages of the match," he said.

The visiting Tiwi College students spent a week in South East Queensland as part of the AFL and cultural immersion. In addition to games against Narangba and Nudgee College, the group also travelled to Cherbourg and Gympie for more games and a leadership camp before attending the Brisbane Lions vs Sydney Swans game at the Gabba.