Proud Bangerang women Aunty Neva Takele and daughter Dede Atkinson have created the designs, which feature elements representing the different roles of men and women in Indigenous culture.
“I designed the whole jumper and Dede does all the fine detail,” Aunty Neva said.
“We work together, collaboratively, to bring out a design that everyone loves.”
The football jumper, which depicts spears, shields and the local communities, tells the story of men going to war.
“Men carried the spears, to either hunt or to go to war, and they also carried the shields,” Aunty Neva said.
“The shield is on the back, and on the back is also the communities that we represent, Echuca, Moama and all other outlying communities here. The shield (represents) the men always protecting the communities.
“On the front is the spears, there's three different spears, one for fishing, one for killing animals, and one for war. They always took the spears with them whenever they went out to war.
“Moama goes out every week and goes to war with another footy team to win.”
The netball dress features a separate design, which tells the story of Indigenous women, featuring bush foods, the Murray River and a fire.
“It represents women exclusively, because they're the netballers,” Aunty Neva said.
“(The design shows) the women sitting around a bushfire with their bush foods. The bush tomato, the red tomatoes, and the witchetty grubs were a lot of the foods they used to eat.
“They lived on the rivers, the river is the life source. The kangaroos and emus were what the men hunted, but the women sitting around the campfire, that symbol represents women.
“The food is in the coolamons that they carried, the wooden bowls, which were cut out of trees. Trees are very important in Aboriginal culture, because that's where all of our tools came from.”
Moama assistant coach Jye Warren, who is Indigenous, is thrilled to be given the opportunity to represent his culture and community on the football field.
Despite growing up in Numurkah, with his family originating from the Werribee and Geelong areas, Warren described the opportunity to represent the Echuca-Moama community through the jumper as a “privilege”.
“To be able to represent this community in such a special time is such a privilege,” he said.
“My young fella was born here, and he's been lucky enough to be involved with community with Berrimba, and he does a lot of cultural things with the teachers there.
“It just means the world, we haven't done it in the Murray league yet, so to be part of it on the actual day is going to be special.
“There's probably so many words that I can describe the feeling that I've got right now, it's just so special to be able to run out in this jumper from Neva and Dede and be able to represent Moama.”
It will be the first time Moama has hosted an Indigenous round, and every grade of football and netball from juniors right through to seniors will be wearing Neva and Dede’s design.
In further celebration of Indigenous culture, Damien Saunders will be performing a Welcome to Country ceremony prior to the start of the seniors football.
Warren, who made his return to the field from injury last week, said the senior football side would continue to focus on the here and now, rather than finals.
The Magpies sit third on the ladder, one game outside of the top two, with four games and a bye still to play.
"We don't set too many unrealistic goals, I guess,” he said.
“We are concentrating on Deni this week, which is going to be a hard game. They're always tough, especially on our ground, they've got some really big bodies.
“We've just got to really step up, take the contest. The last time we played it was a tough game, there was a few sore bodies and there are a few sore bodies this week, but hopefully we looked after them.
“They've got a few Indigenous boys playing for them as well which is important, and they've got some great talent there, so it's going to be a cracker.”
Following the seniors game, the Echuca Moama Rockets will also be in action, playing an exhibition match against the Mazenod Panthers, a FIDA side from Melbourne.
The first bounce in the senior football is set for 2pm, at the conclusion of the Welcome to Country ceremony.
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