Pilbara-based West Coast Eagles staff Brendon Daily and Claudia Bailey were joined by WAFL Eagle Alec Waterman and Community Program and Content Officer Dylan Maynard from Perth to support match proceedings, identify talented players and engage with communities from across the region.
This year’s Martu Youth Festival was held in Punmu, with another six communities making the long journey through the Western Desert to compete in both a football and softball tournament.
With matches running from as early as 10am to as late as 5pm and players often playing multiple games a day, both competitions were close but ultimately the week ended with Punmu winning the softball and Nullagine staying undefeated throughout to win the football.
Ngurra Kujungka Program Manager Mike McMonigal highlighted what the Martu Youth Festival means to the communities in the region and the importance of having them all come together.
“It’s wonderful to see all the communities coming together in a joyful way. There are other reasons why communities come together, and this is a very positive coming together so it’s great,” McMonigal said.
“The festival is very important to the Martu communities, it’s really an annual marquee event for the Martu.
We run it on the school holidays which enables families to make the long trip out here to Punmu and spend the week in community and enjoy the football, softball and other activities that take place throughout.”
“It’s wonderful to see all the preparation and planning, the months of work coming to fruition with a wonderful five days of sport, so we’re excited and we can share that excitement with organisations like the West Coast Eagles, Swan Districts and Softball WA.”
“It’s really a unique opportunity for us to be invited up here at this Martu event; it’s not a public event so I and all the NK guests feel very privileged to be attending the carnival.”
From updating the scoreboard during matches, to serving breakfast for kids in the morning, Eagles staff undertook several roles to help the carnival run as smoothly as possible, whilst keeping a close eye on talented players as part of the club’s Naitanui Academy program.
Newman Youth Engagement Coordinator Brendon Daily described the carnival as a money-can’t-buy-experience, and added how significant it is for the regional communities to see the Eagles staff engaging carnival’s activities.
“The communities have a great passion for sport and in particular football so I think for them to be able to see us and have a regular presence around is really important from a community engagement point-of-view,” he said.
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside other members of the Community team and work in conjunction with Ngurra Kujungka to put on a great show for the community and give them their opportunity to shine.”
The club works closely alongside NK through a variety of means within the Pilbara region with 2023 being the fourth year the club has attended the festival, further strengthening the relationship with the Western Desert.
The club's two Pilbara staff members work closely with NK to both facilitate and support different events with similar goals in mind.
“It’s great to work alongside NK as key partners in Newman. Like the club they’ve got a lot of community focus goals that they’re chasing, and they’ve got a lot of contacts within the community that can also leverage what we’re trying to do as well.
I think to be able to work together with them is just a great partnership,” Daily said.
Regional Programs Manager James Grabski praised all staff involved with supporting the Martu Youth Festival and emphasised the significant relationship between the club and NK through various work throughout the region.
“The West Coast Eagles are proud of our long-standing community partnership with Ngurra Kujungka and Martu communities. For more than a decade, our relationship has been underpinned by our mutual objective to provide enhanced opportunities for Martu people, and in particular youth, to achieve their aspirations in sport and in life.
This has included hosting dedicated curtain raiser matches such as the Western Desert Shield in Perth, as well as ongoing and active support of the annual Martu Youth Festival in community.”
“More recently, our Pilbara-based community and game development staff have continued to collaborate with Ngurra Kujungka to integrate participants from the remote Western Desert communities into town-based programs, events and activities, with the aim to offer incremental steps that support playing and pathway opportunities, in a culturally safe environment.”
“Making the game and our community and game development programs more accessible to remote Western Australians is central to our regional strategy and having our club’s role models actively connected to and engaged with the community, both on and off-country is extremely important in
achieving this.”
The West Coast Eagles would like to thank the Martu elders and communities as well as Ngurra Kujungka for allowing staff the opportunity to be part of this wonderful event.
