GQ Australia featured Rumbalara FNC in their September/October 2020 edition, with guest editor Adam Briggs.
Sport has long held a cherished place in Aussie culture. But for some teams, it’s about more than what happens on the field. We look at Victoria’s iconic Rumbalara Football Netball Club, its history as the spiritual home of Aussie Rules, and its continued presence as an enduring anchor for the local community.
What do we think about, when we think about Aboriginal football? The enduring image (let’s face it, the cliché) comes from the Outback. Bare feet on red dirt. Kids in a remote community, chasing a Lyrebird to the boundary of the desert horizon.
Strange then, that the history of Aboriginal Australian rules football, like the history of Australian rules football itself, starts such a long way inside the Barassi line. It was born in cold country, not dry country, in the river lands of regional Victoria and the New South Wales border.
