Help our Deadly Dhagaans get to the Knockout

Only a few short weeks ago, a group of like-minded parents of young indigenous rugby league players were looking for a way for our boys to take part in the NSW Annual Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout Carnival. Soon after, as the idea of representing their region in such a prestigious event took hold in the hearts of our youth and word began to spread and the 'Deadly Dhagaans' Indigenous Corporation was born.

Every year the NSW Annual Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout Carnival is held during the October long weekend, this event brings over 100,000 people from all over NSW to celebrate their cultural diversity, good sportsmanship and friendly rivalry. The event is widely known and is covered by many forms of media, such as NITV and various indigenous newsletters and social media.

The 'Deadly Dhagaans' Indigenous Corporation was formed to allow the younger indigenous rugby players in the region of Tamworth NSW a chance to play in and experience the NSW Annual Aboriginal Rugby Knockout event in October this year. Until now only a very few established clubs would select a player or two from our region who would then have to travel to meet training obligations and end up playing in the event alongside others they have barely had then the chance to meet. It is our hope with 'Deadly Dhagaans' to enter Tamworth based teams formed from our amazingly talented youth, not only offering them the chance to play in the Knockout but also the opportunity to train, play and grow not only as a team but as young adults and future leaders of our community. This is an experience that our boys will carry with them forever!

As of the time of me writing this we have enough players interested and eager to enter 2 teams into this year’s Knockout, an under 15's side and an under 17's side. With your help we can make this dream a reality. Our boys would love to proudly represent our region in this prestigious event and help promote positive mental awareness among the indigenous youth of the area.

All of these young men play for the various local teams and League is their passion and for many their dream, but for many of them the expense of traveling to join teams from other regions rules out the possibility.

Due to the recent and ongoing COVID pandemic, and the new nature of our club, finding sponsors to help fund our dream has been challenging. We are immensely grateful for the generous donations for fundraising received from the local community thus far but we still have a ways to go before our dream can become reality. Which is why we need your help.

Every dollar raised in this fundraiser goes straight into the team, to purchase the uniforms for the teams to wear during the knockout, to purchase training equipment and venue hire to prepare our boys and most importantly to help fund the travel and accommodation to get our boys down to the south coast for the big event.

We thank you for taking the time to read this!

Deadly Dhagaans Indigenous Corporation Committee.