Pooraka Football Club players kneel during nation anthem before Adelaide Footy League grand final

A local footy coach says he’s proud of his team for supporting three of its Indigenous players who knelt during the national anthem before their grand final win.

The Pooraka Football Club made a statement on the field in a 65-point grand final win on Saturday, but before the bounce its players made an even stronger one.

The Bulls – led by Indigenous players Matt and Ronald Rankine and Vivian Davey – knelt during the Australian National Anthem prior to the Adelaide Footy League decider because they did not feel it represented their people.

They would go on to beat Kenilworth 18.16 (124) to 9.5 (59) and claim the division-five premiership at Blair Athol Reserve.

Pooraka coach Shane Hickey said he was proud of the three players for having the courage to kneel and for the team to support them.

The three Indigenous Pooraka players were joined by their teammates in a moment of solidarity before the division-five grand final.

“We’ve made some really strong inroads culturally in our club in the past two years … a big part of that has been a lot of work in education around Indigenous culture,” Hickey said.

“That’s been spearheaded by our assistant coach Matt Rankine.

“He just mentioned leading into the game that he, his brother Ronny and cousin Viv – who are all Indigenous – were going to take a knee during the national anthem because they didn’t feel the national anthem represented their people.

“And whether the rest of us felt that was irrelevant, ultimately the playing group decided that this impacts three of our boys and we’re going to kneel as one and that’s what they did.

“I was really proud of them.”

Last year AFL players took a knee before matches in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

It followed some American athletes who have protested against racism and police brutality by kneeling during the US national anthem since 2016.

Pooraka's Matthew Rankine in action for the Bulls earlier this season. Picture: Christine Brown

Rankine with the South Adelaide Indigenous guernsey he designed in 2015. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Rankine – the older brother of Gold Coast Suns forward Izak Rankine – and his family are part of the Ngarrindjeri and Kokatha people.

In 2015 he designed an Indigenous-round guernsey for SANFL club South Adelaide, where he played from 2014 to 2018.

On Saturday, midfielder Rankine was one of Pooraka’s stars as it stormed home in the second half to win its first A-grade flag since 2010.

The Bulls led Kenilworth by four points at half-time before they kicked 12 goals to three in the next two quarters and recorded a rousing victory.

Rankine was one of four Bulls to boot three majors alongside Brad Batten, Bailey Wake and Michael Baker. His brother Ronald added two.

Leading all comers however was captain Frank Timpano, who was awarded the best on ground medal to go along with the division five best and fairest he claimed earlier in the week.

We've come up short across three grades. A-Grade - Final Score Kenilworth: 9.5 (59) Pooraka: 18.16 (124) Congratulations to Pooraka. Cheers to all our supporters for coming out. We'll be back. 🤎💙

Posted by Kenilworth Football Club on Saturday, September 11, 2021

Hickey said emotions were overwhelming following the match, particularly for players and club officials who experienced had experienced tougher times in 11 years between premierships.

“This is only my second year but for the guys who have been there for decades like (football director) Paul Dittmar and (chairman) Jope Vandermoer, who have helped the club out when its been on its knees, for them the past two days have been awesome, just to see them sit back with a smile on their face,” Hickey said.

For Kenilworth it was a tough day all-round.

The Kookaburras not only lost the A-grade grand final but also fell to Lockleys in both the reserves and C5 deciders.