The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys will step out in style for Cowboys Deadly Choices Round (NRL Indigenous Round), wearing individually designed boots hand-painted by Indigenous boarding students from NRL Cowboys House.
The NRL players will run on to Queensland Country Bank Stadium wearing the unique footwear before the boots are auctioned after the game, with proceeds supporting the Cowboys Community Foundation.
The initiative will enable 13 remote communities – including locations across North and Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands – to be represented on the national stage.
Each player who runs out in a pair of Indigenous-inspired boots will have worked with the student designer to develop the unique artwork concept, with many of the players looking to incorporate their own Indigenous connections.
NRL Cowboys House player ambassador and Cowboys co-captain Reuben Cotter will carry his roots from Boigu and Darnley Island while Samuel McIntyre will have his totem – a shark, representing the Biripi people – on his playing boots.
The initiative symbolises the unity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and rugby league with each design carrying a distinct narrative and artistic representation of Indigenous culture, personalised to each player’s identity.
The Cowboys will also carry the Cooktown and Hopevale creation story of the giant Queensland groper who changed the languages into the game, with NRL Cowboys House Parent Bradley Michael’s ‘Nhinhinhi Gurra Bamawi Guugu’ design proudly featured on the playing jersey.
The Indigenous jerseys and boots will be available for bidding from 12pm, Saturday 25 May at cowboys.com.au/auction.
Managed by the Cowboys Community Foundation, the charity arm of the Cowboys, NRL Cowboys House is a joint initiative between the National Rugby League, North Queensland Cowboys, the Queensland Government and the Australian Government.
The House is a unique, culturally-safe boarding facility, removing distance as a barrier to quality secondary education for Indigenous students from some of Australia's most remote and geographically disadvantaged communities.
