News Walyalup Football Club

[Snuffaluphagus]

I'm in a tricky spot here team, please do your best not to plummet this into a politics thread. Square Peg has a point where it's nothing but positives on here but I get wanting to discuss numpties on facebook. Lets at least stick the conversation to this particular piece of news and avoid heading down the typical talking points in Australia Day and The Constitution.

 

[Square Peg]

You and I often see eye to eye in many things - but I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one - on two points:

1) as the person who introduced the Australia Day stat into the discussion I did so as a direct reply to a question ON THIS FORUM as to why people were reacting negatively in other areas of social media. I was merely replying to a question posed here, not elsewhere.

2) because I think the matter of renaming the footy club for indigenous round and the public response to that is directly related to the debate about Australia Day - in that it is challenging a modern convention (i.e. the name of our club) and seeking to change it in order to show respect to our First Nations community.

I would also pick you up on your conviction that I called 36% of the population racist. I certainly didn’t - I implied 36% of the population are either racist or ignorant (and I actually believe it’s far more of the latter). The beauty of things like renaming our footy club for a couple of rounds is that over time there will be less and less ignorant people.

I'd be happy to post in depth about areas I have a different view from you too, but not in this thread please, I agree with snuffs banner post

 

[oldgoat]

I think in a world where alot of companies have seen the financial benefit in so-called "woke" branding and marketing stunts, there's a part of society that's really turned off by that sort of thing. Of course that's no reason for them to act like a dick about it. It's the bare minimum and hurts no one and at the very least the Club backs it up by their other activities. Some people will just always find a reason to complain unfortunately.

Personally I dont care for this branding and several others amongst our sponsors but for now I am sucking it up.

I am hugely proud to be associated with, arguably, the competitions leading club in embracing indigenous participation!

Yokai Walyalup!

 

[Rob]

I think you're missing the point a bit. This whole thing is an effort to better appreciate the identity and heritage of the club, not supplant it.

The club was founded, trains, and plays on the lands of the first nations people of the Perth region. We have a really special tradition of indigenous engagement and this only adds to that tapestry.

This country is inching along a continuing journey of reconciliation with the first people on this land and this is a small but important step/contribution to that journey. We've come from a situation where those people were officially considered to be animals in our constitution, to a place where major sporting organisations will willingly re-brand in recognition of the place of aboriginal Australians in our culture.

That's all great, but nobody actually calls Fremantle "Walyalup", indigenous people included. As I understand it, it's an old word given to an area close to where Fremantle lies today, so it doesn't even translate to Fremantle. It's like if we changed our name to Cockburn Sound or something like that.

For a sporting club, identity matters, and I just reckon this weakens it a bit.

 

[BarbieITFC]

I'd be happy to post in depth about areas I have a different view from you too, but not in this thread please, I agree with snuffs banner post

Agree - I'll delete my posts as this should remain a celebration thread

 

[Schauermann]

I like it.

 

[Square Peg]

Agree - I'll delete my posts as this should remain a celebration thread

I'll do the same in the spirit of celebration

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

That's all great, but nobody actually calls Fremantle "Walyalup", indigenous people included. As I understand it, it's an old word given to an area close to where Fremantle lies today, so it doesn't even translate to Fremantle. It's like if we changed our name to Cockburn Sound or something like that.

For a sporting club, identity matters, and I just reckon this weakens it a bit.

The more people who know the original name, the more they are likely to call it that - which is entirely the point. Even if this helps educate a few more peopel about the significance of Freo's original, first-nations name (or thereabouts) that is a positive step. It'll get conversations going. People thinking about what significance we should place on colonial names that have existed for ~200 years in comparison to first nation's names which have likely existed for 10-100x longer than that.

And besides, the club isn't even based in Freo anymore, so we don't really have as much of an identity there other than we were founded there. If anything, this helps strengthen/reconnect us to our place of origin.

 

[arsesmart]

Well this is seemingly an unpopular opinion but I reckon it's meaningless. Fremantle is our identity and heritage which is not just since 1995, and to cast it aside for a name that nobody even uses for what is likely to be no tangible benefit just seems utterly pointless.

I remember back in the day when there was talk of us moving to the WACA and dropping the Fremantle name it was met with widespread condemnation. This seems to be the same sort of thing.

I won't lose any sleep over it, but excuse me if I'm not as excited as many of you are pretending to be. Happy for anyone to try and convince me otherwise.

It's the place more than the name. Walyalup comes from a culture with much longer presence in the place than any European echoes and transplanted names.

Embracing culture and the names may make small ripples initially, but small is often the way wider attitude change starts and momentum builds to acceptance.

 

[Wobbly Punt]

Well this is seemingly an unpopular opinion but I reckon it's meaningless. Fremantle is our identity and heritage which is not just since 1995, and to cast it aside for a name that nobody even uses for what is likely to be no tangible benefit just seems utterly pointless.

I remember back in the day when there was talk of us moving to the WACA and dropping the Fremantle name it was met with widespread condemnation. This seems to be the same sort of thing.

I won't lose any sleep over it, but excuse me if I'm not as excited as many of you are pretending to be. Happy for anyone to try and convince me otherwise.

Although we aren't in agreement on the issue overall I was interested in your view and then you went with the bolded bit.

Like those who said in the preseason training thread their view is more realistic simply because its more negative, there's a special sort of arrogance involved when you dismiss someone's view the way you have based on no facts and just opinion. Hopefully it's just a poor choice of words and not a real opinion.

I'm interested in why someone would have a different view to mine, I don't think they're dumber than me because they hold it and nor do I think they're faking a different view for effect.

No matter the view I'd say it's better to play the ball and not the man.

 

[Falconista]

In the WAFL, Swan Districts renamed the respective ends of Bassendean Oval 'Derbal Yerrigan' (Swan River end) and 'Boorloo' (Perth city end). I would love to see our club do that at Optus Stadium. Not sure the geography quite lines up but the sw end could become known as the Walyalup end so the name is recognised each home matchday.

 

[Purple Jesus]

That's all great, but nobody actually calls Fremantle "Walyalup", indigenous people included. As I understand it, it's an old word given to an area close to where Fremantle lies today, so it doesn't even translate to Fremantle. It's like if we changed our name to Cockburn Sound or something like that.

For a sporting club, identity matters, and I just reckon this weakens it a bit.

It's 2 games a year If I'm right? 2/52.

I don't think we'll forget that we're Fremantle in that time.

 

[Fyfster]

It's 2 games a year If I'm right? 2/52.

I don't think we'll forget that we're Fremantle in that time.

Agreed 100% Melbourne led the way last year With Naarm I think it was , great initiative from a club with a short history but a proud First Nations history .
Well done Freo .
I am all for it and for the record am a boomer , So we can be progressive thinkers contrary to popular belief.

 

[Pusswah]

Love the way the motion of the crocodile swimming is captured, and i'm not usually an art type person.
Beautifully done.

 

[coldlunch]

Love it, but genuinely wonder what goes through the minds of people that laugh react it on Facebook... you don't want to call them racist, but what's wrong with celebrating first nations culture?

I see this as a fantastic initiative with no downside, I love it, I feel positive about it, and I'm proud of Fremantle for doing it, yet those people exist... so am I missing something here?

just a knee jerk contrarian response from people drawn in by the usual reactionary grifters who've made media careers out of stoking a culture war, moaning about anything remotely progressive or empathetic being 'virtue signalling' by the woke, acting as if their values and beliefs are being threatened when the reality is they believe in and stand for nothing.

 

[Descent]

My only gripe is that the commentators will struggle to say it and end up calling us “Waly”

 

[Taylor]

My only gripe is that the commentators will struggle to say it and end up calling us “Waly”

It will be made very important to pronounce it correctly because saying it wrong will be seen to be insulting or otherwise not taking it seriously and therefore racist. They will all practice it like cricket commentators before a world cup game against a sub continent side.

 

[Wobbly Punt]

For those who asked I spoke to an Uncle (by marriage) of mine last night who is a Whadjuk man on how to pronounce Walyup. He laughed along at all the ways we're hearing it at the moment and especially at how said it first up "I taught you better than that my boy" . I think I heard 3-4 different ones last night in the media.

Unfortunately it is hard for me to get it across in text but I'll try here for those that asked.

It's kind of a 2 syllable thing. As he said to me "think of how fast us black fellas talk in language". In his pronunciation he pronounced the "Wal" part as you'd say the word pal (as in mate) or the name Hal. After that it was a very quick "ee-up" . The "ee" being very quick. Emphasis was on the first syllable.

Waleeup with a very quick pass on the ee. As I say, almost 2 syllables.

The word itself is not only indicative of the area but also of a "kangaroo rat" type creature that used to be abundant in the area before the British came.

Hopefully we get it right by the time the game comes around. It'd be good for the Club to put someone like Roger Hayden

Roger Hayden

Age

43

Ht

182cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.9

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.4

3star

K

5.2

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

0.8

3star

or Richard Walley up on the site breaking it down and demonstrating it for those of us who are interested and definitely as a reference for the media.

 

[SiempreFreo]

Love it!

How is it pronounced?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Years ago as part of a Festival event, choirs, dancers etc. put on performance at the beach at Freo/Walyalup. There was specially-composed music about "Walyalup" which we were told to pronounce WOL-ya-lup (emphasis on first syllable).

 

[Quazar]

Really cool, fully endorsed....big part of the club's heritage, not to mention the land. Also really befitting now Pearce is officially the Caps

 

[SiempreFreo]

For those who asked I spoke to an Uncle (by marriage) of mine last night who is a Whadjuk man on how to pronounce Walyup. He laughed along at all the ways we're hearing it at the moment and especially at how said it first up "I taught you better than that my boy" . I think I heard 3-4 different ones last night in the media.

Unfortunately it is hard for me to get it across in text but I'll try here for those that asked.

It's kind of a 2 syllable thing. As he said to me "think of how fast us black fellas talk in language". In his pronunciation he pronounced the "Wal" part as you'd say the word pal (as in mate) or the name Hal. After that it was a very quick "ee-up" . The "ee" being very quick. Emphasis was on the first syllable.

Waleeup with a very quick pass on the ee. As I say, almost 2 syllables.

The word itself is not only indicative of the area but also of a "kangaroo rat" type creature that used to be abundant in the area before the British came.

Hopefully we get it right by the time the game comes around. It'd be good for the Club to put someone like Roger Hayden or Richard Walley up on the site breaking it down and demonstrating it for those of us who are interested and definitely as a reference for the media.

Thanks for update on my post, WP. As above we kind of slurped the last 2 syllables but said the first as 'Wol' instead of your advised 'Wal'.

Waleeup it is!

 

[Rob]

It's 2 games a year If I'm right? 2/52.

I don't think we'll forget that we're Fremantle in that time.

I guess we just disagree on how important the Fremantle name is to the club. I'd have the same opinion if we were to change our name to Woodside Dockers or Starlight Dockers for 2 weeks.

 

[Purple Jesus]

I guess we just disagree on how important the Fremantle name is to the club. I'd have the same opinion if we were to change our name to Woodside Dockers or Starlight Dockers for 2 weeks.

The Fremantle name isn’t going anywhere. This is an odd argument.

 

[DQ 4EVER]

This has even more significance now that our captain is an indigenous man


On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Stinky Lomax]

Ive always wanted use this one & it seems apt here.
I really don’t see how you can argue with the gesture of recognition.

 

[Retzlaff]

This completely ruins our first premiership season. I for one will take no joy in seeing Alex Pearce

25

Alex Pearce

Age

29

Ht

201cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.6

3star

K

5.2

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.8

4star

MG

106.3

2star

No current season stats available

D

11.0

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

6.0

4star

M

4.4

4star

T

0.8

3star

MG

103.2

2star

lift the cup on the podium this September