Fox Sports has teamed up with Baker Boy and Josh Addo-Carr in Alice Springs to celebrate this year’s Indigenous Rounds – with the arrival of NRL Indigenous Round and the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round this week.
The national campaign that will air this week across Fox League and Fox Footy captured a traditional, yet modern atmosphere from Simpson’s Gap and the Parrtjima Light festival in Alice Springs.
The Melbourne Storm try-scoring sensation, Addo-Carr, and rising hip-hop artist Baker Boy, who was voted 2019 Young Australian of the Year, dance their way through the Red Centre amongst vision and special effects of the greatest Indigenous players of all time.
Rugby league Immortal Arthur Beetson, Greg Inglis, Matt Bowen, Preston Campbell and Latrell Mitchell all feature in the Fox League campaign with vision of their greatest moments on the field.
While big-name Indigenous AFL stars Buddy Franklin, Eddie Betts, Nicky Winmar and Bradley Hill all feature in the Fox Footy campaign ahead of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
St Kilda’s Bradley Hill features in the national campaign
Fox Sports executive director, Steve Crawley, said ”We wanted to do something special to get footy fans in the right mood for the week ahead, a true celebration of the amazing feats of our Indigenous players in the NRL and AFL.”
“Josh Addo-Carr is the type of player that makes you stand up everytime he touches the ball and paired with Baker Boy’s voice it makes for one very exciting combination.”
“We were lucky that the planets aligned, and we could get both at the same time in a very special location. Everyone who’s been involved in it on a production level, lead by Charlie Lambert, are all the best in the business.”
With Baker Boy tracks Meditjin and his new single Ride, a feel-good tone sings loudest in the promotional campaign.
Fox League presenter Hannah Hollis, a proud descendent of the Jawoyn people in the Northern Territory, was also involved in the project, travelling to Alice Springs to join Addo-Carr and Baker Boy at the Parrtjima Light Festival, which distributes the evolution of ancient story telling through new technology.
Baker Boy said “It’s been a huge honour to be a part of the campaign for the NRL and AFL Indigenous rounds! It was amazing to head up to Alice Springs to film this incredible promo, and to meet Josh, the whole experience just had a really special feeling, like we were making something pretty iconic. I grew up watching and playing both AFL and NRL so it’s a massive privilege to hear my music alongside some of the greats of both games, a real dream come true.
“It’s really important that we celebrate Indigenous rounds in sport, and really make an effort to highlight our incredible First Nations players not only for what they bring to the game, but also what they bring to the wider community. It’s all about showing the next generation that they can do it too!”
Josh Addo-Carr said “It was a great experience, great fella (Baker Boy), great bunch of girls (his dance team). I can’t wait to see the shake-a-leg.
“It’s so important. We are so disconnected to our culture in the outside world and just for the NRL to acknowledge the indigenous culture and what we’ve done for the game, it’s pretty special to be a part of.
“Growing up, as a kid, you always wanted to be a part of that. You might get another G.I (Greg Inglis) in a couple of years and you try to inspire kids to want to play in the Indigenous Round. It’s a great thing to be a part of.”