Richmond and Rumbalara Football Netball Club will officially work together to help strengthen the talent pathway for Indigenous and multicultural footballers in northern Victoria.

Rumbalara has a proud history as an Indigenous-led sporting club based in Shepparton, a region which fits inside Richmond’s Next Generation Academy (NGA) zone. Richmond’s zone includes the Goulburn Murray, Bendigo, Sunraysia, and North Central areas of Victoria.

The partnership, which will assist in identifying and attracting the best young Indigenous and multicultural talent into Richmond’s NGA, while at the same time strengthening RFNC, was announced today.

Richmond’s General Manager – Football Talent Dan Richardson hoped the new partnership would further enhance Richmond’s community connections and most importantly create opportunities for young people.

“Naturally, we will continue our work with AFL Goulburn Murray, the entire Shepparton community and the broader Goulburn Valley region as part of our NGA program, but clearly a key element of establishing our presence is building partnerships with organisations such as Rumbalara,” Richardson said.

“Rumbalara’s success as an Indigenous football and netball club aligns it perfectly with the objectives of the NGA program, which aims to support participation growth at a grass roots level and then identify and nurture talented young Indigenous and multicultural boys and girls.

“Importantly, this partnership also identifies ways in which we can support Rumbalara and we have identified a number of opportunities to do that across both football and administration.

“Ultimately we look forward to working alongside Rumbalara to ensure we develop young players’ skills, fitness and professionalism and give them the best opportunity to succeed at the highest level."

Through Richmond’s centre for Indigenous youth, the Korin Gamadji Institute, the Club has already shown a strong commitment to supporting Indigenous youth.

Rumbalara President Paul Briggs was pleased to make the announcement.

“The Rumbalara Football and Netball Club is excited to help guide Richmond in recruiting talent from Rumba's recruiting grounds of northern Victoria,” Briggs said.

“At the same time, we are excited about the mutual benefits of professional development across both clubs.”