The story behind the Sydney Kings Indigenous jersey

In celebration of the NBL’s Indigenous Round, the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have released the details of the 2022 Indigenous jersey design. 

The design was created by Stewart James, a Wiradjuri Man of the Narrandera Murrumbidgee River People. 

James recently spoke with Kings media to discuss the design and meaning behind his art which features on our Indigenous jerseys.

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The Kings will wear it first on Sunday, March 6 at 2.45pm at Qudos Bank Arena against the Cairns Taipans for our Indigenous Round home game. 

The jersey prominently shows ‘EORA’ (pronounced E-or-a). This is the Indigenous name for the area where the Kings train and play home games. 

“The Eora nation is made up of a number of clan groups within the Sydney Basin area,” James said. 

The centrepiece of the art is the white meeting circle, which is behind the player’s number. James explained how these are representative of meeting places. 

“The inner part of the artwork symbolises the story that echoes this deep legacy,” he said. 

“The white journey lines that connect to the centre meeting place symbol, channel all the strength and energy of those people and players from the past and present. The ‘U’ shaped symbols represent the people who continue to share the stories and ensure the legacy and the knowledge continues to move forward.” 

On the jersey, the borders of the design are represented through the dot designs and lines that start from the neck and reach down to the bottom of the jersey.

James explained these borders contain all the knowledge of past and present people. 

“The ancestral part of passing on knowledge. The reason it looks like a boundary is because that’s what it represents,” he said.

"Take the stadium for an example, there are people sitting in the rows. Each row is another layer of information, a layer of people passing on information; much like the rings on a tree. 

“That all centres back to the centrepiece, that they will wear on the night and take out on the court.” 

The colours used in the design are meaningful to Indigenous people, the iconic red sand of Australia is represented in the red orche displayed across the art promptly.

“It was a very important thing for ceremonial things,” James said.

“So given this is a pretty big event, it was an important colour to use for Aboriginal art. But also, that colour is a strong identity for Aboriginal people.” 

The yellow, white and black also have a rich history with Indigenous culture, James explained. 

“The black, red and yellow flag is iconic to Aboriginal culture, but our traditional colours were red orches, yellow orches, white orches and charcoal for black.”

The jersey’s primary shade is black, particularly charcoal black. It was picked to differentiate the Indigenous jerseys from the Kings’ traditional purple, gold or white. James explained that the charcoal colour is a key piece of Indigenous culture and it being the primary feature of the jersey was important.

The Kings will take on the Cairns Taipans on Sunday, March 6 at 2.45pm at Qudos Bank Arena. Get your tickets here. 

The Kings’ Indigenous jersey will go on sale via our store https://shop.sydneykings.com.au/ on Tuesday, February 22 

VIEW THE KINGS MEMBERSHIP PACKAGES HERE 

WATCH EPISODE THREE OF ‘BUILDING THE KINGDOM’ HERE