Uncle Darren 'Dozer' Atkinson will perform a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony after the under-17 football and netball, with the players and supporters of the Bushrangers and visitors Chiltern invited to form a circle around the Bangerang traditional owner and his little dancers out on the ground.

Beechworth player Taylor Hampton will play his didgeridoo as the senior footballers and A-grade netballers run out for their matches on a day unlike anything the league has seen before.

Long-serving netballer Coby Surrey, a proud Aboriginal woman from the Gunditjmara mob, spoke of her excitement as she addressed the packed clubrooms after training on Thursday night.

"I feel very humbled that the club has decided to take this on," Surrey said.

"I hope we all can embrace it and acknowledge that a sporting place is a fantastic spot to start conversations because that's what this is all about.

"We need to start conversations, we need to acknowledge and recognise the history of our country and we need to all walk the journey together because we, as Aboriginal people, can't do this without all of you.

"As the country that we now call Australia, we have an incredible history and an incredible culture that we want everyone to embrace.

"We do this as adults but we do this because we've got little people, we've got lots of little Deadly Aboriginal people in this room tonight and we want them to grow up watching, walking and talking our culture, so that our culture stays forever."

In a huge show of support for the round, the Bushrangers have already sold almost 400 of the Indigenous singlets designed by Hampton, whose Wiradjuri father was born to Ngiyampaa parents.

"I didn't know much about my culture growing up," Hampton admitted.

"I knew that I was Aboriginal but to me, the term 'Aboriginal' was just a word.

"There wasn't a lot of education around it and my Dad never shared much.

"He was told never to speak his language, never to practice culture, that's just the way his family grew up, so he lost a lot of his culture and sense of identity.

"I had to move away (from West Wyalong) to find myself culturally, professionally and personally and it took me a little while to find out who I was as an Aboriginal man in a place where I didn't know many people but I slowly introduced myself to the Aboriginal community, to the elders and I was then able to start my journey to where I am now, talking about how proud I am.

"I want to be able to pass down my knowledge and my experiences to my kids as well as the kids I teach."

Hampton's design for the singlet incorporates the club as a meeting place, horse shoes representing the players and volunteers and symbols acknowledging the clubs Beechworth play against.

Saturday's opposition arrive top of the ladder and having won their last nine games, with Chiltern set to play their part in an event the Bushrangers hope will be adopted more widely across the TDFL in future.

"Words are one thing, actions are another," footballer and Mutthi Mutthi man Brent Ryan said.

"If this is a one-off, that's probably not making the change.

"It's going to be a continuing legacy at the club.

"We've raised some really good money for this round and that's going to build so we keep evolving to netball jerseys, football jerseys and inviting the Aboriginal community in (next year).

"You've got to start somewhere and the buy-in has been really good.

"As well as this year is going for the club, on and off field, something like this is equally if not more important.

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"A sporting club has the ability to drive change so it's a really exciting time to be at the Beechworth Football Netball Club.

"My Mum was the youngest of six, she grew up in a commission home and didn't have the environment to grow up strong in her culture.

"The fire in me to get into the Indigenous space was because Mum was a bit ripped off in her time so I wanted to learn and feed back to her."

The Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony are scheduled for 12.20pm.

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