GWABA Football Carnival Organiser James Wallam (07.10.2026)

Mark Duffield (0:00)

Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium, Wednesday morning in Perth. This is Duff and the Doctor coming to you, thanks to Black Line, that is BLAK Line, Aboriginal owned business, delivering signage, print, promotional products, and creative services with cultural integrity and impact. Doctor Sean Gorman with me in the studio, and we have on the line James Wallam, the organizer of the Guava Football Carnival down in Bunbury. They play for the Sid Jackson Cup. It's quite a remarkable competition, this. They play it at the end of every season. They get big names from the AFL, from the Waffle, from a lot of different competitions, rolling up to play in the competition. And we'll talk to James about some of the names that played in this year's competition in a minute. But first, let's introduce him. James Wallam, welcome.

James Wallam (0:52)

Good morning, how you going, guys?

Mark Duffield (0:54)

Very well. James, this is a remarkable carnival, given some of the people you get to participate in this. So my understanding is that Cosi Pickett played this year, Liam Ryan played, Willie Rioli played.

I think I saw a picture of Shay Bolton playing for one of the teams as well. Lawson Humphreys turned out, Lance Collard, Taryn Thomas, Tyler Brockman. How do you get these guys along to play in a community competition like this?

James Wallam (1:26)

I honestly believe over 30 years. I just want to say quickly, Mark Duffield, I got my grandfather, Les Wallam, with me. He's the original organiser of the carnival. So I just wanted to say, yeah, the reputation built over the last 30 years was quite big. The community itself, bragging rights, and just the passion and self-replacement of the community. Liam Ryan has been a carnival last couple of years with his mob, and he actually had Willie Rioli and Fozzie join him this year, which was really awesome to see.

We had Shay come in last year, and it's just pride, and it's just community in this event that I believe one time a year where we all come together, it's a really special time.

Mark Duffield (2:11)

So how do you put the teams together? How are the teams organized for the carnival?

James Wallam (2:18)

So we nominate this year, last two years have had for the first time a B grade, which has been a good thing for us. Because of the high quality of football with the AFLs coming in, there's more of a community B grade for the uncles and the nephews the last two years. But we select the nomination for the top ten teams who are A grade. The teams select, they have their set rules, a certain amount of AFL players and waffle players are allowed to have.

So everyone abides by that and they all show up on the day.

Mark Duffield (2:50)

And in terms of the spirit that the carnival is played in, are you able to, obviously these guys are competitors, are you able to get through it all without any aggro or argy-bargy, or is it played in a really good spirit?

James Wallam (3:03)

No, it's always in a good spirit. There's a lot of fans struck around the ground, especially when these guys come down and play. But one thing, I had people coming down and watching for the first time, just to see these guys play as fans. There's not much of a drop off between them and the rest of the carnival.

It's quite exciting and is a quite noticeable thing to see as well.

Mark Duffield (3:25)

Is it possible that something like this could be used as a talent identification piece, James? Because obviously, we have an issue in the AFL at the moment where there has been a reduction in the number of Indigenous players making it through onto AFL list. Now, I noticed you had a 17-year-old player named LeBron Yaron, who was one of the stars of the competition this season. Is this something that recruiters could use to identify young Indigenous talent?

James Wallam (3:52)

Oh, most definitely. I believe this is an awesome platform, especially for young kids who don't get the opportunity to go and play in Perth or get the opportunity that some kids do. They're there. They're in your backyard.

And the possibility to build this platform for these kids to come and show out and hopefully have a scout or one or two in the crowd to find that next Dudley and the next Marlon Pickett. You know, they're there. They've just got to, I reckon, coming up.

Mark Duffield (4:19)

James has just dropped out there. We'll try and get him back. In the meantime, Sean and I will have a chat about this. Sean, I first heard about this carnival a number of years ago, and there was an elder in the community down there, Lyra Bunnell, who was one of the primary organizers of the carnival back then. So it is a remarkable thing to go for as long as it's gone. And it appears to be getting stronger by the year, which is quite incredible.