Swan Districts will be putting on a ‘DIY Big Freeze’ event this Saturday for their round 8 clash against Perth.
The occasion comes after the sad passing of Neale Daniher earlier in the week, a person who left people inspired to do better in the world – the Swans now taking the opportunity to host an event to help raise money for his cause, FightMND.
The club will be hosting a mini dunk tank as their take on the slide at the ‘G, as well as a luncheon with many big named guests in attendance – some of who will be taking a plunge in the dunk tank.
With a bye week in the PFL and no AFL games in Perth on Saturday, Swan Districts are hoping to draw in a big crowd to raise as much money as possible amidst a rivalry clash between the Swans and Demons.
Swans CEO Jarrad Wright joined Sports Breakfast this morning.
“We love to give back to use our platform, and we want to honour Neale’s legacy this coming Saturday here at Steel Blue to raise as much awareness and funds for an incredible cause led by an incredible man,” he said.
“We’re hoping for a bumper crowd. We’ve got an incredible list of celebrities and dignitaries attending our luncheon and doing a celebrity dunk tank challenge.
“It’s slightly different to the Big Freeze slide you see at the ‘G. We’ve got out own custom celebrity dunk tank we’re calling it… and someone handballs the ball into a button and down they go into a lovely refreshing icy water swim.”
With a long list of incredible names involved at the club, past players like Tony Notte and Scott Cummings will be taking a plunge.
Notte is the club’s games record holder with 322 games under his belt, also taking out the 2013, 2015 and 2018 Club Best & Fairest awards.
Cummings is another Swans legend, winning the Club Leading Goalkicker award in 1993.
Nic Naitanui will be speaking at the luncheon – someone who grew at the club before an extensive career in the AFL with West Coast.
“He [Notte] said he’s missing having his weekly ice bath postgame, so he’ll be going for a swim.”
“Nic Nat actually won’t be going down, Nic will be interviewing the dunkees before they go down, and he’ll also attend our luncheon and do a Q&A.”
Other celebrities taking part in the dunk tank will be WA Football CEO Brad Wira and Married at First Sight star Awhina Rutene, with more names set to be revealed leading up to the event.
“It’s a great cast and we greatly appreciate their support and their time for an incredible cause.”
Father of AFL star Ben Cousins, Bryan, will be in attendance – someone who’s had a long lasting career with over 300 games played across VFL and WAFL competitions.
Premier Roger Cook is also set to be there to show his support for the cause, as well as Anthony Akkari – leading researcher specialising in Motor Neurone Disease at Perth’s Perron Institute and Murdoch University.
Supporters can get involved by attending the game and luncheon, buying their Big Freeze 12 beanies and donating directly to FightMND, which can be done directly through Swan Districts’ website.
“We’re hoping to attract a massive crowd because the club will be donating as much as we possibly can in terms of merchandise sales and we’ll be putting on a bit ourselves as well based on the crowd attendance.”
“Hopefully, one day through Neale’s leadership, we can defeat the beast that is MND.”
https://support.fightmnd.org.au/fundraisers/swandistrictsfcsbigfreezeatsteelblueoval/diy-big-freeze
IMAGE: Blake Parry / The Sports Photo