SWFL: Busselton Football Club women’s side raise $13,710 for Lymphoma Australia with lime-coloured guernseys

Busselton’s women’s side parted with their traditional black and white guernsey for a good cause at the weekend, wearing lime green to raise money for Lymphoma Australia. In an initiative spearheaded by player Gemma Wharton, who lost her mother Jo to the disease in 2019, the Magpies wore a Lime for Lymphoma guernsey in their 13-point loss to South Bunbury at Sir Stewart Bovell Park on Saturday. The guernseys were then auctioned off after the game, raising a total of $13,710 for the organisation. Wharton, who unfortunately missed the game due to a broken finger, said she was eternally grateful for the club’s support. “When I approached the club last year to put some posters around, (club president) Mick (Osborn) suggested to do the jumpers,” she said. “It was really nice. I only started being involved in the club in the last four to five years. It was really cool to see.” The money raised made the initiative one of the biggest for lymphoma in the country so far this year, which Wharton said was “nuts”. “I had another fundraising event in July . . . and I got $6000 off them, and when Mick was telling everyone $13,000, I thought that must’ve been with the $6000 added in,” she said. “Then he said ‘no, that’s just from tonight’, and I was just like ‘oh my god’.” Wharton, who started fundraising for the organisation in 2022, said the reasons behind her efforts were to both keep her mother’s memory alive and raise awareness about the form of blood cancer. Busselton president Mick Osborn said the club was “on board” when Wharton first approached them. “Gemma’s a lovely girl and we were more than happy to support what she was doing,” he said. “It’s outstanding, really”. The club’s next marquee event will come at home on September 1, when they will host their 1964 premiership reunion, life members and past players day as part of their fixtures against Augusta-Margaret River.