Youngsters ‘amazed' to end up on front page of The West
Copies of The West Australian were flying off the shelves in Newdegate on Monday after three local kids decked out in West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne gear were photographed for the front page.
Charlie Guelfi, 6, Joshua Guelfi and Hunter Tonkin, both 8, were among the 12,700-strong crowd at the West Coast Eagles v North Melbourne game in Bunbury on Sunday, June 8.
The die-hard footy fans, who all live on farms in the Newdegate area, were snapped by AFL Media photographer Daniel Carson.
Sibling rivalry was on show on the day, with younger brother Charlie — and his friend Hunter — decked out in Kangaroos merchandise while older brother Joshua was wearing his Eagles best.
They made the 700km round trip from Newdegate to Bunbury with their families to attend the match at Hands Memorial Oval.
Charlie and Josh attended the game with their parents Aaron and Liz Guelfi, who said the whole town had been 'amazed' to see the three boys on the front page of the June 9 edition of The West Australian.
'The whole of Newdegate has been rushing to town to buy the paper this week,' she laughed.
'The boys have been so excited, they have been saying 'we are famous, we are famous'.'
'The front page will be framed in our office for sure.'
It capped off what had been a 'truly incredible weekend', Ms Guelfi said, after the three boys were chosen to race with the Eagles and Kangaroos mascots before the game started on Sunday.
'There was a lot of sibling rivalry on the day,' she said.
'Hunter has always supported North Melbourne and last year Charlie decided that he would too . . . we have no family over there, but he just loves the team.
'And Josh has always gone for the Eagles. So, there was a lot of banter and friendly competition on the day.'
The three boys were hand-picked while standing near the rails to run with the mascots, taking part in a short relay race on the oval before the game.
'A North Melbourne official came up and asked if they wanted to take part,' Ms Guelfi said.
'They were a bit starstruck, I think . . . but they thought it was amazing to take part.'
The game wasn't great viewing for a lot of the contest with the Eagles not kicking a goal until the second quarter and finishing with a woefully inaccurate 16 behinds, and the Roos barely scored after quarter-time before a four goal blitz late in the final term saw them edge ahead to win 9.8 (62) to 6.16 (52).
As country people through-and-through, Ms Guelfi said the families had loved watching a game of AFL in regional WA.
'We were really excited to head to see both teams, and it was special to have a game like that in the country,' she said.
'It was just a really great day all around, to be picked in the mascot race and to be in The West Australian.'
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