After five seasons of sporting the famous dreadlocks, Chance Bateman was cool, calm and collected today at Tjanabi Fed Square when 19 year old Andrew Hardeman took to his hair with scissors.

Bateman, cut his locks to raise money for Hawthorn Football Club’s latest community partner – the Rioli Fund for Aboriginal Health and Menzies School of Health Research.

The winning bid of $4500 gave the opportunity for a lucky bidder, Andrew Hardeman aged 19, to cut the first locks and book a lunch with the five Indigenous superstars of the Hawthorn Football Club.

“It’s great the Rioli Fund will benefit from me getting a hair cut, thanks to Andrew for bidding, this money will go to Menzies who are trying to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous people” Bateman said.

The Rioli Fund for Aboriginal Health, has been established in conjunction with Menzies School of Health Research to help raise much needed awareness and support for research into Aboriginal child health and mental health issues.

Chance was ready for the cut saying he needed a change “I am a bit nervous, but they (the dreadlocks) are ready to go, they are getting in the way and I am looking forward to a preseason without them”.

As the nation’s leader in Indigenous health research, Menzies is discovering ways to reduce the impact of disease and improve the health and well being of Aboriginal Australians.

Speaking of the newly formed partnership between Hawthorn FC and the Rioli Fund, Mr Dean Rioli said “I am extremely excited to be working with the Hawthorn Football Club, and in particular with the five Indigenous boys on their list.  I have met with the players and each of them has expressed their interest in supporting the fund and the work we are doing, as they too know of the appalling health situation faced by Indigenous Australians.”

As well as the Hardeman Family making a donation to the Rioli Fund, Ricoh, a sponsor of the Hawks also got on board to donate products to the newly formed Rioli Fund, to show their support for Chance and this newly formed partnership.

Paul Chodziesner from Ricoh was at the cut at Fed Square and commented “we are so proud to have Chance as our Player Ambassador, we wanted to get on board and donate to the Rioli Fund to show our support for him and the work the Rioli Fund and Menzies are doing”.

Chance, together with Cyril, Lance, Cameron and Mark encourage you to visit www.rioli.org.au to find out more about the Rioli Fund and the great work that Menzies is doing.

Donate through the Rioli Fund website today to help us give our Indigenous kids a brighter future.