Canberra Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty has been awarded prestigious Fred Daly Memorial Club Person of the Year Award for 2023.
A proud Mununjali man from Beaudesert, Jamal is an inspiration for Indigenous and non-Indigenous players.
In receiving the award, he acknowledged the assistance his family was given when his mother was recovering from cancer treatment.
“We never had a car growing up.”
“My old girl … when I was about seven she had a little piece of a brain tumour removed in her head and it affected the way that she walked.”
“For us to get groceries and stuff, we had people in our home town that would come around every Tuesday and pick us up before school and take us to do our groceries.”
“Even though they don’t know the impact they had on us when we were little kids, that’s something that I still remember now.”
The ex-Beaudesert Kingfishers Junior is a proud ambassador of Ronald McDonald House Canberra (RMHC), who provide accommodation for families with seriously ill children.
Jamal liaises directly with the charity to arrange visits and raises funds for this charity in his own time. He donates his playing gear to raise money for the charity.
He chose to be the Win the Day Ambassador – supporting families, raising awareness and funds for rare childhood cancer research.
These inspirational ambassador roles are just some of the ways Jamal gives back to the Canberra Raiders community.
He visited schools in the 2023 NRL School Blitz, read books during National Simultaneous Reading time, and shared stories with Indigenous High School students.
When he returns to Beaudesert, Jamal often supports local community-led initiatives, speaking at Beaudesert State High School and taking part in charity events.
