We have the least amount of Indigenous players in the AFL. Which means there needs to be some questions asked as to why this is the case.
So why should we be asking the club about this?
Because the Essendon football club talks itself up as being the best club in the league for supporting and providing opportunities to Indigenous young people. The club also has had a strong history, a history that is proud of, for leading the way in providing indigenous people the opportunity to advocate for their rights.
The Essendon football club has the Dream time blockbuster. Taking my Essendon hat off, their needs to be a conversation about Essendon (& Richmond) being suited to play in this match, if they don’t provide the opportunities for indigenous players at both clubs. Both clubs certainly don’t lead the way, in this area.
Indigenous people in Australia are segregated and discriminated against in this country for the lack of support, health, education, and social infrastructure. Most indigenous people dont fit this countries’ rigid expectation withinsociety. Essendon football club was once understanding of these social issues, but has moved in line with the rest of the country.
Xavier Campbell has said in a number of interviews that the whole of club recruitment policy has changed. There is a greater emphasis on having quality people at the club, great resilient skills. I keep banging on about it: resilience = protective factors: protective factors = Education, family, friends, leadership abilities. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be recruiting with policy in mind, but it means we are treating the indigenous people, just like the rest of the country. “A rigid box”
Irrespective of the challenges, as a club with our historical standing on indigenous players and the fact we started & have the dreamtime game I personally think at least 1 rookie spot each year should always be for an indigenous player.
If they develop well enough to be upgraded, terrific. Do so and bring in another. If not cut them like any other player and get another one in.
If there is a non-indigenous player who is a safer bet (there will always be) that doesn’t matter and it’s not the point.
The NGA doesn’t cut it, too small a pool of possible players.
Going to need more resources? Who cares. We have it. We just made $5mil profit in a year we scraped into finals.
If we tried and failed with Eades as a speculative late pick and have been scared off, then that’s poor. Need to keep doing it.
The benefit of say 1 in 5 (or greater) kids coming from nowhere to make it, and the associated story that accompanies that is worth it IMO.
What ideally makes it easier for indigenous kids to make the transition into AFL footy, having a brotherhood of other indigenous players on the list.
We need to keep building that.
It ■■■■■■ me off that when we play Richmond they now have 3 best 22 versus our 1, or that Port is the destination club for indigenous players now.
That makes sense in terms of supplements, but not in term of failing to stand up for what we are supposed to stand for with the Dreamtime Game and the Long Walk.
After sitting next to his family for several years at Norwood home games I can assure you they are as Italian as they come. His old man spent several months on a boat coming over from Italy.
This is a genuine question. Do you put any onus on some of these indigenous communities, for not teaching a lot of these kids the correct coping/behavioural skills?
With all due respect Ben, you’ve got a category where (at least) 3 board members will answer queries to the best of their ability. You’ve also got an EFC member forum tomorrow night.
Will you raise it there and not just here in front of a few hundred keyboard warriors (include myself in that)?
I can sympathise with both sides of the argument FWIW…
Isn’t the additional cost and time that goes into indigenous players what Matt Rendell highlighted and got sacked at Adelaide for around six years ago?
I think we do have a problem dealing with tough individuals (aboriginal or otherwise). This part of our HR and player welfare is still a work in progress. Hopefully we improve on this so that we can take someone like Sambono and give him an opportunity.
I doubt any player would skip across the country to play in VFL on minimum wage. He’d be back to his home town by halfway through the season.
AFL rookie list is the perfect spot for this.
Depends on the community tbh. But with a guy like Relton he barley spoke English, and had gone pretty far while still eating like crap and drinking so what happened wasn’t a major surprise
■■■■, no one at the club told him he could park at punt road, he was parking at Richmond station and walking across the first 6 months he was there
He’d been in Darwin a few years, NTFL then playing for the thunder, he wasn’t straight from woop woop. If Richmond assumed that diet, training and all that had been covered, then more fool them, but equally under 16s get taken through that stuff (albeit briefly): how does a 24 year old state league guy miss it at every level along the way??
It makes sense in a “We can’t delist any of the guys caught up in this for a few years”, … and in a “We don’t need to take too many risks right now”, … and a “This shitt is taking every resource we’ve got right now, … and all our focus” way too.
As I said,… it appears we are putting our Indigenous future recruiting energy into the Academy now,… I would guess believing it will reap good rewards, and lessen the fail rate.
Ok, very simple premise, at what point does being risk adverse become exclusion, and have we as a club reached that point, and if we have, should we really stop proporting to be an advocate in indigenous opportunity.
I generally stood on the concourse in the members area as I love standing to watch games but I did get around to Coopers corner to catch up with mates on the way to and from the RSL for the halftime show