It's football how it was originally playedREPRESENTATIVES of five Aboriginal groups from western region Victoria will add a touch of authenticity to the AFL's 'Dreamtime at the G' on Saturday. They are descendants of men who played, likely invented, the traditional Aboriginal ball game called Marn Grook, and they will be playing the modern version of the game at football's new spiritual home.
The group, who form the West Vic Eels, hail from the Gariwerd (Grampians), in western Victoria. It was here where the ancient ball game was played for millenia, and it was where founding father of Australian football, Tom Wills, grew up, spoke the language and played the games of the area's Aboriginal people.
The Eels will take on Tiwi Islanders, Imalu -- a people who have adopted the new football with an enthusiasm not seen anywhere else -- in the curtain-raiser to the Essendon v Richmond match, the showcase of the AFL's Indigenous Round this week.
The Eels are an annual carnival team, in the same way as the Fitzroy Stars are.
Aaron Clark, from the Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre, and coach of the Eels on Saturday, said the game will reinforce the historical link between ancient and modern football.
"The Eels play a vital role in giving opportunities and providing a platform for Indigenous people of Western Victoria to participate in sport, administration, sport training, event management, as well as engaging in the broader community through football," he said. "On Saturday, we will assert our unique position in Aussie rules by promoting the cultural link from the traditional game, Marn-Grook, though to the continual contribution to the modern game by Western and South Western Victorian Aboriginals."
At Brambuk this week, about 20 men, including Elders from south-western Victoria, made possum skin footballs (as pictured above), the same way they were made for Marn-Grook. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, the men sewed possum skins and filled them with grass and crushed charcoal to give them weight.
The mountainous ranges of Gariwerd provided a picturesque backdrop when the group divided into two teams, kicking the ball high into the air and jumping and marking it; just as it was played hundreds or even thousands of years ago on the same land.
On Saturday in Melbourne, millions will get to see the modern incarnation of that game.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Last Modified on 20/05/2009 23:12