The oldest, continuous football club in the world is embracing the world's oldest culture
MELBOURNE Football Club, once a domain of its city's stuffy ultra-conservative set, has seemingly taken to Aboriginal football if its recent draft acquisitions is anything to go by. The Dees will enter the 2009 season with six Indigenous players on its playing roster, the most at the club at any one time.
Melbourne, as old as the modern game itself, has had just 20 Indigenous players don the club's colours since its formation 150 years ago. Eddie Jackson and George Simmonds were among the first black Demons. Jackson was in the VFL's first Grand Final draw in 1948 when Melbourne tied with Norm McDonald's Essendon.
There is no quota system to recruit black players which exists in South African sport and Indigenous AFL footballers, of which there are 82 this year, are recruited on merit alone.
There was a brief, if nominal, push towards recruiting Aboriginal footballers in the 1970s and '80s when Melbourne picked up Victorians Les Bamblett and Phil Egan, South Australian Colin Graham and Tasmanian Andy Lovell. Lovell was, in fact, the first Indigenous player selected (at No.42) in football's first draft in 1986. But like a lot of teams in the then VFL, Indigenous players at Melbourne were few and far between.
Gradually, and like AFL clubs in general, the old-time 'Fuchsias' gradually saw the value in recruiting Indigenous players. Aaron Davey and Matthew Whelan were drafted to Melbourne earlier this decade. Byron Pickett and Shannon Motlop came via the trade route, with mixed results.
Then there was a bloke called Jeff Farmer, arguably the club's most famous Aboriginal player, still revered by the Dees' faithful despite his 'defection' to Fremantle in 2002. In the 2006, '07 and '08 drafts the club snared six Indigenous youngsters, four of whom remain.
Bamblett, who played 11 senior games for the club in his only season there (1983) before adding 37 more with Footscray, said Melbourne had obviously woken up to what the other clubs have known for years after squandering countless chances to recruit quality players from its allotted zone.
"It's taken them a while but they're sort of recognising what the Koorie players are doing at other clubs," Bamblett said. "They've seen what Aaron (Davey) had done and are starting to take a bit more interest in Aboriginal players, which is really good."
And what players Melbourne now have!
Tiwi Islander Austin Wonaeamirri provided one of last year's genuine highlights with his spontaneous goal celebrations in the Dees' first win for the season. He has blossomed at the club and will enter the 2009 season slimmer and sharper than ever. Wonaeamirri is the club's face for its 2009 internet membership drive.
Davey, who arrived at the club in 2003, basically authored the guide book for what a forward should do with his defensive pressure inside the attacking 50 and beyond. That role is now expected of all small forwards where-ever the game is played. Davey's leadership role is also growing, as is stalwart Whelan's, who has played 140 games exclusively for the club.
Melbourne's latest recruits, Yuendumu's Liam Jurrah, the No.1 selection in December's pre-season draft, Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta could develop into an exciting contingent with which the Demons could build its forward line around.
This upward trend of Indigenous players at Melbourne reflects that also in the AFL.
"The thing that amazes me, in a general sense, is that other social and economic indicators show that blackfellas have higher rates of deaths and incarceration and lower rates of employment and health outcomes, yet for two per cent of the Australian population, they make up 11 per cent of players in the AFL. That is a real social anomaly," said author and academic, Sean Gorman.
"Just recently, blokes like Liam Jurrah from Yuendumu and Austin Wonaeamirri from the Tiwi Islands have come through into the ‘mainstream’, for want of a better word, and the AFL and the clubs will have to know how to engage more and more with these fellas. They are part of an elite level and that figure (82) will only get higher. As time goes by and it will be interesting to see how the AFL and clubs handle that."
Bamblett credits former Fremantle coach Chris Connolly, now Melbourne's football operations manager, with the rise in Indigenous stocks at the club.
"Chris grew up in Shepparton around a lot of Aboriginal people and footballers and he's had a fair bit to do with it," Bamblett said. "Look how many Aboriginal players Freo picked up when he was coach there. In the early days, Melbourne were zoned to Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley where there was a lot of great Aboriginal footballers, but they hardly picked anyone from there. Colin Graham was at the club but I was by myself when I joined them."
Melbourne players visited Wonaeamirri's home in the Tiwi Islands in December and stayed with his family. The club is also looking at forming some kind of partnership with Yuendumu. That got off to a flying start when the townsfolk there seemingly switched allegiances from Collingwood when Jurrah was drafted. "We're a Melbourne town, now," Jurrah's dad, Leo, proclaimed in December.
Off-field, however, Melbourne's stocks aren't so rich. The club's financial state is known to be one of the weakest of the 16 AFL clubs. It announced an operating loss of $550,000 in 2008. It has the lowest crowds at home and paid-up members in the AFL. But it's working on it. In December, the AFL and the Melbourne Cricket Club granted Melbourne a $2 million support package.
Whether Melbourne can pick up a whole new generation of fans outside its traditional heartland, where-ever that may be, remains to be seen. But one would think having some of the league's most exciting, marketable and identifiable players, it is at least on the right track.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Last Modified on 24/02/2009 14:03