Tigers build indigenous linksCaroline Wilson
November 28, 2010THERE are two indigenous pillars at Richmond Football Club. One is nearing completion - physically anyway - in the form of the Tigers' landscape-changing new training facility which has been built largely thanks to $6.75 million worth of federal government funding and the club's commitment to an indigenous learning centre.
The centre underpins a new era for the club and will cover an entire floor of the new building at Punt Road. It would be fair to say the money came before anyone in charge really had their head around how such a facility would function and that several steps backward were taken before the club could move forward with the ambitious project.
And move forward it has. Tigers executives were in Canberra in their quest to turn the centre into a national leader in the field of indigenous learning. The Minister for Sport, Mark Arbib, is adamant that club and government can make the facility a focus for indigenous youth Australia-wide, and Richmond in turn has appointed its own internal indigenous advisory council.
Richmond has also committed to a three-day federal government-funded community camp in Darwin in February culminating in a clash with the recently launched Indigenous All-Stars. Not only will the club return to Darwin for two home games over 2011 and 2012, but it has also committed to home games in Cairns for the next three years.
Although Essendon deserves close to full credit for getting the Dreamtime games off the ground, the Tigers can proudly claim ownership to that now regular blockbuster clash, too. The annual Saturday night match has proved a winner in terms of attendances and positive publicity for indigenous football.
The other pillar, of course, surrounds elite indigenous football talent - something that has seen Essendon dominate the headlines going into each annual Dreamtime clash due to that club's historic success with Aboriginal football talent. The Bombers have had their challenges in this area over the journey, as have all clubs, but in terms of numbers of players and good players at that, only Mark Williams's Port Adelaide comes close.
Now Kevin Sheedy and Williams are building a new franchise in Western Sydney which would indicate the multicultural make-up of the Giants' first senior list looms intriguingly.
And Richmond? That club's track record with indigenous players in recent years is less compelling. The club has only one indigenous footballer on its list in Troy Taylor and the troubled 19-year-old is no guarantee to continue at Tigerland in 2011.
The club always knew Taylor would be a challenge and took him anyway at pick No. 51 in last year's national draft. He has proved just that - a big challenge - and one that a club with even the best welfare systems in place would struggle with. He failed to return on time for the start of pre-season, but has relocated with cautious success in recent weeks accompanied by his family and with the help of the Clontarf Academy which has helped the Taylors find suitable accommodation.
It is true that Richmond is now far better equipped to assist raw indigenous footballers unused to Melbourne life and the demands of elite professional sport.
It is also true that a number of indigenous young talent lost to Richmond not only concerned off-field problems. Richard Tambling was well regarded at Tigerland and even represented the club in its early submissions for federal government funding for the Punt Road development to be completed in March. Now Tambling has been given another chance in South Australia.
The club also delisted Alroy Gilligan and the talented rookie Relton Roberts this year with Gilligan never quite making the grade and Roberts unprepared to take on the commitment involved in being an AFL footballer.
Two seasons earlier, Richmond lost patience with Carl Peterson's poor attitude to the club and his failure to embrace the demands of life as an AFL player. But as the Tigers pointed out, Peterson was given a second chance at Hawthorn and squandered that also.
Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, a first-round draft choice in 2005, was delisted last year after never living up to the faith shown in him by Richmond's recruiting team. Previously, Andrew Krakouer managed a reasonable five-year career at Tigerland only to have his AFL journey dramatically postponed when he was jailed on a serious assault charge. Collingwood has given him a second chance.
The circumstances surrounding those indigenous players who have left the club are varied, but the fact remains that a commitment to indigenous Australia has become a cornerstone of the Tigers' future.
Deep down, the club knows that an on-field success story would prove an invaluable part of the much bigger picture it is attempting to paint. It now appears to have the welfare and development systems in place to achieve that.
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-build-indigenous-links-20101127-18bhx.html
