Maurice Rioli: Mr Magicby Ron Head
footygoss.com (WA footy site)When South Fremantle stalwart Dick Woodgate recommended a promising young player from Melville Island, across the Clarence Strait off the Northern Territory coast, to the Bulldogs in 1971, he would have had no idea of the ramifications that would follow over a period of thirty years, and are still continuing.
Sebastian Rioli, one of a family of nine, with five brothers, took West Australian football by storm in 1972, gaining selection in the State squad after only a few appearances with South Fremantle on a half forward flank, before weight problems and injuries took it’s toll. Sebastian was to disappear from the WANFL stage three years later after only 45 games.
There was enough talent on display from Sebastian, however, to cause much salivation from South Fremantle officials when Woodgate recommended a younger brother, Maurice. Maurice Rioli had already tasted interstate football on arriving at Fremantle Oval in 1975, the seventeen year old from St Mary’s in Darwin having been a member of a Northern Territory side to have beaten Queensland in Brisbane the previous year. He debuted for South Fremantle late in the 1975 season, playing four games off a half forward flank, and had his first taste of WANFL finals football that same year. But it wasn’t an experience he would have cherished, his side going down by a record margin to West Perth in the grand final.
Maurice Rioli wasn’t an instant success in the stronger WANFL competition. He was a long way from friends, Northern Territory lifestyle, and his brothers and sisters, but he was determined to succeed, and with the presence and encouragement of Sebastian a positive influence, he resisted the urge to return home. Brothers John(who won the Medallists Medal for fairest and best in the colts in 1982), Emanuel, Lawrence, and Cyril all followed Sebastian and Maurice to South, but none stayed.
There have been many other potential stars recruited to Western Australia from Darwin who couldn’t cope with the change and returned home never to be heard of again. West Perth champion Bill Dempsey was one who had to be coaxed back every season in the early stages of his career.
Rioli hit his straps under the coaching of Mal Brown, and the immense talent he possessed enthralled football supporters of all clubs in the late seventies. “Mr Magic” became his nickname, with the sheer artistry of his possession gathering and lightning clearances from the midfield, coupled with dashes along the wing ,finished off by penetrating and accurate left footers making him an outstanding centreman. At five foot nine and eleven stone seven (73 kg’s) Rioli was short of stature but stocky of build and tough as teak.
At the time of his football transition to Western Australia, Rioli was also an outstanding amateur boxer. Although his preferred sporting career was football, it didn’t stop him winning State titles in the light middleweight and welterweight divisions. His boxing training was reflected in his football, apparent in the way he was able to shrug off opponents and break into the clear.
1979 was the year Maurice Rioli began to stamp his class on the game. Selected for the State match against Tasmania at half forward, he played in the Western Australian side that won the Australian Carnival later that year.
In 1980, Rioli won the Simpson Medal in South Fremantle’s convincing defeat of Swan Districts in the grand final. He repeated the effort the following year despite being in the losing team. Richmond had seen the the centreman as a required player in 1976, and had his signature, but Maurice had delayed the move, preferring to enjoy the good times with South Fremantle, who at the time were on the rise in the WANFL.
Finally crossing to Punt Road in 1982, Rioli was an instant sensation. Donning the number seventeen of the legendary Jack Dyer, he was accorded the honour of having triple fairest and best winner Geoff Raines moved from the centre to accommodate him. He didn’t let the Tigers down, and the drive he provided from the pivot helped Richmond into their first grand final in eight years (sic), a grand final in which he completed a unique and rare treble by winning the Norm Smith Medal, thus taking off three grand final fairest and bests in as many years in different States.
Rioli was also the winner of Richmond’s fairest and best for the 1982 season, a feat he repeated the following season. In 1983 he finished third in the Brownlow Medal voting, and in 1984 toured Ireland with the Australian Gaelic Football team, being named as best player.
In 1985, Rioli was the target of the new owner of the Sydney Swans, Geoff Edelstein. Having just set in place a salary cap system because of it’s alarm at the spiralling player payments, the VFL stepped in, and after a summer of toing and froing, he returned to Tigerland. It wasn’t to be a good couple of seasons for Richmond, however, and in 1988, at the age of thirty, Rioli decide to come back to Western Australia for the remainder of his career.
March of 1988 saw Rioli installed as captain of the Northern Territory team which contested the B section of the Bicentennial Carnival in Adelaide. The Territory won the division, and Rioli was selected in the All Australian side, along with two others from his side, Michael Long and Michael McLean. South Fremantle appointed the returning star as captain.
Rioli retired from West Australian football in 1990, after playing 166 games with South Fremantle, 118 at Richmond, 20 for Western Australia, and eight with the Northern Territory.
Maurice Rioli became a Member of Parliament for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1992, a position he held until retiring from Parliament in 2001. He is held in high regard not only in the Territory, but throughout Australia, but it is as an elder statesman among the indigenous footballers both past and present that he is best known today. He was a trailblazer for indigenous players on the elite stage of Australian football, and has the well deserved mantle of “the Northern Territory’s most famous sporting son.”
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