One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on May 02, 2006, 02:29:23 PM
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(http://richmondfc.com.au/cp2/c2/webi/article/262296bm.jpg)
Dreamtime at the G 2006
12:38:49 PM Tue 2 May, 2006
richmondfc.com.au
The Essendon and Richmond Football Clubs, in conjunction with the AFL, will stage the second annual ‘Dreamtime at the G’ event, this Saturday night, May 6.
‘Dreamtime at the G’ aims to recognise and celebrate the role Indigenous players have had in the game, while also demonstrating how Australian Football can build bridges between cultures in the spirit of reconciliation.
Richmond Coach Terry Wallace said: “From the time Kevin Sheedy first mentioned ‘Dreamtime at the G’, I thought it was an outstanding concept. The obvious synergy with both clubs’ colours is a key and I just believe it’s a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of all the Indigenous players who have represented the various league clubs over a long period of time.”
“For our players, in general, it’s another chance to play in a huge Blockbuster-type game, which I’m sure will continue to grow and develop over the years.”
Essendon Coach Kevin Sheedy said: “This game is a tribute to the role Australian Football has played in bringing people together. It has built a bridge that has enabled different cultures to reach out to one another and I sincerely hope football fans fill the MCG on what will be a very special night.”
“I also think ‘Dreamtime at the G’ will give non-Indigenous Australia the opportunity to reflect on some of the issues affecting our Indigenous community. We have come a long way, but there is a lot more work to be done.”
Former Essendon champion and founder of The Long Walk Michael Long said: “It will make a proud statement about the role Australian Football has played – and will continue to play – in building understanding and positive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.”
Some of Australia’s finest entertainers, who believe in the message and event, are involved in the pre-match entertainment. Paul Kelly, Christine Anu, Peter Garrett, Renee Geyer and Kutcha Edwards will be centre stage on the MCG, with the entertainment commencing at 7.00pm. The match will start at 7.45pm, a delay of 35 minutes, to accommodate the spectacular entertainment.
Network TEN has supported the event with the pre-match entertainment to be televised and the broadcast extended by 30 minutes to incorporate the activities.
Just before the start of the game, respected Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy will conduct a short ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony with the captains of both sides to welcome the clubs to the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people. The night will end with the presentation of the ‘Yiooken’ award to the player judged best on ground. Pronounced – yie-yoo-ken, it is a word from the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people which means ‘dreaming’.
The Long Walk 2006 launch will also help cement this as a very special night. The launch will take place at Birrurung Marr from 3pm on Saturday afternoon. In the lead-up to the match Michael Long will lead The Long Walk participants in a symbolic walk across William Barak Bridge to the MCG with 1000 of the walkers to head on to the famous turf as part of the pre-match entertainment.
‘Dreamtime at the G’ 2006 has been made possible through the support of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). Through the sponsorship, the Department is looking to raise awareness of the practical assistance available under the Indigenous Employment Programme that aims to increase the levels of Indigenous employment, self-employment and business development.
DEWR have also been a significant supporter of AFL SportsReady’s Indigenous Employment Program. DEWR have made available (through AFL SportsReady) significant employment subsidies for Employers to take advantage of traineeships.
Although this is an Essendon home game at the MCG, the two clubs have a joint gate-share arrangement this season.
So, Tiger fans, make sure you get along to the mighty ‘G’ this Saturday night for what promises to be a truly special occasion.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=262297
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Just a couple of days ago I asked if we had a gate receipt sharing agreement with Carlton & Essendon. Seems like with Essendon we do. So we must all go to this game make it clearly a top 3 game for the year behind Grand Final and Anzac Day.
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The Long Walk - ..................... :help
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Just a couple of days ago I asked if we had a gate receipt sharing agreement with Carlton & Essendon. Seems like with Essendon we do. So we must all go to this game make it clearly a top 3 game for the year behind Grand Final and Anzac Day.
It might have been because where I was sitting but it felt as though the game on Friday night was overwhelming a pro-Tigers crowd out of the 54,000. After back to back wins I'd reckon the Tiger supporters will turn up in numbers. Fill the Ponsford end with Y&B.
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'G can be filled: Wallace
4:58:05 PM Tue 2 May, 2006
Jennifer Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond coach Terry Wallace believes the club's annual 'Dreamtime at the G' clash against the Bombers can become a blockbuster match capable of filling the MCG to capacity.
Wallace said the match, which celebrates the role indigenous players have within the game - has the potential to become an enormous showcase given the message behind it.
"I think it can (fill the MCG). I think once people understand the meaning of it, the true meaning of what we're trying to achieve and I think the AFL have been fantastic with some of the work they have done," Wallace said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
"You have a look in general society, the indigenous society makes up two per cent of Australia yet it footy terms it's over 10 per cent."
Wallace spoke of the barriers present within society and his hope that the game will ultimately influence further understanding of the indigenous culture.
"I think we've broken down a heck of a lot of barriers, but talking society-wise there is a lot more than we need to break down," he said.
"But I think that this game can do so much for that and I think that bigger picture stuff won't be lost on people."
Wallace applauded the idea of the game - the brainchild of veteran Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy - and said the celebration paid due thanks to the excitement provided by some of the most enthralling players in the AFL.
"'Sheeds' idea was great," Wallace said.
"I think the ability to just be able to give some support and some thanks to the indigenous community and the footballers who have gone through to pave the way for what is such an exciting thing at the moment.
"If you're a Melbourne supporter, if you're not excited by indigenous players at the moment, I don't know who is, let alone our own, Essendon's and everyone else's.
"This is just recognition for all of those and I think it should be a fantastic night and we're looking forward to it."
Pre-match entertainment will include some of Australia's finest musicians who believe in the game's message such as Paul Kelly, Christine Anu, Peter Garrett, Renee Geyer and Kutcha Edwards, while Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy will conduct a short 'Welcome to the Country' ceremony before the game.
The ceremony will involve the captains of both sides to welcome both clubs to the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people, with the night set to end with the presentation of the 'Yiooken' award to the player judged best on ground.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=262418
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This has to become a key game for our club in future....still looking for some movement on a theme game v Carlton.
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This has to become a key game for our club in future....still looking for some movement on a theme game v Carlton.
Richmond vs Carlton should start off the AFL season every year at the 'G. Generate a good crowd before reality sinks in. Nice way to start the year with 4 points too lol.
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Great suggestion...R1 always vs Carlton ... :cheers
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well we tried it with the pies and worked ok i guess
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No way, Round 1 is never as big as R4 onwards. Should play irrelevant teams like Freo or Collingwood in the first 3 or 4 then get onto the big stuff. Richmond's big games should be against Carl, Ess, Saints. Ignore Collingwood. If you develop big games against Collingwood then you will always lose out. Just ignore them.
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We have to play Ess, Carlton and Collingwood in the first couple of rounds so we get to play them twice in a season.
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If we want to play those teams twice then the first meeting has to occur by R7 at the latest. We've got the Saints for Easter Monday so that knocks out one, the bombers dreamtime game is another and we can't play on the same weekend as the ANZAC clash as we want these blockbuster games for us to be the match of the round to generate the largest crowd and gate. I agree PS that the early rounds are quieter but Round 5 last week wasn't much better in terms of 54,000 at the 'G for a Richmond-Carlton game. IMO I can't see the Blues improving for a while so at least play them in the first game of the season when optimism of all supporters is at its highest and footy supporters in general are hungry to see some real footy. Score on both the gate and tv ratings as there'll be no Comm Games etc next year and onwards to distract people.
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Playing the blues should also give us a good start to the season with membership getting a substantial boost after a first up win lol.
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If we want to play those teams twice then the first meeting has to occur by R7 at the latest.
That's under the current arrangements. Personally I can't see why more flexibility couldn't be added i.e. as long as there's at least 6 or 7 weeks between return games then play anyone in the last 7 rounds that you played in the first 15, not just the first 7. So if you play Geel in R10 you might play them again anytime from R18-R22.
It might help even up the draw and reduce the bias that sees Collingwood travel infrequently, i.e. just because Coll-Ess play Anzac Day doesn't mean they have to play again every year.
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If we want to play those teams twice then the first meeting has to occur by R7 at the latest.
That's under the current arrangements. Personally I can't see why more flexibility couldn't be added i.e. as long as there's at least 6 or 7 weeks between return games then play anyone in the last 7 rounds that you played in the first 15, not just the first 7. So if you play Geel in R10 you might play them again anytime from R18-R22.
It might help even up the draw and reduce the bias that sees Collingwood travel infrequently, i.e. just because Coll-Ess play Anzac Day doesn't mean they have to play again every year.
PS, that involves too much commonsense for the AFL ;).
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Dream believer
06 May 2006 Herald Sun
KEVIN Sheedy is "old" Richmond. One of those who often refer to Francis Bourke as "St Francis".
Yet, as much as Sheedy admires his friend and teammate from the 1960s and '70s, he says there is one true saint from his time at Punt Rd.
He is referring to Michael Bowden, a member of the 1969 premiership team, a journeyman footballer, a champion humanitarian.
"He's a sensational person," says the Essendon coach. "One of the best people you could have played footy with. A genuine, caring Australian. He's gone out there (the outback) and done it. He's actually lived out there where people wouldn't normally go to live."
Sheedy's respect and admiration for Bowden is built on his friend's ongoing commitment to the indigenous community, and passion for its people.
Bowden has unique status in the week of Dreamtime at the 'G, tonight's Essendon-Richmond game at the MCG which recognises and celebrates the contribution of indigenous players to the indigenous game.
Not only does he have two sons, Joel and Patrick, representing Richmond, he is a key player in the huge task of maintaining hope and opportunity for indigenous youth in central Australia.
Aboriginal youth has captivated him for more than 20 years, since he packed his family up at Mildura in 1983 and headed for Ernabella, an Aboriginal community in South Australia, just below the Northern Territory border.
His role teaching politics and Australian history at St Joseph's in Mildura had sparked a lifelong interest in Aboriginal culture.
"I'd become quite fascinated by it," he said in Alice Springs this week.
Almost on a whim, Bowden decided he wanted to do more than just teach children of the well-to-do.
"I knew all the kids I was teaching were going to have a good life. I thought, `Whoever teaches them, they're going to do OK'.
"I wanted to do some work with those who were less likely to automatically succeed . . . the disadvantaged, marginalised and underprivileged."
His concern for his fellow man first became apparent at 16, when, as a student at St Kevin's College in Melbourne, he volunteered to work after school at Ozanam House, a refuge for the homeless.
After finishing school, he spent two years studying for the priesthood before deciding it wasn't for him.
In his mid-30s, while living in Mildura, he answered a call to tend to homeless and alcoholic members of the community.
He helped build an overnight shelter (1982) for what were known as river people.
A group including his wife, Judy, ran the shelter on a roster basis.
But it was his developing interest in the indigenous community that drove him.
He finally answered an advertisement in the newspapers for a community adviser at Ernabella.
The Bowdens took their children out of school, packed them into a Land Rover and headed to central Australia in 1983.
The children learnt the local language and lived the culture, and loved it, he says. "They were white fellas as a minority group," he says.
It was "an enormous cross-cultural experience".
Bowden is an imposing figure in the Alice in more ways than one.
His friend, Paul Fitzsimons, director of remote co-ordination at NT's Charles Darwin University and an ABC radio sporting personality, says: "He's been extremely good for the town.
"Michael threw himself into the community when he arrived here. He got himself involved in sport, the church and the community, and he involved his family.
"He got people thinking, `We better get down and watch our kids play footy'. You can see his impact.
"Personality drives programs such as social change and community development.
"He's got a very dynamic personality. He draws people with his enthusiasm, his absolute quest to get his point across.
"The Aboriginal community really do look up to Michael Bowden and have accepted him more than any other public servant. By a country mile."
Bowden mixes easily with the locals. Despite his disappointments, he is a cheerful man. An optimist.
He loves the Alice. It is what he calls "a place of great contrast and contest".
Yes, there are problems, many of them serious, some old, some new, such as those born of what is termed the "urban stampede" as changes to welfare conditions generate an influx of indigenous people from regional areas to the town fringes.
Perhaps the most disturbing of the problems is the inability of the authorities, including Bowden, to keep indigenous youngsters at school.
Estimates go as high as 600 in a community of 25,000. By extension, the problems of alcohol abuse, petrol-sniffing and marijuana use threaten to become endemic.
Yet Bowden says the problems are not insurmountable.
"They're all addressable if you've got some patience, and some love, some compassion and some energy," he says.
He calls Alice Springs occupied territory.
"We've marginalised these people, physically, psychologically and spiritually. We've pushed them to the edges and said `survive'.
"There's been invasion, occupation, marginalisation and then demoralisation of them and their community.
"What we're attempting to do is help them sustain their sense of who they are. They have been able to sustain that through their own strength, through the strength of their culture."
A town called Alice was a fascinating point from which to watch the brawl down south over four premiership points. To watch the preparations for a game of football called Dreamtime at the 'G.
Dean Rioli, Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Andrew Krakouer, Richard Tambling and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls will be on show at the MCG tonight, and we will delight in their talents, yet the real story of Aboriginal youth remains largely ignored in regional Australia.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19036626%255E20123,00.html
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Tiger on Long mission
06 May 2006 Herald Sun
Mike Sheahan
RICHMOND premiership player Michael Bowden says a football academy could stem a tragic waste of Aboriginal talent in central Australia.
Bowden, who has spent almost 20 years in education in the Northern Territory, wants to replicate Western Australia's highly acclaimed Clontarf Foundation, which has both reclaimed so many indigenous lives and enriched AFL football.
"So many of these young blokes love this game with a passion," Bowden said.
"They will connect to it, identify with it.
"If you can keep those young blokes attached to an education program, then you hold out another plank, another pathway, for them to walk.
"If you were able to create a course based around football, these blokes would have an opportunity to play footy, to play in a team, to represent themselves as a group, to go away and play.
"Through the program, they could learn important life skills such as the principles of physical conditioning, management of injuries, first-aid, diet and nutrition, administration, umpiring.
"If you can engage them, you can teach them an enormous amount of valuable stuff.
"You could establish something like the Michael Long Academy of Football Excellence or maybe just the Michael Long Sports Academy.
"It would be a multi-sited academy or a virtual academy existing all over the region.
"Made up of a series of units at different places, with the centre in Alice Springs. All of them would be enrolled into the Certificate of Football course."
Bowden, 59, said something radical needed to be done to arrest chronic problems among Aboriginal youth.
"Very few complete secondary education. It's miniscule," he says sadly.
"The schools are dying in the bush, the number of kids is declining, teachers are being relieved of their jobs out there.
"The kids are just not staying on after primary school. They boast about numbers less than 10 completing HSC (in the territory)."
Bowden already has contacted the AFL and AFL Players' Association with his plan.
It is based on Clontarf, the initiative of former Fremantle coach Gerard Neesham.
"It's wrong to think of Alice Springs as a basket case," Bowden said as he watched the town's exclusively Aboriginal team, Pioneer, train on Tuesday night. "You look at these young blokes getting ready to play football.
"We're 7km out of the town and they got here by themselves (more than 40 of them) because they love it and want to do well (at football). Football's got enormous pulling power."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19037882%255E19742,00.html
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Field of dreaming
The Age
May 6, 2006
Aboriginal footballers have been instruments of change for their people, writes Martin Blake ahead of tonight’s landmark game.
THEY held the launch of "Dreamtime at the ‘G" this week at the foot of the William Barak Bridge near the MCG, a structure named after the fabled leader of the Wurundjeri people who populated Melbourne for thousands of years before European settlement.The symbolism was unmistakeable, and both Kevin Sheedy and Terry Wallace acknowledged that — aside from the quest for four premiership points for Richmond and Essendon — tonight was about bridge building, too.
Football as an agent of change in society? Well, why not? If you thought the game tonight was about celebrating Aboriginal football and indigenous footballers, you would only be partly right. Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri elder who will deliver the "welcome to country" ceremony before the game, says football can make, and has made, a difference in the struggle of Australia’s indigenous people.
The area around the MCG was a meeting place for the Wurundjeri people, and Murphy senses a feeling of contentment among the indigenous players when they step out there. "In my encounters with them, they stand so proud and strong and dignified when they get out on the ’G. It’s always been a sacred place to us."
Phil Egan, the former Richmond footballer who will present the trophy after tonight’s game between the Tigers and Essendon, says Australian football is embarrassing governments into acting on the myriad issues that confront Aborigines. If you think tonight is just a game of footy, you need to talk to Egan, a 127-game Tiger in the 1980s who lectures in the education faculty at Melbourne University, counsels young indigenous boys at Port Phillip Prison and mentors three Richmond players./p>
To Egan, it is all about so much more. "The stamping out of vilification and all those things have been wonderful, but it’s the tip of the iceberg," he said this week. "Football fans and Australians need this. It’s a social conscience thing.The Government won’t say ‘sorry’, and that’s fine.We don’t want them to say sorry if they don’t want to.
"But we want people to understand our history and our culture. Football is a great leveller and a great social environment where people can come together, and if it’s going to be up to the AFL to do what the Government should do, then fine."
Egan spent the first few years of his life on the Manatunga Aboriginal reserve near Robinvale, in the days when Australia practised a form of apartheid. In 1967,when he was four, indigenous people were given the vote for the first time by referendum and as such were acknowledged as Australian citizens, and his family moved out into the wider community.
Looking back now, Egan's reaction is wonder that all this is so recent. "We were allowed to go to school properly, my parents and grandparents were allowed to work without permits, all that sort of thing, and that was only 39 years ago! Sure, a lot of white people can say, 'Hang on, this happened 200 years ago. Get over it!' Hey, this happened in my lifetime. We've done a lot. There is still a long, long way to go.
"But we can't do it until the people understand the facts about our country and the facts about our history. We need a lot more Kevin Sheedys in the world and a lot more organisations taking the line that, 'We've got to do it, and we've got to do it now. Why didn't you protect that rich, wonderful culture that lasted 40,000 years? You took 250 years to destroy it!' We look after yellow spotted frogs and one parrot and old buildings. There's more importance given to that, which is just rubbish in terms of humanity."
Joy Murphy, who is a great-niece of William Barak, says that the famous Aboriginal footballers have provided inspiration. "We've had rough times, but Michael Long and Nicky Winmar and Derek Kickett, going back to Sir Doug Nicholls and Syd Jackson, these people have been at the cutting edge of change. That's just by playing in what was a racist sport."
Murphy's brother, Jim Wandin, was St Kilda's first indigenous player, in 1952; her father (also James), was approached by Collingwood as far back as the 1897, but never ventured from Lake Tyers in East Gippsland, where he was living. "It was way beyond his means," she said.
The AFL has won humanitarian awards for its stamping out of racial vilification in the past 15 years. At the league's 1996 centenary, Ross Oakley, the former league commissioner, commissioned 13 indigenous artists to produce football paintings, and they hang in the lobby of AFL House. They include Ginger Riley's depiction of the MCG reproduced with this article. Riley, the famous indigenous artist who died several years ago, went to his grave with Long's No. 13 Essendon guernsey. He adored Essendon.
"Dreamtime at the 'G", which began last year at the instigation of Sheedy and the AFL, is another step in the reconciliation process. Essendon and Richmond were chosen because their guernseys were thought to best represent the colours of the Aboriginal flag. Sheedy wants the concept to become as big as the Anzac Day blockbuster between Essendon and Collingwood.
They will turn down all the lights at the MCG tonight and create a campfire effect in which Paul Kelly, Peter Garrett, Renee Geyer, Christine Anu and Kutcha Edwards will sing. Long, who is launching his "The Long Walk" as part of the celebrations, will be there singing, too.
As it should be, of course, for it was Essendon's recruiting of Long in 1989 — at a time when clubs were resistant — that kick-started the wave of Aboriginal players who came into the game in the past few years. Aside from that, Long's refusal to accept vilification and his leadership of the campaign against racism in the sport also opened doors for his people that were previously bolted shut.
There are 55 Aboriginal players on AFL lists in 2006, representing almost 12 per cent of all players. Consider that indigenous Australians constitute 2 per cent of Australia's population and the success of the AFL in embracing Aboriginal players is evident.
Yet when Egan played they called him "Flagons", and the likes of Maurice Rioli and Jim Krakouer had to use their fists to combat the abuse. "We found ways to cope," Egan said. "We had to. But there was always one too many comments and one too many players in the opposition side that would use it to try to put you off your game, and that's wrong.
"When I played, I was lucky. We had Maurice and 'Mitch' (Michael Mitchell) and myself. I could look back and say, 'Hey, at least I'm counted as a human being and I've got rights'. When I look back at Pastor Doug Nicholls, Syd Jackson, Polly Farmer, Norm McDonald, George Egan, Ted Lovett, they weren't even (rated as) human. I had nothing to worry about."
Dean Rioli, the Territorian who will return to Essendon's side tonight, feels the same way. Rioli is the nephew of Maurice Rioli, the Richmond champion of the 1980s. "You hear stories about when Maurice played and Phil Egan. I haven't experienced it at all. If that's the way footy is going, hopefully society will follow."
Terry Wallace believes that the burgeoning of Aboriginal players in the AFL can only continue. His club, Richmond, has drafted Richard Tambling and today's debutant, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, in the past two years. "The game is now speed, run and carry, and the indigenous boys have got it in volumes," said Wallace.
Sheedy worked this out before just about anyone else, and he had the agent of his original plan sitting beside him at the bridge this week. Long gently, but theatrically, bumped his old coach as Sheedy reeled off a list of Aboriginal sportspeople he admired, as though to remind him that he was missing someone. They have this way of bouncing off each other, a little comedy routine. "Sorry, Michael," said Sheedy. "No, it's OK," said Long.
Sheedy, who is a hero to many Aborigines, played in an era when there were hardly any indigenous players. "We missed out in the VFL days," he said. "When you see a team like Port Power roll out there in the last quarter (of the grand final) two years ago and win a premiership and most of the indigenous players were best on the ground, that's put another wave of interest there in what we can achieve.
"All those young kids out there throughout the country, we're trying to inspire them that they can come and dance here at the MCG any time, because we've got the great game."
Murphy is realistic enough to know that football can't solve everything, but it's some sort of a start. "It's not just a football game. It's telling people that there are big issues that need to be dealt with, and we're not talking about welfare hand-outs. We're talking about real things. It won't solve everything, but if we all chip in and people are given opportunities, if people are given the profile of AFL footballers, their voices will be heard."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/05/1146335927354.html
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Kellaway has Aboriginal heritage too but the media seem to have forgotten about him ???.
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I think the Kellaway family would be surprised at that, MT.
As far as i know, and i spoke to a friend of the family who laughed at the suggestion, they have no indigenous heritage.
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I have it from a good source, that Wallace and Sheedy made an agreement to play all available Aboriginal players for tonights game.
Ryder will be a late inclusion for the bombers and if it rains Jackson will come in for us also :shh :thumbsup
I still dont like the fact that players are being given a "Token" game. You should have to earn it. >:(
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Must admitt I find it totally moronic that JON gets a game cause he is 'aboriginal', Polo desrves his chance, he has worked hard and performed well. WTF has Nicholls done - All the same hope he goes allright. I just don't get it. ???
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I think the Kellaway family would be surprised at that, MT.
As far as i know, and i spoke to a friend of the family who laughed at the suggestion, they have no indigenous heritage.
wayne carey and greg williams from the past are 2 players to never publicly state thay they have aboriginal
ancestory.
jimmy bartel from geelong out of current players is another, but it is strange that he does as i know for a fact he has won aboriginal sporting awards, now u cant win them unless ur aboriginal.
cricketer dizzy gillespie does not talk up his aboriginality either, and in this weeks koori mail, he is on teh front cover and has also won many aboriginal sporting awards.
maybe the kellaways dont talk it up, but do have aboriginal blood lines. if you look at his facial features and bone structure, u can see he does, thats just my opinion, as i am familiar with many aborignal ppl, who through the generations have lost alot of their skin colour. my wife, who is aborignal, told me the kellaways are years ago, i never believed her, until recently. my kids tonight will enjoy the game, as they are in a way italo/aboriginal australians .lol.....what a mix! too bad footy wise, as my 4 kids are all female!
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I think the Kellaway family would be surprised at that, MT.
As far as i know, and i spoke to a friend of the family who laughed at the suggestion, they have no indigenous heritage.
Chubba's photo is on this site with Blingers and Krak - http://afl.lisaj.id.au/tigers.htm
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I just think it is a mistake, MT - maybe someone can clarify it for us.
I don't know about the other side, but one side of the family are Beckwiths, as in John Beckwith and he wasn't aboriginal.
And when i asked a very close friend of the family, they laughed at the suggestion.
I will do some more digging lol
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I just think it is a mistake, MT - maybe someone can clarify it for us.
I don't know about the other side, but one side of the family are Beckwiths, as in John Beckwith and he wasn't aboriginal.
And when i asked a very close friend of the family, they laughed at the suggestion.
I will do some more digging lol
Well if he is then silky skills must have skipped a generation in brother Duncan's case ;).