Is He A Wog Or A Skip?

By benfti
In the 80’s and early 90’s I played junior football in Dandenong District Football League, I wore the mighty burgundy and gold of Lyndale Football Club, a proud club which spawned Mick Dwyer to AFL ranks and soon to release Glen Archer to the professional AFL mix. The DDJFL was a rough league even in junior ranks and some elite company ran around the league. Chad Morrison and Michael Braun played for the a couple of streets away Silverton, Brendan Fevola for North Dandenong, and the mighty Noble Park who had David Neitz and a young Adam Ramanauskas playing a few age groups higher, such was his ability, and Steven Milne. Noble Park also gave the 3 Morwood brothers, 2 Millanes, Mark Jackson, Darren Bennett and Warrick Capper to name a few. We fell under the zoning of North Melbourne and St Kilda.

It was a fine junior competition, heavily fierce and battle lines where drawn in the school ground depending on who you played for and they where only withdrawn when it came to school footy, and winning the southern zone. This enabled you could play off against the rich schools for the Herald/Sun shield and maybe play at VFL Park.

When I look back at those times with the benefit of age it makes you relies the level of skill it took to play AFL football today, The above mentioned players I had the good fortune of either playing with or against where in a league of their own. Such was there skill, teams would make finals on a regular basis with the influence those players could provide to their team of average joes. Shut down any one of them and you would almost certainly win.

When I think back to how good those players were, the ones I played with, I still to this day say they all paled in comparison to a kid called Joey. Joey was a richly talented, super quick wingman/half forward flanker, who when he turned it on could kick 7-8 goals in a game and had no peer. Slight of build and incapable of fear Joey was our go to guy, on field Joey was worshiped, off field not so much. Joey as fortunate as he was to be blessed with such talent had the then perceived misfortune of being Indigenous.

Joey came to our area as part of a relocation program brought about by the Aboriginal Co-Operative who had purchased a house in my street, and used it as a means to help settle families that had moved down from the Northern Territory. He went to same primary school as I did, which was extremely ethnically diverse. I was a little to well behaved in primary school and was regularly assigned the task of showing the new kid around. Which basically for me meant, taking them down to the oval for a kick at recess.

On the way down to the oval that first day Joey and I met I asked him, “What country are you from” which was actually a pretty common question to ask at our school”, Joey responded but not before looking to the ground and off to the side “Im Aboriginal” then looked back up at me as if to wait for me to recoil. Even at 10 years of age , he was ashamed of his heritage. Not understanding socially what that meant we continued down to the oval. It became quickly obvious that Joey was a lot better than the rest of us, we could not catch him and even at 10 he could kick drop punts to a target.

I worked out pretty quickly I had to get him to my football club. After school I asked Joey if he wanted to come and play at my club, he replied “I don’t think my mum would let me” I offered how to ask her for him, so we stopped by his house on the way home from school that evening. In that house I discovered that 11 people where living their, Joeys, Mother and Father, uncles and cousins, and brothers and sisters. His uncles where all alcoholics and looked absolutely offended that a white kid had come into the house. We asked his mum if it was ok, and she responded with “ if they let him, then its ok” I was so confused by what this meant. I said “they will let him, we only had 17 players last week, and Joeys really good”

Joey was not how a black fella would describe as a “straight from the bush aboriginal”, he was paler in complexion that that which did in fact make it unclear as to his nationality.

That Tuesday I took him up to training and my coach could not have been more ecstatic. “where did this kid come from?” “my school” “has he played anywhere else? Does he need a clearance?” “No” “Can he play on Sunday?” “yes”. Joey was pretty shy when it came to adults so the coach decided it was best I speak on his behalf. After training he came up to me and asked “what is he?” I said “he’s Aboriginal, like Phil Krakouer” just for clarification. “Oh” the coaches tone suddenly changing “I don’t know if the other parents would like that, I’ll have to check, can he pay his fee’s?”

After 2 weeks of deliberating in a way that was then foreign to me back then they allowed Joey to play for us, and from round 4 of that season coming off a season where we won only 3 games, we won our next 12.

Joey was a good kid, he didn’t play up, he kept to himself and above all he loved football. So it always confused me when ever something bad happened in our area (which was quite a lot, after all its Noble Park) the blame was shifted straight onto Joey or one of his brothers. More than half the time he was with me and even at the young pre-teen ages that we where it infuriated me no end. He was even mooted as the arsonist for Minster Carpets being burnt down before some years later finally discovering that it was the result of faulty wiring.

The constant blame and scrutiny of the multi-cultural mob in my town eventually became to much for his family to take. So they moved to the Northern suburbs where there was a denser Aboriginal Population, more places to point the blame. By the end of that decade Dandenong is 8% aboriginal. We lost Joey from the Puma’s and after time I lost contact with Joey. Thinking by then 15, the next time I see him he will be playing AFL, probably for the bombers! After all Michael Long was his hero.

In 1996 the year that Chad Morrison and Michael Braun where drafted to the AFL I found out that Joey had suffered severe brain damage from inhaling paint fumes to get high. Succumbing to the stereo type he never deserved.

With this in mind I always look at indigenous players a bit differently to the average draftee, knowing full well what for the most part they have had to over come to make it at the elite level.

So when you next see one of the 73 Indigenous Australians in the AFL in 2008. Stop and think, what country is he from?

This is the prologue to a 5 part series about indigenous footballers and the Essendon Football Club.

Posted 13 May 08 in News