Sam Newman’s star is fairly dim these days. He is like a talk-show host on community television, but without the depth, gravitas, and for the most part, clout. But if nothing else, he is smart enough to understand that his only way to stumble under the spotlight is to open his mouth and cut loose with some inane invective.
And so it was last week, when Newman felt obliged to give us something of himself as a prelude to the start of a week-long celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and their contributions to Australian footy, opened by Sunday’s game between Melbourne and Adelaide at Alice Springs.
Commanding his desk on the low-rating AFL Footy Show and adopting a kind of boys-in-the-changerooms voice, Newman reincarnated the interior monologue of his sheltered, scatological mind when responding to the suggestion of the formation of an Indigenous past players association.
“This on the surface of it looks like a pretty clumsy attempt to extort money out of the AFL, who provide a reasonable opportunity for everyone to succeed in a football life, not just certain sections of the community,” Newman said. “I reckon this is a pretty shallow attempt to go for a money grab.”
On the surface of it, what it does look like is some of the game’s leading players – Michael O’Loughlin, Gavin Wanganeen, Derek Kickett and Des Headland – using their agency and binding together to address issues relating to the transition of Aboriginal players out of AFL football that they feel are yet to be resolved. Far from “a clumsy attempt to extort money out of the AFL” it is a powerful thing that it is an issue they want to own and be responsible for.
The poet William Blake once wrote that “he who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars. General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer.” While nobody can deny the value of the Sir Douglas Nicholls round to celebrate and acknowledge the contribution of Indigenous footballers, it risks being reduced to an AFL marketing exercise if not accompanied by the ‘minute particulars’ – those programs such as O’Loughlin’s (in partnership with Adam Goodes) Go Foundation, and the Clontarf Foundation that both seek to genuinely improve Indigenous lives through football and education, kid by kid.
The benefits of another program that uses football as an agent of change could be seen in the curtain-raiser to Sunday’s clash between Melbourne and Adelaide, when the Redtails took on the Top End Storm in a game telecast live by Seven and streamed on the AFL website. The Redtails – and its women’s team, the Pinktails – are a club created under the auspices of the Right Tracks program. Ian McAdam, a local employed by the Clontarf Foundation, recognised the need for a program aimed at 18-25-year-old Aboriginal people with little or no formal education. He established Right Tracks as a way to address the disconnection of young Indigenous men in the Alice Springs region that feeds into broader social dysfunction.
“Football really brings our mob together. You talk to anyone in any community around Alice Springs and Central Australia and football definitely sits alongside the culture,” says McAdam. “Everything that makes up a really good sporting culture within a team, you can easily take that out into your community.”
Club founder and President, Rob Clarke says the challenges for young adults in Central Australia are “everything you can think of and more.” The Redtails look to address some of these challenges through employment opportunities and regular health checks. It is worth noting here that “the certain sections of the community” that Newman sneeringly refers to disproportionately suffer from unemployment and poor health.
“It’s a holistic response to becoming a better person, and you get to play footy for your region,” says Clarke. “Without the footy, you wouldn’t get them there to teach them to change their thought processes on that.”
Melbourne was instrumental in bringing AFL to Alice Springs and has played at least one game there every year since 2014. The Demons have also been allocated the Alice Springs region as part of its Next Generation Academy to help unearth future talent.
Last year, Melbourne announced a formal relationship with the Redtails to help the Central Australian club further develop its program by sharing resources and creating commercial opportunities.
“AFL football has time and again shown to be a great catalyst for improved outcomes in communities,” said Melbourne’s general manager of football operations, Josh Mahoney, at last October’s announcement of the partnership.
“Whilst there may be some talent outcomes through the development of this program, we also believe if we are can play a role in assisting young people in the Alice Springs region in becoming role models in the communities, then we see that as a success.”
On Sunday the Demons were irrepressible, blowing Adelaide off TIO Traeger Park by 15 goals, cementing them in third spot and confirming them as appointment TV and a genuine Premiership threat. Earlier in the day, the Redtails were every bit as impressive, beating the Top End Storm by 112 points.
The success of the partnership between the two clubs – alongside organisations such as the Right Tracks Program that seek to make a genuine difference to Aboriginal lives (which on the surface would be the same modus operandi of an Indigenous past players association) – is more appropriate and enjoyable way to welcome the Sir Douglas Nicholls round than a miserable man’s cynicism.
