A long-awaited statue of the AFL great Nicky Winmar will be unveiled at the Optus Stadium in Perth next month to commemorate the stand he took against racism.
The statue, showing the moment Winmar lifted his shirt after enduring racist abuse from the crowd at a St Kilda-Collingwood match in 1993 and pointed at his skin, will be unveiled on Noongar country at the start of Naidoc week on 6 July.
“I’m black and I’m proud to be black,” he told the crowd.
The statue has been two years in the making.
The announcement comes two days after the AFL apologised to former Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes for its failure to stand with him against the racist abuse that prompted him to end his career in 2015.
Winmar, a Noongar man, started his professional football career playing for South Fremantle in the Western Australian Football League before being recruited by St Kilda.
He said he hoped the statue “encourages more conversations and education about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.
“I’d like to thank the AFL and the Western Australian state government for commissioning this statue, the artist has done an incredible job acknowledging this moment in my life,” he said.
“It’s a surreal thing to be a part of and it’s something my family are very proud of.”
The WA Aboriginal affairs minister, Ben Wyatt, a Yamatji man, said Winmar was an inspiration to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Nicky’s actions that day have inspired countless other young people in both sport and in life to stand up and be proud of yourself and your heritage,” he said.
Tanya Hosch, the AFL’s general manager for inclusion and social policy, said the statue depicted “a defining moment for calling out racism in our country”.
The Melbourne-based sculptor Louis Laumen based the 2.7m statue on Wayne Ludbey’s iconic photograph.
It was paid for by a combination of crowdfunding and support from the AFL, and had been waiting in a workshop in Melbourne for some months, according to reports in the West Australian, until delivery could be arranged to WA.
The sports minister, Mick Murray, said transport company Border Express had since offered to deliver it for free.
.jpg?w=600)
