Indigenous stars make camp a success

With the AFL Players’ Association Indigenous Camp entering its 11th year, General Manager - Player Development Steve Alessio explains the evolution of the camp and why it is so important.

“The camp is designed to provide Indigenous players with the opportunity and skills to support each other and give input into the development of programs that will benefit their personal and professional lives.”

“Each year this camp is improving and we measure its success by the amount of engagement we have with players and our ability to take the ideas they raise at these camps and make them a reality,”

One of the most impressive ideas this year was the creation of an AFL Indigenous Advisory board to be made up of current players to provide a voice for indigenous players within the AFL.

Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes was highly supportive of a board which would meet regularly to discuss matters facing indigenous players and many of the other sixty-nine indigenous players in attendance were quick to raise their hands to assist with its formation.

“This is a great initiative and something I would be honoured to be involved with. To be able to represent the other indigenous players in the competition and raise our views on matters which directly affect us would be something I would be very passionate about.”

“This is what the camp is all about, it’s about discussing these kind of ideas and then working with our Association to make them happen,” said Goodes.

“It is important that we continue to improve the understanding of Indigenous culture within the AFL and at an event like the camp there is a great opportunity for clubs, the AFL and our Association to get a better understanding of what life is like for an indigenous player,” said Goodes

The enthusiasm of Goodes was shared by many players throughout the five-day camp which featured a range of education sessions and activities held across Redfern, Blacktown and Central Sydney.

Hosted by Mark Yettica-Paulson, a founding member of the National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia (NIYMA) and consultant in leadership management and community education, the attendees were encouraged to approach every situation with three simple themes in mind – be shameless, be fearless and be curious.

This proved crucial in facilitating open and courageous discussions between all parties in attendance.

For the first time, the AFL Players’ Association invited club Player Development Managers to attend the camp to learn more about indigenous culture and discuss how each organisation can better service the cultural requirements of Indigenous players.

Players discussed land, spirit and culture which highlighted the differences between their cultural backgrounds and showed that a “one-size fits all” approach to indigenous culture is a very misguided approach.

This led to a discussion about the concept of cultural leave, which would allow players to attend funerals and meet their cultural expectations.

Players provided individual insights into what is expected of them from a cultural perspective from members of their families and within their community and the importance that is placed on attending funerals and the ramifications should they be unable to attend. Player Development Managers then provided a club’s perspective and together discussed ideas for how this situation could be potentially improved.

Phil Narkle from the West Coast Eagles, who is the first-ever Indigenous Liaison Officer to be appointed at an AFL Football Club, spoke about his role and how he is assisting the club in understanding Indigenous culture.

In particular, he explained the necessity for players to attend these cultural ceremonies and how other clubs can work with players and their cultural elders within indigenous communities to make the concept of cultural leave a realistic option within an AFL club.

He explained that the cultural leave concept must be individualised, as each player has a different cultural expectation, depending on which tribe they are from, so a blanket approach to the matter is unrealistic.

To assist with this, Phil has created a handbook for the Eagles which provides insights into different Indigenous cultures within the club in the hope of creating a better understanding among staff and building a better environment for Indigenous players.

Continuing with this cultural leave theme, Mark Yettica-Paulson spoke about the services other sectors offer to indigenous employees which cater for cultural leave to attend funerals and whether this could work within an AFL club.

At the conclusion of this discussion, the players were able to unwind with a presentation by an U16 Flying Boomerangs side which had returned from a tour of Tonga, where they played in a carnival against seven South Pacific nations - Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tonga.

They spoke of their experiences from both a cultural and football perspective and then demonstrated the “war-cry” which they had developed themselves and had performed throughout their tour.

The All-Stars were taught this “war-cry” by the Under 16 players in preparation for performing this dance for the first time when they faced Richmond in Alice Springs.

The young players joined the group in a training session at the Blacktown Olympic Park stadium in Blacktown, providing a spectacle for the fans who had gathered and players then took time to sign autographs and chat to fans.

The following morning, players were in Redfern at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence participating in educational sessions about managing money, commercial opportunities for players, leaving a legacy and taking ownership of the new AFL Indigenous Advisory Board.

Players later returned to the Mercure hotel in Central Sydney knowing that the AFL All Stars team would soon be announced and when Michael O’Loughlin eventually read out the team the excitement amongst those selected was very apparent.

The boys then gathered to watch the “Three Boys Dreaming” documentary featuring Carlton’s Chris Yarran, who had just been named an All-Star, and which followed his path to AFL football.

The following morning players travelled to various schools throughout Sydney to provide some training and education to young kids to encourage them to stay in school and then took them through some basic football drills.

The bond between these players had clearly grown since the beginning of the camp with many players discussing what they had learnt over the previous days and providing feedback to the AFL Players’ Association on what they would like to see improved.

Unfortunately, the AFL All-Stars match was cancelled due to bad weather. The camp was a huge success with players driving the agenda on how Indigenous programs can be improved and with the formation of an AFL Players’ Indigenous Advisory Board already underway.