View Full Version : Footy's brotherhood
Ford Fairlane
25 Jun 2006, 11:14
From today's Age (http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/06/24/1150845421064.html). You'd hope Gavin continues to be involved with the club at whatever level suits him. Not sure he'd want to be an assistant coach, but certainly as a club ambassador for young Indigenous players combined with a skills coaching role. From the way he spoke at his retirement announcement, he wants to stay involved.
In a league of their own, footy's brotherhood kicks on
Chloe Saltau
June 25, 2006
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/06/24/svFRONTPAGE_wideweb__470x168.jpg
WHEN a shy, gifted Gavin Wanganeen made his debut for Essendon in 1991, he was one of only 15 Aboriginal players in the AFL.
But by the time he retired this month, with two premierships, 300 games and a Brownlow Medal to his name, there were 56 indigenous men on AFL club lists.
Historic photographs taken by John Donegan and published in The Sunday Age celebrate the achievements of the league's Aboriginal footballers. The 15 elder statesmen pictured here have blazed trails all over the country and enlivened the game with their skills. "It's definitely something I'm going to put on my wall," Fremantle's Des Headland said.
At 33, Wanganeen succumbed to a chronic knee injury and retired from Port Adelaide. His first AFL coach, Kevin Sheedy, described him as second only to Michael Long in his influence on Aboriginal players.
"He would have been the first Aboriginal footballer to get a $1 million contract in the history of the game," Sheedy said.
Wanganeen's retirement leaves Chris Johnson, the creative and tough triple-premiership defender for Brisbane, and Andrew McLeod, Adelaide's dual-Norm Smith medallist, as the most senior Aboriginal players in the AFL.
Last night, Collingwood's Leon Davis, who has played 100 games, faced Sydney veterans Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin. They may have been representing different clubs, but, as the players convey in a series of interviews with The Sunday Age, they have a brotherhood that transcends rivalries.
Aboriginal players represent almost 12 per cent of all players in the league, while indigenous Australians are 2 per cent of the population.
The first footballer of known Aboriginal heritage to play in the then-VFL was Joe Johnson. He made his debut for Fitzroy in 1904. Since then, 155 Aboriginal players have followed in his footsteps.
RussellEbertHandball
25 Jun 2006, 14:40
There's a good site about Aboriginal footballers and their impact on the WA, SA, Vic and NT leagues Aboriginal Football (http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/records.html)
Interesting to note that the Age only talks about the impact of 155 footballers on the V/AFL. Aboriginal footballers had a great impact on WAFL footy long before they did in SA and Vic and the AFL. That's why the only 3 Aboriginal palyers in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Polly Farmer, Barry Cable, and Stephen Michael are WA boys.
There will be a few more in the Hall of fame in the next few years and I reckon 3 in that photo, Wanganeen, McLeod and Johnson will probably be inducted as soon as they have served their 3 years retirement ineligiblity period. There probably are 3 or 4 other Hall of Famers in that shot.
And if the Age had waited to Rd 22 to take the photo there would have been 2 other fantastic players in that photo with 100 games under their belt, Graham Johncock and Shaun Burgoyne who could also give selection into the Hall of Fame a shake if they continue improving.
Powerstufff
25 Jun 2006, 15:57
My brother in law recently sent me this (http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/news/afl/from-a-long-shot-to-a-good-betts/2006/06/22/1150845311703.html) Age article on Carlton's Eddie Betts recently and it shows the difficult path faced by many aboriginal players.
wharfie_1870
25 Jun 2006, 21:14
.....WHEN a shy, gifted Gavin Wanganeen made his debut for Essendon in 1991, he was one of only 15 Aboriginal players in the AFL......According to the SANFL in the AAMI Stadium Members Official Newsletter, June 2006, Wangas debut SANFL season was 1989 and he was part of the premiership side that year. I don't recall Wangas playing at all in 1989 :confused:
Ford Fairlane
26 Jun 2006, 00:34
According to the SANFL in the AAMI Stadium Members Official Newsletter, June 2006, Wangas debut SANFL season was 1989 and he was part of the premiership side that year. I don't recall Wangas playing at all in 1989 :confused:
It's simply wrong. The 1989 Premiership side was:
F Hynes, Hodges, Brown
HF R Smith, D Smith, Mahney
C Hutton, S Williams, Tregenza
HB Abernethy, Phillips, Northeast
B Fiacchi, Delaney, G Boyd
R Johnston, Obst, Ginever
I R Boyd, Harrison
Wangas debuted in 1990 and played in that Premiership team.
Hodges 153!
26 Jun 2006, 09:55
It's simply wrong. The 1989 Premiership side was:
F Hynes, Hodges, Brown
HF R Smith, D Smith, Mahney
C Hutton, S Williams, Tregenza
HB Abernethy, Phillips, Northeast
B Fiacchi, Delaney, G Boyd
R Johnston, Obst, Ginever
I R Boyd, Harrison
Wangas debuted in 1990 and played in that Premiership team.
Ah, what a side!!!
Oh for a few of them at the peak of their powers right now....
wharfie_1870
26 Jun 2006, 10:08
It's simply wrong........
Wangas debuted in 1990 and played in that Premiership team.Thanks Ford. I thought as much. Good to see that the SANFL are on the ball :rolleyes:
RussellEbertHandball
8 Jul 2006, 19:19
Just saw a story on Gavin Wanganeen on Stateline SA edition on ABC2 and found it very interesting. It will be replayed tomorrow at 6.30pm your local time if you have cable or free to air. If you have a satellite subscription it will be on at 6.30pm AEST.
Gee Gavin looks, especially his eyes, like his great grandfather D.ick Davey. If Port's recruiting staff ever again ignore Gavin about any Davey who plays football on the West Coast I will be p***ed off. We should have Aaron Davey on our list if they listened to him. D.ick Davey was obviously a special player and bloke, winning a senior premiership with Koonibba, a small town 40k's outside Ceduna, at 14, and being a leader of his people as well.
I look forward to getting a copy of John Gascoyne's book tracing the bloodlines of champion Aboriginal footballers from the West Coast. The book will be published later this year. Gascoyne said that he believes Gavin's career legacy was that he both fulfilled the ambitions of the past and shown the possibilities for the future. The aboriginal lads of West Coast now see a career path in football thanks to Gavin. Since Gavin, Pickett, P. Burgoyne, S.Burgoyne, Johncock, Davey, Harry Miller and Eddie Betts have gone from the West Coast bush to the AFL. Daniel Wells also spent some time at Mallee Park.
Interesting that the Burgoynes' father and Pickett's father played footy with Gavin's uncles the Daveys. I guess the 2004 flag was even more special for them as a little group of their own footy history.
Toots Hibbert
8 Jul 2006, 19:25
Uncanny. I just posted about this in the Wanganeen retires thread! Glad you alerted us to the replay. :thumbsu: I checked the Tiser and saw they replayed it today and didn't think they'd do so again. It's well worth taping it folks if you are in the habit of collecting Port mementos.
RussellEbertHandball
8 Jul 2006, 19:33
Yeah I taped it Toots for a mate, D_One (who ocassionaly posts here) who is overseas. He went to the World Cup to watch Australia, and on a bit of a chance and a larke is in Rio at the moment for the World Cup final.
There's a book by Iris Burgoyne called "Mirning, We Are the Whales" (Magabala Press) about all the people from the coast along the Bight, including the Eyre Peninsula, from the end of the 19th century. There's a wonderful photo of the Koonibba football team from 1919 which has Burgoynes, Daveys, a Harry Miller, and a fair few blokes who look just like Byron.
Yes, many of the families moved over to Port Lincoln in the 1950s, and were active in setting up the whole Mallee Park dynasty.
It's a wonderful book, just for the photos. The whole story would make an excellent miniseries, something like the old American one, "Roots".
RussellEbertHandball
8 Jul 2006, 20:34
Sandola, D.ick Davey was 14 when he won the 1910 flag. He should be in the 1919 team. Do you reckon he looks live Gavin? Did the Ceduna/Australian Bight clan move to Port Lincoln by choice or did the government force them?
Sandola, D.ick Davey was 14 when he won the 1910 flag. He should be in the 1919 team. Do you reckon he looks live Gavin? Did the Ceduna/Australian Bight clan move to Port Lincoln by choice or did the government force them?
Good questions. I'll answer with what's in the book sometime tomorrow. Got a footy game to listen to just now! Go the Power. (And thank you, thank you, Mallee Park FC)
Footy, bah.
Anyhow, REH, the 1919 Koonibba side didn't have a Davey named in the caption, just a couple of Davises. There were 3 or 4 players listed as "unknown", but none of them look anything like either Gav or Aaron. The only time Iris Burgoyne mentions Daveys in her book is to list them among the five families who moved to Port Lincoln at about the same time as her family did, late 40s early 50s.
I'll keep an eye out for the Gascoyne book. Sounds really useful to fill in some history.
Iris Burgoyne doesn't say why the Burgoynes and others moved to Port Lincoln. They went first in 1949 for a year or so, returned to near the mission at Koonibba, then went back to Port Lincoln. No suggestion of "force" in the sense of frogmarching or railroading, but the entire book is a story of people being squeezed away from their land, their occupations and sources of sustinence. Fewer and fewer options and resources were available to them, right through the 20th century. (1919, the year of the footy picture, was the same year several kids died from what the whites called an outbreak of flu and the Mirning and Kolkatha called poisoned wells. Iris Burgoyne says they always kept their water sources secret for as long as possible.) When they moved to Mallee Park, it was really just a fringe camp, and they lived very rough. It's amazing what those families made out of it all.
Can anyone recommend any other histories of that time around the Bight? (Nothing by K. Windschuttle, thanks.)
RussellEbertHandball
9 Jul 2006, 19:10
Just a reminder for those who want to see the Gavin Wanganeen story on Stateline and who have access to ABC2.
If you have a satellite subscription it will be on at 6.30pm AEST ie soon.
If you have cable or free to air, it will be on at 6.30pm your local time. It's the last story on and goes for about 9 minutes.
RussellEbertHandball
9 Jul 2006, 19:24
Thanks for that Sandola.:thumbsu:
Hopefully Gavin or one of the other West Coast footballers helps to launch the Gascoyne book so that there is a bit of publicty about it. If you hear about it's availability make a post here so that I can get my family to buy me a copy, as I doubt it will make it's way to Sydney book stores.
Just a reminder for those who want to see the Gavin Wanganeen story on Stateline and who have access to ABC2.
If you have a satellite subscription it will be on at 6.30pm AEST ie soon.
If you have cable or free to air, it will be on at 6.30pm your local time. It's the last story on and goes for about 9 minutes.
Thanks for the heads up, REH. That was great. Always nice to see Che. ABC2 is brilliant -- I've been watching a bit of SANFL on Friday nights after the ch9 game. Wonder how long until the govt strangles its funding. (ps apparently John Gascoyne published an earlier version of his work in 1986. "Far West Football Leagues". But so far I can't find any publishing details -- I'd guess it was self-published -- or any copies of the book on line.)
RussellEbertHandball
9 Jul 2006, 21:52
Yeah Sandola ABC2 is great. :thumbsu: When I remember, I watch a SANFL game on Tuesday or Friday night and watch out for the kids on our list. Ocassionally I watch a quarter or 2 of the WAFL or VFL. And then it's good to catch programs you normally watch but have missed. I stayed up to watch the Germany v Portugal game so woke up early arvo. I've got Landline going on in the background, rejuvinating my knowledge of ethanol and bio fuels, and will watch Insiders and Offsiders as well, seeing I slept thru them this morning.
I think ABC2 is safe as long as analogue tv is around. When digitial tv becomes the norm then government funding will dry up. So we should be able to enjoy it for the next 5 years or so.
Not surprised Gascoyne has already published a book. Stateline did give him the title of West Coast football historian, and he was flicking thru a folder that looked like draft pages from a book.