Liam Jurrah being held by police -Sen

[Goady138]

The only conclusion I can draw, given my limited information, is that you're judging by association. Jurrah is from Yuendumu. The other folks are from Yuendumu, ergo...lump all under the same conclusion.

You may have a valid point, but I have only the information presented and it is two sad stories from the same location. Coincidences do happen.

Skids, i have not judged anyone.
Settle back.

 

[sTeeL]

LJ is an elder in the community and it seems things have got out of hand sadly not for the first time.

Surely bullshit. He is 23 and has not lived in that community for ages.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Surely Neeld didn't intend this when he instructed Jurrah to carve up the opposition.

That's the last time I make a crack about soccer fans carrying knives.

 

[Tulip]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/130309/default.aspx

Two sides of his family fighting, must be very hard when you're away...

Don't jump the gun

 

[markm106]

Surely bullshit. He is 23 and has not lived in that community for ages.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2012/03/08/292905_ntnews.html

Read the article it is in there. Has been mentioned plenty of times In the media over past few years.

 

[MaddAdam]

If you use twitter as a source for something as sensational and serious as this then you are an idiot of the highest order, which is something I already suspected.

Indeed.

The fact that the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs broke on Twitter must be discounted in the face of this sensational and serious story.

 

[Axle17]

Listening to robbo crap on about knowing all on 360. I've come to two conclusions..
1) robbo pls never speak again. you are not god.
2) everyone is going crazy here without knowing exactly what went on. Maybe he went to stop the other 23 year old, was too late but managed to take the weapon off him as the cops arrived to see it in his hands?

 

[Maddhew]

As an Aboriginal man, let me try to shed a tiny bit of light on this one.

Prior to 1788, Australia was divided into over 300 different Aboriginal countries. Not states, or territories, but countries. Just as Africa has 53 countries in one continent, this land was broken into 300+ Aboriginal countries, which is why you meet kids in places like Alice Springs that even today in 2012 can speak literally several different Aboriginal languages. So just because Captain Cook landed and in 2012 We all say Julia Gillard is the Prime Minister, in a remote place like Yuendumu, the law that we acknowledge and bow to, isnt held in the same high regard, because quite frankly, those fellas largely still live in their own cultural "country" by and large.

So just because we look at it through our Western/European Aussie law eyes, those boys are living in a much closer/old school/ tied to their original country and law way. There has ALWAYS been fear of tribal/old school punishment and retribution over this feud/incident. It doesnt make it right in my eyes, as personally I dont believe in an eye for an eye, but on the same token, what I (as an Aboriginal man) am hoping, is that we as Australians, can sit back, wait for all the details to emerge, and not judge/condemn/pontificate about it through our own eyes and standards, but endeavour to learn a little about the local country where it happened and what the history and background are, and what old school Yuendumu country law dictates should happen, and try to empathise with not only Liam, but everyone involved in this tragic story.

It's 2012, and if someone flew across the country to inflict grievous bodily harm against someone as retribution/revenge, then i have no empathy.

Especially if said person has been living in what would be considered a regular Australian community for the past 2.5 years.

There is one law in Australia, like it or not we have to abide by it or face the consequences

 

[Axle17]

It's 2012, and if someone flew across the country to inflict grievous bodily harm against someone as retribution/revenge, then i have no empathy.

Especially if said person has been living in what would be considered a regular Australian community for the past 2.5 years.

There is one law in Australia, like it or not we have to abide by it or face the consequences

That being said, they actually do have different laws up there...

 

[markm106]

The club are intending to have Jurrah on a flight back to Melbourne tomorrow. May still face charges however. If he is allowed back maybe he won't have as serious charges as first thought. Wait and see.

 

[Maddhew]

That being said, they actually do have different laws up there...

There are customary laws which aren't necessarily recognised but may be taken into account by a court. In my opinion these set an extremely dangerous precedent.

By definition Sharia law is customary.

 

[ant555]

It's 2012, and if someone flew across the country to inflict grievous bodily harm against someone as retribution/revenge, then i have no empathy.

Especially if said person has been living in what would be considered a regular Australian community for the past 2.5 years.

There is one law in Australia, like it or not we have to abide by it or face the consequences

Not that i condone what happened and the violence involved the issue is more complex than simply one law one punishment.

Tribes live in central Australia and it is the case that they live by their own rules and culture even now and you can meet people who have had very little white contact, do not speak a lot of English and are pretty much isolated.
Sadly the lines get crossed when the cultures start to clash in places like Alice Springs where a number of factors bring these incidents into the public view.

If guilty he has to pay the price but the issues are not simple.

The one thing i hope comes from this is more people get some understanding of the general issues involved and stop seeing Aboriginal people as just one race who believe in the same views, have the same laws and are a generic brand.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

Worse than just losing Jurrah it will probably put off clubs recruiting in the future from remote Indigenous communities which would be a massive shame.

I would like to think we have moved beyond such narrow mindedness.

There have been plenty of 'white' country boys who have come down to the city and either behaved poorly or simply just not coped.

Do we stop recruiting them?

 

[Paul Kersey]

Gonna met the couger at the airport and get my book signed.

 

[syl]

Gonna met the couger at the airport and get my book signed.

Haha, I am not sure he will be signing books at the airport.

 

[Maddhew]

Serious Question?

Is there a big difference between?:

• A revenge attack involving attacking the head with a machete

• A revenge attack throwing acid in the eyes

PS i do hope he is innocent

 

[Righteo]

Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Would absolutely hate to see something happen to his AFL career.

Agree with this. Exciting player to watch and it'd be a shame for the league if his career is put in serious jeopardy.

 

[Underdog]

Not that i condone what happened and the violence involved the issue is more complex than simply one law one punishment.

Tribes live in central Australia and it is the case that they live by their own rules and culture even now and you can meet people who have had very little white contact, do not speak a lot of English and are pretty much isolated.
Sadly the lines get crossed when the cultures start to clash in places like Alice Springs where a number of factors bring these incidents into the public view.

If guilty he has to pay the price but the issues are not simple.

The one thing i hope comes from this is more people get some understanding of the general issues involved and stop seeing Aboriginal people as just one race who believe in the same views, have the same laws and are a generic brand.

Agree with this.

That's not to say I condone his alleged actions but it's a complex issue that generalisations and single-mindedness won't help fix.

 

[Bayer_]

Agree with this.

That's not to say I condone his alleged actions but it's a complex issue that generalisations and single-mindedness won't help fix.

Sure, but at the end of the day, not everything is relative; some things are absolute. Hacking somebody with a knife (if he did it) is just plain inhuman.

 

[Forward Press]

The club are intending to have Jurrah on a flight back to Melbourne tomorrow. May still face charges however. If he is allowed back maybe he won't have as serious charges as first thought. Wait and see.

For anything short of murder or terrorism, you'd find bail is granted in the vast majority of cases.

My personal opinion is that we really shouldn't comment on these sorts of things until more info is released. As far as I'm concerned at this stage, Liam Jurrah is merely being questioned by police and is not the accused.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Haha, I am not sure he will be signing books at the airport.

Booooooo. Had the book for eight months, haven't had a chance to read it yet. Might give it a go this weekend.

 

[MaddAdam]

I'm a big fan of Jurrah. He's brilliant to watch when he's on and the "journey" he's made is phenomenal in terms of a personal thing. Him moving to Melbourne would have been every bit as alienating and challenging as me moving to a desert town like where he came from.

But lets be honest here, North get accused of "exploiting" Majak Daw and the Demons have been utterly SHAMELESS in using Jurrah. Fair enough to a certain extent; he's an enormously sexy and good story, you can't blame them.

But we're now talking about how "things are different up there" and starting to go down some very dangerous path where we are now accepting attempted capital punishment - I'm not saying Jurrah did anything and until a court rules on who did launch a machete attack on someone I won't say any individual did do it - because we love the Jurrah good vibe story.

Wonder how this story would be going if his name was Dayne Beams. Or Wayne Carey. When Carey glassed his missus nobody talked about how he came from a phenomenally screwed up background where he once sat and watched his brother wait for his Dad to come home with a loaded gun to knock him because the Dad bashed their Mum so bad.

If a bogan kid from a bogan suburb who was really good at footy got caught in a car with his old mate who had a gun and half a kilo of ice down his dacks, would we talk about how in that world there's a different code that applies and you never dog your mates etc etc etc?

I hope for Jurrah's sake he wasn't directly involved in this because he's going to jail if he swung a machete that hit someone. And indigenous blokes from desert communities and the justice system have an ugly history.

But someone has got macheted in the head here. Apart from rape cases, I can't think of a more serious offence a player has been accused of. It is possibly attempt murder. And that is serious serious stuff.

 

[Underdog]

Hang on. As far as I'm aware there is no information stating Jurrah ever even held the machete.

 

[frednirk]

Machete attacks are a part of aboriginal culture. We should respect their ways of life and let them machete attack eachother all day.

it is simply unfair to pass judgement on these machete attacking people. Macehete attacks up in alice springs are as normal as walking a dog down the street in suburban melbourne.

So live and let machete attack i say.

 

[MaddAdam]

Hang on. As far as I'm aware there is no information stating Jurrah ever even held the machete.

I'm not saying he did. Not for a second.

I'm saying IF he did, he's in serious trouble.

WHOEVER did is in trouble. Anyone who does something like that is in trouble.

Reality is he's in the lock up and at the very least we can ascertain things are very, very difficult for him at the moment, which must be horrible.