Toast South Sudanese Players In The AFL

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Jul 14, 2005
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In this years draft we have seen the first player taken in the Top 5 hailing from South Sudan.

Allir Allir became the first South Sudanese player to get in the All-Australian team this season.

CJ is tracking to be a star rebounding defender.

Dunno how to broach this exactly but I’m predicting there is going to be a hell of a lot of players on AFL lists who are South Sudanese immigrants or are of South Sudanese descent over the next 50 years, and going out on a limb a little I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the AFL had its own NBA-style revolution at some point in time.

Exciting to see how this next generation go, and in particular keen to see how the Blues NGA recruit Dom Akuei develops in the next couple of years.

The natural athleticism, flair and competitiveness they bring is great to watch, and you only need to look at the development of Allir since his first year at the Swans to understand the ceiling some of these players have and are going to have as they come into the system.

You love to see it.
 

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Doctor Demise
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I think it’s good for footy but worry the biggest problem they’ll encounter and you see it alot in the EPL is racism and social media online abuse. Don’t see it stopping anytime soon with online anonymity
 

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CJ is my second favourite current player (after Sicily, I love an arrogant, cocky loudmouth). Having the kids of African background come to the game is a beautiful thing, not only for their own talent and flair but for the way they are embraced by the supporters, which hopefully makes the wider immigrant communities feel welcome and part of Australian society. Not to ignore the very valid point of Hooker above, as there will always be some regressive DHs around, but broadly speaking sport has been a fantastic means of integrating people of all stripes into society (and going some way to addressing the mistakes of the past).

I've heard there's some cricket clubs in Melbourne's west that have a heavy African presence, as well. Maybe in 10 years or so we'll have a tall, express bowler in the Test side from this heritage, too.
 
I think it’s good for footy but worry the biggest problem they’ll encounter and you see it alot in the EPL is racism and social media online abuse. Don’t see it stopping anytime soon with online anonymity
can't we just appreciate something without trying to find a negative all the ******* time?
 
I was kinda hoping Hawthorn would go full Sudanese draft route this year with Andrew and Aleer, so that we had those two out there with CJ.
Would have got bums on seats having that amount of X factor in one side.
 
We see an over representation based on population % by indigenous players, who offer so much to our game. This is great for all Australians and the indigenous community, seeing great role models which has positive implications far beyond footy.

I expect to see something similar with the Sudanese, which I welcome and look forward to.
 
Oct 8, 2004
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We see an over representation based on population % by indigenous players, who offer so much to our game. This is great for all Australians and the indigenous community, seeing great role models which has positive implications far beyond footy.

I expect to see something similar with the Sudanese, which I welcome and look forward to.
The problem in SA is that most of them are in Centrals zone and they are the weakest at developing juniors at present.
 
Sep 13, 2020
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CJ is my second favourite current player (after Sicily, I love an arrogant, cocky loudmouth). Having the kids of African background come to the game is a beautiful thing, not only for their own talent and flair but for the way they are embraced by the supporters, which hopefully makes the wider immigrant communities feel welcome and part of Australian society. Not to ignore the very valid point of Hooker above, as there will always be some regressive DHs around, but broadly speaking sport has been a fantastic means of integrating people of all stripes into society (and going some way to addressing the mistakes of the past).

I've heard there's some cricket clubs in Melbourne's west that have a heavy African presence, as well. Maybe in 10 years or so we'll have a tall, express bowler in the Test side from this heritage, too.
We have a few young guys in our juniors , their athleticism is incredible .
One rocked up to training with his mate, never played before and we had to show him what bowling was .
By the end of the session he was bowling rockets , was yards quicker than anything I've seen at the age level .

They seem more interested in soccer, nba and afl though .
 
We have a few young guys in our juniors , their athleticism is incredible .
One rocked up to training with his mate, never played before and we had to show him what bowling was .
By the end of the session he was bowling rockets , was yards quicker than anything I've seen at the age level .

They seem more interested in soccer, nba and afl though .

Would love if our Test bowling unit in 10-15 years is what the Windies used to have...
 
Aug 11, 2006
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It's pretty cool, Hopefully seeing Kids in different backgrounds break through and become successful help inspire first/second generation kids who are often or not held back due to their background/socio economic issues from success.


The one thing I wish however is just commentators just fawning over the stereotype of "Athletism" I love Jiath because he's absolutely fearless and happy to make mistakes or hitting packs at full speed with not even cosidering taking a backwards step, Love to see a commenator mention how he's an absolute hard nut hunting the ball over "Oh hes so quick!!1"
 
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Apr 28, 2008
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A proportion of them have been playing since beginning of juniors too.

I feel like the Sudanese Australians (who have a striking look to the unaccustomed) have been around long enough now that they don't get those second takes as much in society. Maybe depends on where you go in Australia, but I'd imagine the racism would have lessened compared to a decade ago. Still, as long as 'african gangs' is in the tabloids, there will be pockets of racist morons, and you can imagine the accumulative toll that some of these people would have felt growing up and copping condescension, suspicion, systemics if not outright abuse. If there is racism in Australia I'm sure these people know all about it, but seeing them push through in various spheres in society is inspirational, and as relatively recent immigrants I'm glad it isn't just a narrow sports-based/popstar pathway to uplift but hopefully broader than that (but it doesn't hurt, we're a sporting nation afterall)
 
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It's pretty cool, Hopefully seeing Kids in different backgrounds break through and become successful help inspire first/second generation kids who are often or not held back due to their background/socio economic issues from success.


The one thing I wish however is just commentators just fawning over the stereotype of "Athletism" I love Jiath because he's absolutely fearless and happy to make mistakes or hitting packs at full speed with not even cosidering taking a backwards step, Love to see a commenator mention how he's an absolute hard nut hunting the ball over "Oh hes so quick!!1"

yep

Travis Boak is great because he works hard and dedicated to recovery and getting his body right
Some black kid is great because he's magic or naturally gifted

It is disrespectful, even if meant well
 

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Bjo187

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Apr 30, 2020
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Does anyone know if there are any other young Sudanese stars coming through the ranks at u16 or u18 level, or will this be the only time we see two taken in the first round?
 
Jul 14, 2005
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Does anyone know if there are any other young Sudanese stars coming through the ranks at u16 or u18 level, or will this be the only time we see two taken in the first round?

Players will emerge as prospects - Alleer was relatively unknown before this year.

There’s now enough examples of rapid development at junior and state level for players to be put on the radar quickly if given exposure.
 

Vic pokiesmon

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Jul 16, 2015
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I was kinda hoping Hawthorn would go full Sudanese draft route this year with Andrew and Aleer, so that we had those two out there with CJ.
Would have got bums on seats having that amount of X factor in one side.
While really happy with Callaghan in the end i was kinda hoping ww would go go for Mac Andrew as well...If both had successful careers at Giants it could have been huge in promoting AFL in Western Sydney.Hope Mac has a great career at the Suns and wrapt we picked Alleer and hopefully he has a great career...CJ was the only reason i watched Hawks games (except when.playing Giants)
 

Rise_up_Stiffy

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Sep 3, 2007
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It's pretty cool, Hopefully seeing Kids in different backgrounds break through and become successful help inspire first/second generation kids who are often or not held back due to their background/socio economic issues from success.


The one thing I wish however is just commentators just fawning over the stereotype of "Athletism" I love Jiath because he's absolutely fearless and happy to make mistakes or hitting packs at full speed with not even cosidering taking a backwards step, Love to see a commenator mention how he's an absolute hard nut hunting the ball over "Oh hes so quick!!1"

Used to hate this about McLeod. Yes he was skillful, but hard work was always overlooked over the 'magic'
 

Kappa

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Oct 7, 2014
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A proportion of them have been playing since beginning of juniors too.

I feel like the Sudanese Australians (who have a striking look to the unaccustomed) have been around long enough now that they don't get those second takes as much in society. Maybe depends on where you go in Australia, but I'd imagine the racism would have lessened compared to a decade ago. Still, as long as 'african gangs' is in the tabloids, there will be pockets of racist morons, and you can imagine the accumulative toll that some of these people would have felt growing up and copping condescension, suspicion, systemics if not outright abuse. If there is racism in Australia I'm sure these people know all about it, but seeing them push through in various spheres in society is inspirational, and as relatively recent immigrants I'm glad it isn't just a narrow sports-based/popstar pathway to uplift but hopefully broader than that (but it doesn't hurt, we're a sporting nation afterall)

Your takes on racism is so cute.

It's the media that causes racism !

"If there is racism in Australia"

I'd love to know what you're smoking to live in that kind of reality.
 
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A proportion of them have been playing since beginning of juniors too.

I feel like the Sudanese Australians (who have a striking look to the unaccustomed) have been around long enough now that they don't get those second takes as much in society. Maybe depends on where you go in Australia, but I'd imagine the racism would have lessened compared to a decade ago. Still, as long as 'african gangs' is in the tabloids, there will be pockets of racist morons, and you can imagine the accumulative toll that some of these people would have felt growing up and copping condescension, suspicion, systemics if not outright abuse. If there is racism in Australia I'm sure these people know all about it, but seeing them push through in various spheres in society is inspirational, and as relatively recent immigrants I'm glad it isn't just a narrow sports-based/popstar pathway to uplift but hopefully broader than that (but it doesn't hurt, we're a sporting nation afterall)

Pretty full on even for BigFooty
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Your takes on racism is so cute.

It's the media that causes racism !

"If there is racism in Australia"

I'd love to know what you're smoking to live in that kind of reality.

"Your takes on racism is so cute" :rolleyes:

Don't troll me by taking my words out of context. Read sentences from beginning to end to avoid making a fool of yourself. No one said it is the media that causes racism. 'African gangs' is an unhelpful symptom of it, but hardly the cause.

The quote isn't questioning if racism exists at all in Australia, it's simply a way of phrasing that these people would have an acute experience on the racism problem in Australia, which I outlined. Trying to understand their experience requires some human empathy and some context, as Sudanese Australians rather than speaking from a void. I'm also not of South Sudanese origin, so the point of referring to a group of people as 'them' in a thread discussion focused around them is plainly apparent.
 
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