Aboriginal & TSI Why have there been so few Indigenous captains in VFL/AFL history?

[liz]

There's an awful lot of stereotyping going on in this thread...

 

[Beutbrute]

Perhaps you're thinking of Neil Armstrong, the famous astronaut? Man, that guy could lead. People followed him to the moon and back. Literally. And I mean, literally literally.

Come to think of it, why have there been so few indigenous astronauts?

 

[Blue1980]

As a positive discrimination move, all members of leadership positions at all clubs should be aboriginal for the next 230 years

 

[Blue1980]

There's an awful lot of stereotyping going on in this thread...

Seems it was started with the aim of people being outraged

 

[gavaniacono]

Command, empathy, communication, act.

= Emotional Intelligence.

 

[legend166]

I mean, obviously racism would have been a huge part of it historically. You're kidding if you don't think otherwise.

 

[olimauldon]

Oh please.

I do realise your entire post is just a life-support system for another vent about Kurt Tippett leaving the Crows, even though the Swans were entirely above board in that affair.

But Tony Armstrong played a grand total of 15 games for the Swans.

Not sure if you've noticed but it's generally customary that the captain of a club takes to the paddock with the team on game day and plays the whole game with them.

Perhaps you're thinking of Neil Armstrong, the famous astronaut? Man, that guy could lead. People followed him to the moon and back. Literally. And I mean, literally literally.

False, the moon landing was faked

 

[dylan93]

Looks like someone is trying to make an agenda. As others have said, Indigenous Australians make up <4% of the nation's population. Tim Kelly for example has been amazing this year, if he keeps up the great work he'll surely become the next captain of a club.

5% of Australians are Chinese, and we've had a pretty decent Chinese population since the Gold Rush. How come we haven't had 5 or 6 Chinese AFL captains?

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

False, the moon landing was faked

Mate, I was there.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Seems it was started with the aim of people being outraged

What makes you say that?

Poster can’t even point out an anomaly without a kneejerk cry of “outrage”?

Some people have posited some perfectly reasonable reasons why racism might not be the only factor; others have said that anyone who doesn’t think racism has played a part have their heads in the sand.

And plenty have quite reasonably suggested it’s probably a combination of the two (I tend to agree).

All from a post that simply pointed out an anomaly, not, IMHO, one that had the “aim of people being outraged”.

 

[Beerfish]

Tony Shaw gloated about the pros of racism on the footy field. Chris Lewis also named Gary Lyon as one of the other guys who loved racist 'banter'.

I guess Lyon has a longer history of 'mental health' issues than we thought.

Shaw is clearly just a s**t bloke though.

 

[Chaisa]

It can't have helped that there were like 5 Indigenous footballers to play VFL across its history before like 1980.

 

[GC2015]

As a positive discrimination move, all members of leadership positions at all clubs should be aboriginal for the next 230 years

Interestingly, we have an indigenous female on our board of directors (Sam Riley). I dare say we're the only club in the AFL that can claim that.

 

[citizen-erased]

There would be a number of factors at play

Leaders, and good leaders, are rare as it is. When the large percentage of footballers are of non-indigenous background the law of large numbers dictates most if not all captains will not be indigenous

Captains make up 2% of the players
If the population was reversed (3% of players are non-indigenous) and the majority of captains weren’t indigenous, then you’d ask the question why.

As it is, I’d largely to put it down to numbers.

 

[Kwality]

Michanel O’Loughlin in 2009
Lewis Jetta in 2010, 11 or 12
Byron Sumner in 2011
Tony Armstrong in 2012

None were self indulgent people with a holier than thou attitude.
Real people who symbolised the bloods culture.
Players who would’ve fit the mold of a club with a “no d***heads policy”

Should’ve built your team around that culture. Instead, you built a culture which allowed Kurt Tippett to feel right at home.

How sad you are !!

 

[Godchin]

Most of them aren't very well-spoken or confident due to their upbringings and education standards.

The majority of them are manlets too and I wouldn't want to be captained by a manlet. Jack Viney, Nathan Jones and Marc Murphy are the only captains who are under 6 feet tall in the AFL. Melbourne are a bunch of mental short people and pissants and Carlton have won 1 game for the whole year. Join the dots.

 

[Ron The Bear]

With equal education/schooling, captaincy numbers would be in proportion soon enough.

 

[Bengineer]

Most of them aren't very well-spoken or confident due to their upbringings and education standards.

The majority of them are manlets too and I wouldn't want to be captained by a manlet. Jack Viney, Nathan Jones and Marc Murphy are the only captains who are under 6 feet tall in the AFL. Melbourne are a bunch of mental short people and pissants and Carlton have won 1 game for the whole year. Join the dots.

What in the actual *?

 

[caloschwaby]

I'd say one reason is that a total of 178 indigenous individuals have played in a VFL/AFL senior match as opposed to the God knows amount of non-indigenous players. Hell, Collingwood has had 1,151 players alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...yers_of_Indigenous_Australian_descent#VFL/AFL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Collingwood_Football_Club_players

 

[mtooler]

ATSI players are likely a statistical tiny portion of overall afl players and that trend probably continues in captaincy numbers accordingly too.

 

[00Stinger]

maybe they havent been good leaders

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Hobbes]

Has anybody examined different player-types and the captaincy? I'm wondering if many captains are talls, like key position forwards or ruckmen. Many aboriginal footballers seem to be amazingly quick wingmen or ridiculously skilled small forwards, and I'm guessing those types might be underrepresented in the ranks of captains.

 

[ioppolo]

OP would like to introduce a quota of one indigenous player in each team's leadership group.

Also how indigenous is Steven May? He has indigenous heritage but calling him outright indigenous doesn't seem right considering he's white AF. That's like calling me outright Sicilian, not saying I just have Sicilian heritage

 

[Eaglespur]

OP would like to introduce a quota of one indigenous player in each team's leadership group.

Also how indigenous is Steven May? He has indigenous heritage but calling him outright indigenous doesn't seem right considering he's white AF. That's like calling me outright Sicilian, not saying I just have Sicilian heritage

I was about to ask the same question.. same with someone like Liam Jones or Andrew Walker. I know you cant just go off of appearance alone, but where is the line where you are no longer considered indigenous? If your great great grandad was half indigenous for example

 

[Kram]

Compare it with the WAFL:
Polly: captain/coach West Perth 1968 - 71, captain WA on 6 occasions
Cabes: Perth captain 1972-3, captain coach East Perth 1978 -80
Stephen Michael: captain South Fremantle 1983, All Australian captain 1983
Maurice Rioli: captain South Fremantle 1988-9

The VFL had a very racist footy culture with players and supporters that thankfully never existed over here.