THIS weekend, the Northern Football League community celebrates and recognises the contribution indigenous players, officials and volunteers have made to our great game.
This weekend coincides with NAIDOC Week and after a meeting last year with the Fitzroy Stars Football Club, we agreed this week was more appropriate to conduct the NFL Indigenous Round, rather than the same weekend as the AFL Indigenous Round.
NFL clubs have been encouraged to support the round in a small but significant way.
All senior matches this weekend will be using a specially designed indigenous football, as pictured with Fitzroy Stars’ captain Lionel Proctor and Mernda’s Matthew Duggan.
I encourage clubs to allow players of indigenous heritage to attend to the coin toss, and to recognise the traditional owners of the land.
The Northern Football League has many reasons to celebrate this initiative. We have, as part of our membership, one of only two indigenous focused football clubs in Victoria.
We also have the highest level of indigenous participation in metropolitan football and we have shown the way in nurturing inclusive and respectful environments.
This weekend is not just a time for celebration however; it is also a time for reflection.
A reflection of when our football community was not so welcoming, not so inclusive. A time when indigenous players and officials were valued for their talent, but degraded for their difference.
Through education and understanding, we now realise the additional burden players carried due to the ignorance of that time and how their exploits and achievements are now even more admired.
The indigenous population makes up 2.5% of Australia’s population, yet indigenous players make up close to 9% of AFL lists. They play the game with a freedom that portrays a certain harmony with the sport.
You only have to visit a remote Northern Territory community, where bare-footed footballers play on dust and stone littered fields, to see the perfect example of sport played “for the love of the game”.
We love to refer to our game as an indigenous game; a game unique to Australia and suited to all shapes and sizes. One of the most treasured parts of our indigenous game is the talent and skill of our indigenous players.
Let’s ensure the environment in which our game is played at all levels is one that encourages, develops and respects the contribution of people from all backgrounds and in particular the native people of this land.
Peter McDougall
Chief Executive Officer – Northern Football League
