Chelsea Roffey
AFL website
17 March, 2008
March 17-23 is Cultural Diversity Week, celebrating cultural, linguistic and religious diversity and community harmony.
When nine AFL players with Indigenous or international backgrounds took part in a photo shoot to mark the occasion, afl.com.au caught up with several of them to discuss how football has reflected cultural diversity in their lives.
James Gwilt: St KildaJames was born in Melbourne. His mother is from Rabaul in Papua New Guinea and his father is from Wales.
"Dad used to play footy over in PNG, which is completely different to here. So I started playing through dad and my mates."
"He played for Port Moresby. He and his mate were the only two 'white fellas' playing. Everyone else was dark skinned – in the competition that is, so there were only two white blokes playing.
"He said it was pretty rough but it was good. The ground's usually rock-hard, so he's suffering a bit from that now with his feet. But he enjoyed it."
Nathan Djerruka: GeelongNathan grew up in Gove, in a small community in Arnhem Land. He played rugby union at boarding school before concentrating on Australian football.
"It was a pretty big thing on the weekend for all the families to get together and come and watch us play footy."
"In Darwin I went to a multicultural school, I went to school with black and white people. Everyone got along pretty well so I was lucky."
Aaron Edwards: North MelbourneAaron was born in Western Samoa and came to Australia with his family at age four.
"I played rugby [union] from under-nines to under-13s, and then soccer for a year."
"All my mates played footy, so I decided to take it up at under-14s. Everyone at school played it and I didn’t, so I thought I’d play with all my mates, and it was a good change.
"They [my family] all still follow rugby keenly because every kid in my family plays rugby. Over the past couple of years they’ve really got to know more about football, and know the rules and what’s going on and what’s good and what’s bad. They follow my football but they’re still very much into their rugby.
"It’s obviously helped me interact with a lot of different cultures as well and get along with a lot of different walks of life. I think it would help them [my family] as well, definitely.
Harry O'Brien: Collingwood African-Brazilian Harry (Heritier) has lived in Australia since he was three years old and frequently returns to Brazil to visit family and friends. He first lived in Melbourne but the family later moved to Perth, where he played his junior football.
"When I first came to Australia, when I was younger coming through school, no-one really played soccer, which was the number one sport for Brazil. I suppose to make friends you’ve got to do what everyone else is doing, so I decided to take up football. And I really enjoyed it."
"They [my parents] were just happy to see me happy running around with all the kids. Soccer wasn’t really popular at that stage. It is now, but it wasn’t when I was younger.
"It's hard to interpret what the game means here because it's such a unique thing to Australia. It's such a foreign sport to Brazilians.”
Paddy Ryder: EssendonPatrick grew up in Geraldton, four hours north of Perth, before being drafted to Essendon in 2005.
"I’ve been into footy since I was a little tacker, really. Footy’s a big part of my family. Everyone plays footy and is always having a kick. We saw rugby on TV but didn’t really take any interest because it was always footy for us."
"It’s good to have family and friends there for support. It’s fun playing and it’s sort of fun watching it as well so everyone can get involved in it.
"I’ve been pretty lucky. I haven’t had to deal with racism. I’ve got friends, mates and cousins who have been attacked. I reckon today it’s pretty much stamped out, the AFL and everyone who works with it has done a tremendous job so I reckon it’s been stamped out."
Will Thursfield: Richmond Will was born in England and moved to Australia at age five. He has a soccer and cricket background in his family.
"My dad at first didn’t know much about footy, so I had to teach him a bit but now he’s a full Tigers fan and gets to every game."
"My cousins were over here first and they were big [Essendon] Bombers fans so we grew up going for the Bombers but the whole family’s Tigers now.
"I started footy in under-nines. All the kids at school were doing it so I joined in with them and caught on pretty quickly. We loved sport so it was pretty easy to fit in.
"I have grandparents and cousins in England. They like to get a DVD made up and send it over so they can keep track of my progress. I’m not sure they really know what’s going on – I think they just like seeing me on the tele."
Adam Yze: AlbaniaAdam's father was four when he came to Australia from Albania. The family grew up in Shepparton.
"I’ve played ever since I was little. It’s just something that’s been in our family, something we’ve always loved doing. I’ve got two brothers that played, they loved playing their sport. We have a massive wider group of cousins that always stuck together and we’ve always played in the same sort of teams."
"Especially being in a country town, sport’s such a big thing, and footy in general’s such a big thing, so it’s always kept us close.
"In little towns like that, little communities, sport’s massive, and footy’s the biggest sport going around. And it’s always something that’s been in our family.
"I’ve got younger cousins that are playing and hopefully they can look at it [what I’ve achieved] and really give it a go. Maybe try and get as far as they can and if I can help them with that then so be it.
"In the end you’ve got your parents you’re going to listen to and you’ve got your own role models but if you can give them some sort of inspiration than can help them, then I’ll do that."
