THE NIGHT OF THE LONG JOURNEY

[Demonland 72,178]

THE NIGHT OF THE LONG JOURNEY by Whispering Jack

Paul Kelly (the singer not the footballer) sings a song entitled "From Little Things Big Things Grow". The song itself tells a story of great historical significance for this country but its basic message is what brought me to The Long Room of the Melbourne Cricket Club on Thursday 16 July 2009 where, on behalf of Demonland and together with Judee of Demonology, we presented the jumper to Liam Jurrah that he wore a month before when he made his debut for the Melbourne Football Club against Essendon. It was truly The Night of the Long Journey.

The Long Journey was an evening put together by the Women of Melbourne to honour Melbourne's indigenous footballers. The story of the jumper began when Luke Scholes, a mad keen Demon fan and a resident of Alice Springs who posts on both Demonland and Demonology as "The Fork", discovered that the jumper was being auctioned off on the internet. The Fork posted on both sites initially in the hope getting about 30 people to fork up (pun intended) about $20.00 each to help make a bid in order to get the jumper back to the people of Liam's community at Yuendumu which is 297 kilometres north west of Alice Springs.

Well, the whole thing snowballed, the bids kept coming in and a movement began which included co-operation with the Mount Theo programme run by Susie Low and which closely works with Liam's community. We ended up with the winning bid of $3,100 which was the highest amount ever fetched for a guernsey on the club's auction website. It even pipped the bid that secured David Neitz's 300th game guernsey. And that's not all because the donations have kept flowing in ever since, even from people who have never previously posted on the sites. I understand that about $5,000.00 has been collected to date.

So it came to pass that Judee and I handed over the number 48 guernsey to Liam who, in turn, passed it on to two beautiful ladies - his grandmother Cecily and Susie Low who told of how it will have pride of place in the Mount Theo office where it will stand as an inspiration for the young of the community to assist them in taking their long journeys in life whether they be at home or in far away places like Melbourne.

Susie described Liam as a perfect role model and said the community was proud of what he has achieved. She also thanked the internet community and especially Luke, The Fork, whose brainchild – a little thing like starting simple threads on two internet sites – grew into the big thing that made it all possible. Also people like our own Rudeboy (despite being a Collingwood supporter) who from the start mentored Liam in Melbourne, posts on our site and thinks Melbourne is the right club and the right place for our new hero!

Grandmother Cecily spoke in both her mother tongue and in English of how proud she was of her grandson who co-incidentally was this week's NAB Rising Star Award winner. The whole room was immersed in the same pride – not just for our Warlpiri Wizard as Liam prefers to be referred to but also for all of our growing indigenous crew.

Another of the evening's highlights was Lynette Jetta, mother of Neville who was introduced by Chris Connolly and who spoke from the heart about how she and her husband made their long journey in the family ute from Bunbury to Melbourne to support their son. Connolly was at his witty best when he descibed the look on the face of the concierge at the Crown Plaza Hotel when the family arrived in the vehicle whose gear stick came off as soon as one of the porters tried to park it. Lynette spoke beautifully of her experience and articulated her feelings as a mother when she recited a graceful and moving poem that she wrote to reflect her support for her son in his quest to fly.

Demon forward coach Josh Mahoney visited the Tiwi Islands last summer and came back with a five minute film he made of his experiences from Austin Wonaeamirri's home territory - a place where footy and fishing are the main pastimes and life is simple and very laid back. Aussie treated us to a little anecdote about when he played a joke on Mahoney after he relieved himself near a watering hole.

Josh recalled the story of the sea turtle which lives in warm temperate coastal waters like those that surround Aussie's home island. The adult female sea turtle returns to the beach where she was born to lay up to 200 eggs in the sand. Only a small proportion of these eggs are hatched, a small proportion of the hatchlings make the 30 metre trip across the sand to the water's edge and few survive the journey once in the sea. Mahoney drew the analogy between the sea turtle and the success rate of young indigenous footballers. Many living in remote regions start off kicking makeshift "footballs" like plastic coke bottles as shown in Mahoney's film but only a small handful make it onto the MCG to play like Matty Whelan, Aaron Davey, Aussie, Jamie Bennell, Neville Jetta and, of course, our own Warlpiri Wizard.

The night was more than a tribute to these electrifying young men but also to those who preceded them. Chris Connolly told the story of Melbourne's first indigenous player, Eddie Jackson, who came to the club as a lightly built wingman in 1947 and played in the club's 1948 premiership side. Eddie has since returned to the Dreamtime but his daughters Fiona and Karen proudly took the stage to stand alongside our six great young men who carry on the tradition of their father to this very day. When asked what Matty Whelan wanted from the players on stage with him, he answered, "a premiership". Just like Eddie who will always be remembered as the man who opened the gateway to indigenous players at the Melbourne Football Club.

Connolly could have gone back further than Eddie Jackson. He could have gone all the way back into history when Australia's first people played a game with some of the characteristics of our game today. Some historians consider that one of our game's founders Tom Wills, who lived part of his life in the outback, took parts of what he saw and included them when formulating the rules with co-founder Henry Harrison. These were the rules of the Melbourne Football Club - the oldest football club in the world. Harrison was its first captain: perhaps Aaron Davey will be its next?

The host for the evening Ernie Dingo alluded to the fact that the oldest club was a perfect place for players from our land's oldest community. He also did a sensational job (I'll allow him the slight gaffe when he almost had me married off to Judee although undoubtedly neither my wife nor Judee will!) despite the fact that his allegiances lie with the West Coast Eagles. Many of his relatives play the game including former North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Melbourne star Byron Pickett. Ernie once caught a flight across the Nullarbor to watch a Port Adelaide v Fremantle game. What on earth for? Because a record 13 indigenous men were playing in that game. He also took a bit of a risk (considering that it was a Women of Melbourne function) of comparing the Collingwood Football Club with a poorly made bra - plenty of support but no cups.

Board member Karen Hayes who chairs the Women of Melbourne gave her thanks to all who contributed to an amazing night. It was as much a night for women as it was for the players. We had seen and heard from Cecily, Lynette Jetta and from Aaron Davey, who came up with the idea of a scholarship for young indigenous footballers which the Women of Melbourne are sponsoring, had told the audience how he owed such a great debt to his mother who brought up the family alone after his father died in a car smash when he was just nine years old. Jimmy's wife Sam was also there and we stand with her in support of her man's long journey to recovery from his illness. Also interesting was the reflection that such a function was taking place in The Long Room - a place where not so long ago women could not venture and dare I say it, neither could black people and other minorities.

The changes that have taken place in our society during my lifetime have been quite amazing. I've personally travelled through time from when, as a nine year old I watched my mother, a Holocaust survivor, nursing an aboriginal man bleeding from stab wounds in a suburban milk bar while others stood by refusing to help, to the 1967 Referendum which gave our original people the right to be "equal" with recent arrivals, to my work in the early days of the Aboriginal Legal Service, to the story of Vincent Lingiarri, the Gurindju people and Gough Whitlam from the Paul Kelly song, to Kevin Rudd's sorry and all the way to my own recent discovery that this oppressed community produced such heroic (but sadly unknown) figures as William Cooper who made his long journey in 1938 when he led an indigenous delegation on a march from Footscray to the German consulate in South Melbourne to protest at that country's treatment of its Jews. To my knowledge, no other such protests took place anywhere else in the world.

For of all of the long journeys made by these proud, gentle and wonderful people it was a true honour for me to recall my own long journey and to play a small role in such a wonderful evening.

And as far as I'm concerned, the Melbourne Football Club won its 13th premiership on Thursday night.

[Cards13 9,117]

Amazing. Some details of the night in the news too:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/long-...7337266271.html

Interesting point about Lewis Jetta. We could have grabbed him last year from how I read the article.

"The Demons could have had another highly rated indigenous player on their list had they listened to the advice of Neville Jetta's mother, Lynette. When interviewing Neville late last year, Lynette revealed one of her nephews had recently kicked 18 goals in a match and was worth a look. Connolly said Lewis Jetta had since shown outstanding form for Swan Districts and believed he was a certainty to be a top-20 draft pick this year.

"We stuffed up, but it goes to show just the talent that's out there," Connolly said."

Edited July 17, 2009 by Cards13

[timD 994]

Great stuff Jack. Beautiful stuff.

[mauriesy 7,287]

Terrific stuff and a great report WJ. Good to see The Age covered it. Sorry to have not made the night, but pleased to have contributed to the guernsey fund.

What other things can we do as supporter sites to build the relationship with footy communities like Yuendemu? An annual fundraiser for the footy club? Support for the Long Journey scholarship? The next Demonland/Demonology supporter match played there?

[Deeoldfart 8,028]

Thanks WJ. That is a fantastic summary of what was obviously a great, and very moving evening. I love the Melbourne Football Club and what it is doing!!

[Satan 2,871]

Lovely article WJ :)

[Akum 2,660]

Amazing, inspiring, brilliant thread.

If this is the future of MFC, bring it on! We are indeed fortunate to have such impressive people on board.

And Lewis Jetta with second-round pick would top it off beautifully.

[Akum 2,660]

What other things can we do as supporter sites to build the relationship with footy communities like Yuendemu? An annual fundraiser for the footy club? Support for the Long Journey scholarship? The next Demonland/Demonology supporter match played there?

Great ideas ML - we can't possibly just leave it at this, we have to take it further.

[beelzebub 23,364]

There are times I feel incredibly proud to be a Melbourne supporter and indeed priveldged to take part in ways in its journey.

Well done to all involved. Plaudits WJ et al

[joeboy 3,166]

Your writing evoked goosebump - inducing imagery WJ .

[Sir Why You Little 37,034]

Beautifully Written Mr. Whispering. I felt i was in the room.

The Demons will be a power i have no doubt.

Edited July 18, 2009 by why you little

[Jaded No More 68,914]

What a beautifully written article of what sounds like an amazing night for the football club, and the indigenous community.

[RudeBoy 164]

[Apologies for posting this in another thread by mistake]

It was a fabulous night and a great tribute to the long journey travelled by the 6 indigenous players on the Dees list. Attended by around 200 people, there were numerous speeches, but the highlight was when Liam's grand mother, Cecily, got up to speak to thank Demonland/Demonology for the gift. She decided to speak mainly in Walpiri, and let me tell you, you could have heard a pin drop. To hear the beauty in this language touched everyone's hearts. It's really only when you hear 'language' being spoken that you begin to grasp the richness and depth of aboriginal culture, and how much of a long journey the rest of us have to travel to understand and appreciate it. Anyway, thanks to everyone involved in organising the jumper purchase and the Women of Melbourne for putting on such a fabulous event.

It occurred to me afterwards, that Cecily's speech was possibly the first time an aboriginal person has delivered a speech in 'language' in the famous Long Room of the MCC.

I tried to load up a photo but it failed - any suggestions on what to do?

[Swampfox 190]

Very inspiring stuff WJ

My uncle emailed me after i wished him a happy birthday yesterday and a bad loss (he is a cats supporter) and had a go at him when i suggested that the cats bringing back all those players must be running scared of Jurrah

I knew he taught aboriginals in the territory during the 60,s and 70,s when i was a kid but didnt realise where

this is what he wrote

Thanks for the wishes Barry. I thought it may be interesting for you to know that I taught Liam Jurrah;s father and coached him as a footballer at Yirara College years ago. His name is Leo Jurrah. He was about 6 foot 4 inches in the old scale but could really leap just like his son. He would have been just as good but was too homesick for Yuendumu. Robin taught at Yuendumu and that is where I met her. I was involved in the starting of football on those communities. It is a pity that the grog has got so many of these people but i can assure you the talent is much more widespread than just the Jurrah;s. Some of the most exciting footballers I have ever seen were in these communities. Polly still is the best I have seen though.

Robin being my aunty (my Uncles wife) and of course the refernce to Polly is the great Polly Farmer

While my Uncle didnt play League football he did play with the Colac Football Club in the Hampden League

[dee-luded 2,959]

Well done to Fork & the Women of Melbourne for organising these efforts that I feel so much pride for.

Very proud of our Indiginous boys & the changing & exchanging of cultures. So glad.

Thanks "Jack" for your beautifully written story of the occaision.

This is something, starting from little things & with a constructive & willing spirit, has created a thing of beauty & inspiration.

Thank you Liam Jurrah, our Walpirri Wizard.

Edited July 18, 2009 by dee-luded

[dimmy 1,307]

Well done to all concerned and thanks for the summary of what would have been just a fantastic night. These young men and their families have made massive leaps for themselves ,their families and their people.

Brings goosebumps !! :wub:

[Roost It 1,434]

The club has made so many great steps forward in the last 12 months. This could well be the most significant. Much to look forward to and much to be proud of. Thanks to all involved.

[Demon Head 273]

It's initiatives such as these that will serve to strengthen our club. We have a great number of young players including our indigenous players and they will make an impact when the team matures.

Our day will come!

[Japaljarri 28]

Here in Yuendumu it has been fantastic to hear this story from Nangala, Cecily and Rudeboy and to read about it here. The community is very very excited and proud that this jumper is coming home. And the community is also very proud that Cecily stood up and spoke Warlpiri in the Long Room at the MCG. Be great to have some photos in this thread.

As per the earlier historical references footy was introduced to Yuendumu in the late 1950s by then Superintendent Ted Egan - you can read about it on the Yuendumu Magpies website 'History' page. Warlpiri people played a traditional kicking-catching game called 'pultja' with a possum skin as well - you can see this detailed on the page and more detail is in the Yuendumu footy doco 'Aboriginal Rules' - www.aboriginalrules.com (by the way the one hander Liam took yesterday is a dead copy of a mark he took at Papunya Sports in 2006 which is the cover photo of this documentary). You can see small 'tasters' of the doco on Youtube eg : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_OG1ilGgZs or the Aboriginal rules website.

As for Liams father, Leo, he is widely regarded as a bush legend, a star across NT remote communities and later in Alice Springs with Souths Footy club and Darwin with the Buffaloes. Good NT judges have no doubt he could have played AFL. In his day it was obviously impossible for the transition to AFL to occur with nowhere near the requisite understanding and support of that journey from regional centres like Alice, let alone Central Australian remote communities like Yuendumu. Indeed only Liam now is managing to traverse that journey from a different culture . Liams grandfather Martin Sampson was also a Central Australian legend, winning the 'Alice Springs Brownlow' in 1974 l think it was. Similarly Leos brother Roger was a star in Lajamanu/Yuendumu and Liams other Uncle Hermann Sampson is as good a player as Yuendumu has ever had according to our Committee - an incredibly smart powerhouse forward, who can also play on the ball. Apart from when Liam came through later on he dominated Yuendumu's forwardline through its triumphant Alice Springs premierships of 2003,04,05, 07, 08 as well as countless remote community carnival ('sports weekends) wins. l, and others, definitely think he could have made it too. So you can see he comes from a pretty good Warlpiri football lineage!

There has been some more updates on the Yuendumu Magpies website here at www.yuendumumagpies.com , including a page on Liam where we tell his story from the Yuendumu perspective and collect any media/photos about him if anyone is keen. Kids in Yuendumu like nothing more than looking at photos or video of Liam on the big stage!

Edited July 19, 2009 by Japaljarri

[Einstein 1]

WJ, that was a great read. Wonderful stuff. I was away last week and was looking forward to getting back online to see how the night went. Sounds like it was a very special night for many people. Looking forward to seeing some photos. Anybody take a video camera?

Also, have to say nice work in the article on the mention of William Cooper. He did some great things and was one of the very first Aboriginal activists, well ahead of his time.

Also, I was watching NITV today on Foxtel and they were showing games from an Aboriginal football carnival. Not sure when it was played but the game I saw today was Yuendumu playing against some team that escapes me now. But the commentators were referring to the Yuendumu team as 'Yuendumu 2'. Not sure why, Japaljarri can probably explain this for me. Anyway, it was some great football to watch.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Einstein

[nangala 0]

Great report Whispering Jack, you captured the night perfectly. It was such an honour to be there and to acknowledge publicly just how awesome you mob are. Judee will confirm I was the one that couldn't stop smiling!

When Liam's grandmother Cecily and I stood behind Ernie on the stage, she whispered "Nangala, my heart is beating so hard it might fly out of my body!" So we hung on tight to each other and tried to remember everyone we wanted to thank.

Luke, I wish you and all who responded to you, could have been there, but it felt like you all joined us in spirit, and remember, it wouldn't have happened without you. I feel proud to call myself a Demons supporter and proud to be on here.

And for the homework - at the end of July, I'll post the exact amount we received from you, and how it has been spent, and the plans we have for the additional $ we received. We are yet to frame the guernsey, and Cecily has asked that we include a few photos of the night, so am hoping some of you out there might have some pics for us? I also remember an offer from one of you to do the framing, so will search back on the site to find you smile.gif

I think you might be starting to understand how much it means to Yuendumu, the Mt Theo Program, and Liam, to bring this jumper home. I still feel quite overwhelmed by how this all came to happen.

This just may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship ...

[Japaljarri 28]

Also, I was watching NITV today on Foxtel and they were showing games from an Aboriginal football carnival. Not sure when it was played but the game I saw today was Yuendumu playing against some team that escapes me now. But the commentators were referring to the Yuendumu team as 'Yuendumu 2'. Not sure why, Japaljarri can probably explain this for me. Anyway, it was some great football to watch.

Thats the Easter Lightning Carnival in Alice Springs held at Traeger Park. Big annual pre-season footy comp over 3 days, with 20-25 minute games with generally 20-30 teams from all over Central Australian - mainly remote communities and some of the Alice Springs sides. Yuendumu often sends two teams to give our younger blokes (and conversely those in semi-retirement!) a bit of a run so that would be the Yuendumu 2 - Yuendumu B grade/Under 17s.

[Doggo 32]

Nice write up Jack. Sounds like a great night was had by all, and what a fantastic initiative by the club.

Thanks heaps to RudeBoy, Japajarri and nangala as well. It's wonderful to have people who know Liam personally come on here personally and share their thoughts.

[Japanangka 0]

Some pics from the Long Room (not great I know)

[rpfc 28,410]

This is the most amazing thing to happen to my football club.

Sometimes footy is more than just footy.

It's a shared vein of Australia.

Well written WJ, and good luck and well done to all those involved.

It's going to be a fun journey.