INDIGENE - THE SERIES

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART ONE by Whispering Jack

He was named Joe Johnson and he was the trailblazer for Indigenous Australian footballers, the first in the history of the VFL/AFL. After coming to Fitzroy in 1904, Johnson immediately played in a premiership team and he did it again in his second season but his VFL career did not endure. Joe Johnson finished up at Brunswick Street at the end of 1906 and by that time, he had 55 games under his belt.

Very few of his people followed him. Two decades later George Simmonds would play a handful of games with Melbourne but it was rare back then to see an Aboriginal player in the competition.

The first Australians were not treated kindly after colonisation by the British. They suffered from the muskets, the pick axes and the hangman's noose. Their women were abused and raped. Then many of those who escaped the white man's rough justice fell prey to his alcohol and his diseases and when that was done they were dehumanised and deligitimised in their own land where they were not even recognised as citizens despite a 40,000 year presence in this place going back to the dreamtime.

This I learned first hand when Pastor Doug Nicholls visited us in the early 1960s to address our school assembly. He was short in stature (a diminutive 154cm) and stocky by then but he was a gracious man who had us enthralled as he articulated the story of a young lad from Cumeroogunja in New South Wales who slept in boxes at the Victoria Market and fought in the legendary Jimmy Sharman's boxing tents in the mid 1920's.

The young Doug Nicholls wanted to play Aussie rules football with Carlton where he was allowed to train but the trainers refused to rub him down and the players didn't want him playing in the team. After overhearing some of them say that he "smelled", Nicholls crossed to VFA side Northcote playing in its 1929 premiership team before before joining Fitzroy in 1932.

Doug Nicholls played at Brunswick Street with triple Brownlow Medallist Haydn Bunton. He represented Victoria in 1935 and he was a brilliant rover in the years before the Second World War. His career was cut short when a knee injury forced him into retirement at the end of 1937 after 54 games with the Maroons. He was also a gifted athlete who ran professionally.

At the end of his football life, he became an effective spokesperson for his people. At the National Day of Mourning speech in 1938 Doug Nicholls said,

"Aboriginal People are the skeleton in the cupboard of Australia's national life .... outcasts in our own land."

And so it came to pass that his story did not end with the passing of a great sporting career. Nicholls developed an interest in religion, became a lay preacher, a social worker, the pastor of the first Aboriginal Church of Christ in Australia.

When Pastor Doug Nicholls spoke at my school he had been chosen by the Father's day Council of Australia as Victoria's Father of the Year for 1962. He went on to receive an OBE (1968), serve in Victoria's State Parliament as a Minister, gain a knighthood and became the 28th Governor of South Australia. He passed into the dreamtime 1988, a model for all his people.

I often think how unfortunate it was that Sir Doug Nicholls didn't live to see how well represented his people are in the very same sport where mean-spirited racism drove him out of one of our senior clubs.

The number of Indigenous Australian footballers to have played at AFL/VFL level has grown to almost 200; the recent growth in numbers having been exponential. Among that number are two of Sir Doug's direct descendants in David Wirrpanda and Nathan Lovett-Murray.

And the numbers are growing as the current senior and rookie lists of the 17 clubs now have above 80 Indigenous Australian which is a far cry from the time, over a century in the past, when Joe Johnson was the only one playing at the highest level in the sport.

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

Please support the initiative of Demonology and Demonland by donating towards our special tribute (see below).

The Bank details are as follows:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited

Jilmara Milikapiti

BSB 065901

Account No: 923542

Reference for donating use - "W.Tribute" for identification.

Donations will go as proposed by Judee on Demonology:

Quote

Let's help Aussie's family with their Pukumani Tribute to honour Aussie's dear father. We fans can show our respect and love independant of anything the club organises and I am sure it will be noticed and appreciated. I have made a few calls and Judith R. has kindly already called Jilamara Arts and Craft Association on behalf of Demonology (and hopefully Demonland) who are happy to handle the contributions and make sure all goes to the specific needs. Perhaps to the cost of a Pukumani pole? All these things including feeding all guests can be really expensive.

We are family.

[MO FINE 171]

Thanks WJ. A very touching and heartfelt read.

For the uninitiated, what is a "Pukumani Pole"?

[daisycutter 29,731]

Thanks WJ. A very touching and heartfelt read.

For the uninitiated, what is a "Pukumani Pole"?

pukumani poles - desc and photos

[She Devil 64 21]

Thanks W.J.

My donation has gone in appreciation of all the joy I have received watching Aussie & all our other indigenous players.

[SidVicious 130]

Wonaeamirri -Gregory Cup up for grabs

[Grapeviney 9,798]

Great read Whispering, looking forward to future instalments.

Was interested to read in the Red Fox biography about Eddie Jackson, who sat on the bench for the 1948 grand finals against the Bombers.

The limited skerricks of info I could find about him on the net suggest he was a great user of the footy, particularly by hand.

[Whispering_Jack 30,634]

Great read Whispering, looking forward to future instalments.

Was interested to read in the Red Fox biography about Eddie Jackson, who sat on the bench for the 1948 grand finals against the Bombers.

The limited skerricks of info I could find about him on the net suggest he was a great user of the footy, particularly by hand.

Thanks Grapeviney.

Eddie Jackson gets covered in the second of the series. I'm also looking for information on George "Nugget" Simmonds who, according to the record books, was only the third Indigenous Australian to play VFL, albeit only for four games. Eddie Jackson who came to the club two decades after Simmonds, was the seventh which goes to show how rare it was for Aboriginals to have the opportunity to play the sport at its highest level. I'll defer to the experts who have done/are doing the research to provide the reasons but obviously racism and economic issues would have played major roles.

None of the VFL/AFL clubs can hold their heads high over what's happened in the past but the fact that Indigenous Australians now comprise in excess of 10% of all players means that we've gone a long way to redressing the wrongs of the past and the current crop are bloody good footballers.

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART TWO by Whispering Jack

When the Victorian Football League was formed late in 1896, not a single one of its initial eight clubs was home to an Indigenous Australian. It took until 1904 for Fitzroy's Joe Johnson to arrive on the scene and to become the only recorded instance of an Aboriginal player in the competition's first two decades. He was followed by Norm Byron who had two games with the Maroons in 1918.

The Melbourne Football Club became the home to the competition's third Indigenous Australian in 1924 when George "Nugget" Simmonds came down from Kerang and played the first of his four games for the club on 19 July, 1924 - three days after his 29th birthday. Little is known about his time at the club. He wore the number 27 and kicked four goals in his brief career but he was the forerunner of what is now developing into a proud tradition among his people at Melbourne.

Over the next two decades we saw few indigenous footballers. Norm Lebrun started out at South Melbourne in 1929 and played at three other clubs. He was later killed in action in New Guinea during World War II. Doug Nicholls (who was previously covered in the first part of this series) made his VFL debut in 1932 and not long after his retirement five years later, James Shadrach joined his club Fitzroy in 1940 for 18 games making it a total of only six Aboriginals in the entirety of the VFL's first half century.

How is it possible that in the span of 50 years only six Indigenous Australians were able to play the game at its highest level and, of those who made it into these august ranks, only one was a regular player for what could be regarded as a reasonable period of time?

If we go back to the game's early days (and I mean the game in its current form under the earliest written down rules) there are indications that the early Indigenous Australian footballers were treated as objects of curiosity and contempt.

Current day champion Adam Goodes once wrote of early players Albert "Pompey" Austin and Colac Sammy. The former played barefooted for Geelong in May 1872 against reigning premier Carlton. He came from Framlington Mission which was established by the Church of England in 1865 for the Giraiwurung people of south-west Victoria with a good reputation as a local athlete. Goodes says one might have thought that this "earned him some sense of respect. Not so." He was treated as figure of the crowd's derision - more like a circus act. The same fate befell Sammy when he ran out for Colac against Geelong in 1877. The Geelong Advertiser of 10 September, 1877 reported that: "The game caused great amusement at times, 'Colac Sammy' in particular creating roars of laughter."

There were other reports from different parts of the country of teams of Aboriginals taking part in exhibition games but it's little wonder that many simply preferred to stay at home, uncomfortable with the thought of life in the big smoke. People with black skins were not often welcomed or treated with respect in White Australia and this continued for decades.

And then came Eddie Jackson and Norm McDonald.

Eddie Jackson was born on 16 March, 1925 and played for Echuca East Football Club in Northern Victoria in the footsteps of his father, also Eddie, who coached at that club. It had been his dream to play for the then working class Richmond Football Club but thanks to some keen recruitment from Demon legend Jack Mueller who hailed from the same area, Jackson came to the "silvertail" club Melbourne in 1947.

Standing 175cm tall and weighing just 70kg the magnificent ball handler fitted in well at the Melbourne Football Club and made his debut on 3 May 1947 beating Essendon great Norm McDonald by a week. Both were to become premiership players for their respective clubs.

Playing mainly on the wing, Jackson's catlike movement and pinpoint disposal were features of his game. His daughter tells a story of how, in one of his early games, Eddie picked up the ball on a wing and kicked a great goal but instead of congratulations, he received a stern message from the runner to the effect that "we have forwards for that, son!"

It was just his second season at the club, when Eddie Jackson played in two grand finals. He was the 19th man in Melbourne's sixth premiership in 1948 wearing the number seven (now worn by young Demon Jamie Bennell). One of the opposition playing for the Bombers was Norm McDonald and the stories of the mutual respect these foes had for each other are heartwarming.

Jackson went on to play 84 games (8 goals) to the end of 1952 and his magical play continues to be remembered by many long after he retired from the club.

Speaking about him recently on the Marngrook Footy Show, Demon great Noel McMahen said that his good friend Eddie had a great sense of humour and everybody loved him. McMahen told of the night when Geoff McGivern was awarded the 1952 "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy, he came out onto the town hall stage and pointed to Eddie,

"Eddie, you should be up here getting this. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be up here. Your passes to me at centre half forward made me a player!"

Jackson continued to play and then to coach at a number of clubs after he left the Demons and, in his first year as coach of Thornton in 1961, he led the club to its one and only premiership. The clubrooms at Thornton are now named after the great Eddie Jackson.

Jackson and McDonald broke new ground for Aboriginal footballers. They were loved by the footballing public and were well respected by all. Yet, it took until the late 1960s for the list of known Indigenous Australians to have played in the nation's elite competition to reach 20 in number when Carlton champion Syd Jackson made his debut in April 1969.

That number has now reached 200. Among those who followed Eddie Jackson and Norm McDonald were the descendants of Joe Johnson. His son Percy played 52 games for North Melbourne in the 1950s and a grandson Percy Cummings was with Hawthorn in the 1960s. The sad irony of this story of a great footballing dynasty is that it took until the 1990s for a member of the family to play the game at its highest level as a citizen of this country. That was when Joe Johnson's great-grandsons Trent and Robert Cummings joined his old club Fitzroy.

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

[Pink Freud 370]

I think those blokes must have had it so tough in the early days. I remember going to finals games at the G (early 70s) and hearing crowds racially abuse a bloke like Syd Jackson. You don't hear that these days!

[Whispering_Jack 30,634]

I think those blokes must have had it so tough in the early days. I remember going to finals games at the G (early 70s) and hearing crowds racially abuse a bloke like Syd Jackson. You don't hear that these days!

I can remember a St. Kilda fan getting stuck into Jeff Farmer at Waverley one night and it was the closest I ever came to getting into a fight at the footy. In the end, his own fellow St. Kilda supporters shut him up!

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART THREE by Whispering Jack

The life of Thomas Wentworth Wills (1835 - 1880), one of the Australian football's founding fathers and the country's indigenous people are closely intertwined. Their narratives are steeped in tragedy and despair and, in a way, it appears that fate conspired to bring them together in a dance of hopelessness and death.

Edward Wills, convicted at Kingston-on-Thames Surrey of highway robbery was spared the death penalty and arrived in the colonies on the notorious convict death ship Hillsborough. He died before his son Horatio Spencer Howe Wills was born in the fledging colony of New South Wales. Horatio's son Tom Wills was born on a sheep run at Molonglo Plains, but he grew up near the town of Moyston in the Western District of Victoria among shepherds and tribal Aborigines where he learnt to speak their language.

Tom Wills became a celebrated sportsman in colonial Victoria but this did not please his father, a leading pastoralist and parliamentarian, who made what appears to have been a concerted effort to remove his son from the Melbourne sporting world by taking him to Cullin-La-Ringo, Central Queensland.

This proved disastrous because, once there, Wills Senior was soon killed by Aboriginals at an encampment with 18 other settlers in the biggest massacre of Europeans in a single battle with Aboriginals in Australian history. Twenty-six year old Tom was lucky enough to be absent from the camp at the time buying supplies. The Europeans together with some black policemen sought retribution and retaliated by indiscriminately killing hundreds of Aboriginals, the innocent and the guilty.

Wills remained for a time at Cullin-La-Ringo and despite the tragedy of his father's death which hurt him deeply, he went on to captain a team of Aboriginal cricketers from Western Victoria. They played together in a game played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day 1866 before 10,000 spectators and the team created great excitement. This was the forerunner of the first Australian cricket team to tour England but by that time Wills had fallen out of favour with the organisers and consequently, he did not accompany the team.

Although once called "the Grace of Australia" and "a model of muscular Christianity", Wills succumbed to an indulgence in alcohol and finally drowned in the illness of depression when on 2 May 1880 at his Heidelberg home he stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. The inquest returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind caused by excessive drinking.

Educated in Melbourne until 1852, Tom Wills went to Rugby School where he played football and captained the cricket team. He was in the Cambridge XI against Oxford in 1856 before returning to play for Victoria which he later captained. His cricketing career spanned almost two decades of inter-colonial matches against New South Wales, scoring 319 runs at an average of 21.27 and taking 72 wickets at 10.23. He also played for several local teams including Richmond and the Melbourne Cricket Club, of which he was secretary in 1857-58.

On 10 July, 1858 Wills wrote a letter to Bell's Life in Victoria in which he called for cricketers to take up a winter sport for fitness' sake. This correspondence led to the first game of Australian football between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College in August 1858 at Richmond Park. Wills was one of the umpires. With his brother-in-law H. C. A. Harrison and others, they codified the first rules of the game and the Melbourne Football Club was born. Wills played over 210 games mostly for Geelong, the second club formed, until he retired in 1876.

There has been conjecture as to whether the rules of the game stemmed from Wills' association as a child with Aboriginals in Western Districts of Victoria.

Most historians say the rules of the game were based on those played at Rugby and other English public schools but this view is not accepted by all.

Indigenous Australians played what is called "marngrook" which literally means "game ball" and is the name given to a number of traditional Indigenous Australian recreational pastimes believed to have been played at gatherings and celebrations.

Although not enough known by anthropologists about the prehistoric customs of Aboriginal people to determine how long the game had been played in Victoria or elsewhere in Australia, there is evidence of games featuring punt kicking and catching a stuffed "ball" by the Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people and other tribes in the Wimmera, Mallee and Millewa regions of western Victoria.

There are suggestions that such games also extended to the Wurundjeri in the Yarra Valley, the Gunai people of Gippsland region in Victoria and the Riverina in south western New South Wales.

The Walpiri tribe of Central Australia, of which current Melbourne player Liam Jurrah is a member, played a similar kicking and catching game with possum skins known as Pultja.

Despite the views of the historians, there are still those who believe that marngrook had a significant role in the origins of Australian football. Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans wrote on the AFL site in 2008:

"I do know we were playing a similar game for the joy and excitement of it, before the said founders of the game, Tom Wills and James Thompson and William Hammersley and Thomas Smith (or James Cook, for that matter) came along. People argue that we didn't have goals, but we did: kick it higher or longer; goals in and of themselves."

The debate on the game's origins continues but these goals have become so important culturally to our Indigenous Australians both inside and outside a game that forms a link with their past and co-incidentally with the tragic life of the man who founded the modern game.

For another look at Wills, his early home town of Moyston and the football club that grew from his inspiration see WATCH THEM GROW

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

[Sydney Pennski 299]

I agree with Adam Goodes. If Wills grew up among Aboriginals who played their own ball games, then there must have been some influence when it came to framing the rules to the new game. Otherwise, the game he jointly invented would have been closer to rugby.

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART FOUR by Whispering Jack

Legendary Melbourne administrator Jim Cardwell was a major force in building the club's successful premiership-winning teams of the 1950s and '60s. He spent close to three decades at the helm of the club and in that time was responsible for luring numerous young potential champions to throw in their lot with the Demons. However, in the early 1970s he missed out on a couple of gems.

Seven years had passed since Melbourne had won its most recent premiership and the club was desperate to bolster its playing stocks and rebuild for the future under new coach Ian Ridley but Cardwell's plan to snare not one but two outstanding young Croweaters went awry. He missed out in his quest to convince diminutive Sturt small man Michael Graham to cross the state border in 1971 and also failed to convince his teammate in ruckman Dean Ottens to make the switch. Both stayed at home and went on to forge magnificent careers in the SANFL.

Michael Graham went on to play 282 games over fifteen seasons (for premierships in 1974 and 1976). He represented South Australia at interstate football on eleven occasions and was named on the interchange bench in the official Indigenous Team of the Century as well as making Sturt's "Team of the Twentieth Century".

Dean Ottens became one of SA's great big men and fathered Geelong premiership player Brad and another son Luke who had a brief injury-plagued career with the Demons.

Ironically, the honour of being the third Indigenous Australian to play at Melbourne remained in the Graham family when Colin, a nephew to Michael, joined the club in 1975 from the Demons' country zone club Kyabram in the Goulburn Valley League after spending his early days at Penola near the South Australian border.

Colin Graham made his debut for the Demons as a 17 year-old in round 15, 1975 against Essendon at the MCG. Like his uncle, he was a lively small forward who was good near goal but his career at Melbourne was short-lived and he crossed to Woodville at the end of 1978 after just 35 games (32 goals).

Four years after Graham's departure another indigenous youngster arrived at the club from its Goulburn Valley zone.

I first saw Les "Lelly" Bamblett play in Melbourne's Under 19s under the legendary junior coach Ray "Slug" Jordan. He came down from Lemnos and I swear that he was every bit as exciting as any of the club's many talented indigenous players going round today. Yes, you can roll Aaron Davey, Liam Jurrah, Jamie Bennell and the others into one and that was Lelly in 1982 when he won the Morrish medal (best and fairest in the VFL Under 19s).

I still remember 178cm tall Bamblett in an Under 19 final. He was cramped up on a half forward flank with four or five Tiger defenders descending and he simply weaved his body around all of them as he slotted the ball through the goals. To suggest that I held high hopes for him and the football club as its finals drought neared two decades in duration would be an understatement.

Season 1983 promised much as the Ron Barassi-coached Demons signed high paid Brownlow Medal winners Peter Moore and Kelvin Templeton, adding to a stable that included Robert Flower, Brian Wilson and a host of young up and coming talent from the Under 19s that included Chris Connolly and young Bamblett.

Lelly made his debut for the club in Round 1, 1983 on the same day as Moore and Templeton but it proved to be another false dawn for the Demons. Moore won a second Brownlow, Templeton kicked 8 goals once against the Cats and Les had a couple of good early games before his form faded. By the beginning of 1984 he was out of the club at 20 years of age and on his way to the Bulldogs where he had one great year and the Doggies almost made it all the way in 1985. He played 11 games and kicked 12 goals at Melbourne and added 37 more games (59 goals) at Footscray until it all ended far too soon in 1988.

That he left the club at 20 and that he had such a short career is testament to his own erratic nature and witnesses the enormous difference in our understanding of the culture of our indigenous people from then till now.

I don't know anything about what went on inside the club in those days. The club had such an eclectic bunch of players and, even with a club legend back at the coaching helm, it wasn't taken seriously in AFL ranks. There were whispers that Bamblett wasn't popular at the club and that the feeling was mutual. There were hushed suggestions of racism and unsubstantiated stories that he was susceptible to alcohol but in the end, he switched quietly to the Bulldogs where he had brief moments before ending his career all too young; overweight in his mid twenties, his speed and his sparkle having deserted him.

I often wondered how and why we lost Les "Lelly" Bamblett or whether it was a case of him losing himself - not just at Melbourne but at the Bulldogs too. Then I came across an interview with him conducted on Whitten Oval Online Forum in July 2009, excerpts of which I would like to share here because, among other things, they tell Lelly's story from his perspective*:-

Hi Les & thank you so much for your time. One of our moderators on the site will be beside himself.

No worries.

Firstly, where did the nickname Lally come from?

It's actually Lelly. When I was little one of my cousins couldn't say Leslie and used to pronounce it Lelly. It just stuck.

Where did you grow up and who did you barrack for as a kid?

I grew up in Shepparton and was a mad Richmond supporter. I loved Royce Hart, KB, Francis Bourke, Dick Clay etc.

Who did you start playing footy for?

Chris Connolly's dad, Barry owned the local milk bar. He got me to play with Nathalia in one of the junior competitions that were played on Sunday's. I then played school footy and when I was older I played thirds for Lemnos in the Goulburn Valley Football League. I was only 17 at the time but also played seniors that year for Lemnos.

How did you get to Melbourne?

I was invited to come down to the Norm Smith Scholarship Squad, but I didn't want to leave home, so I stayed in Shepparton. One day in the main street I bumped into Ron Barassi who was in Shepparton. He made it very clear to me that I should be in Melbourne and not Shepparton. I missed the first few games of the 1982 season before finally coming down.

How did you go that season?

Well, I missed about 5 or 6 games as I was late getting down and I played a few games for the reserves. I won the Morrish Medal that year too as the best player in the Under 19's comp.

These days, the Brownlow is a huge TV event, how were you notified that you had won the Morrish Medal?

A Melbourne Football Club official came to my house to tell me.

Can you remember your first game?

It was round 1, 1983. We played Collingwood at the MCG and there was over 70,000 people there. We lost by 10 points, but a lot of the game is vague as David Cloke run through me and cleaned me up. All my family came down for the game, there were heaps of them there that day.

So what happened after the 1983 season?

I got homesick and mucked around a bit. I didn't like it at Melbourne and didn't want to go back. Richmond had Maurice Rioli and Phil Egan there so I went to Punt Road and did a pre season. Melbourne wanted a transfer fee and Richmond didn't want to pay it, so I ended up going to WA. Graham Moss came to see me and got me over to play with Claremont, but with clearance wrangles I didn't end up playing.

How did you become a Bulldog then?

Just before the clearance deadline at the end of June Shane O'Sullivan came to WA and asked if I wanted to return to Victoria and play for Footscray? I jumped at the chance and in return Steven O'Dwyer was cleared to Melbourne.

You arrived mid 1984, but made a huge impact in 1985. Why was that?

I just loved being there, loved the blokes like Doug Hawkins, Steve McPherson, Peter Foster, Magic McLean, Jim Edmond and Rod McPherson. I just couldn't wait to get to training. I was so happy. It was a special time to be around the place.

I remember a game against Essendon at Windy Hill where you came in as a late replacement after having your appendix removed. Do you recall that?

Yeah, we had played Geelong at Kardinia Park one Saturday and afterwards I felt a pain in my stomach and was in hospital that night. I had an appendicitis and missed out on playing for Victoria and against Melbourne the following week. When we played Essendon it was like espionage as someone else took in my bag with all my gear in it. It certainly fooled Essendon, but didn't help as we went down by 4 goals anyway.

Who were some of the better players you played with?

* Robert Flower - A sensational footballer for his build.

* Doug Hawkins - A great guy who could just play football.

* Stephen McPherson - Hard, tough, a larrikin!

* Jim Edmond - A great mark for his size, top bloke too.

* Michael McLean - The best trainer I ever saw. I'm still great mates with Magic.

* Brian Royal - A real good rover.

What about some of the players you played against?

* Ken Hunter - Very hard on his attack at the ball.

* Tom Alvin - Never gave you a moment's peace, always at you.

* Robert Dipierdomenico - Hard & rugged, skilful & quick for his size.

* Gary Ayres - A real backman who never gave up, was disciplined continually punched from behind and always ran off.

* Keith Greig - Easy to see why he won 2 Brownlow Medals. I played on him late in his career but he was silky smooth.

Now, in 1986, 87 & 88 you managed 3 games each year. What happened?

Injuries. We were playing at Waverley in 1986 & I turned and my Achilles snapped. It felt like I had been shot in the heel. In 1987 I did my knee and had a total reconstruction. It was never the same after that though. I called it a day at the end of 1988. I tried a few games with my mates playing for Maldon, but didn't last long.

Now, it's fair to say that the 3 men who coached you when you came to Melbourne would have left an impression upon you.

Oh yeah!

* Slug Jordan - He was very intimidating. A great junior coach and I reckon if Melbourne would have allowed him to go to Sydney he would have been a great senior coach. Slug had some funny sayings and swore a lot too.

* Ron Barassi - Great knowledge of the game and really knew how to get his point across.

* Mick Malthouse - Like Barassi, Mick had a great knowledge of the game and knew how to get the best out of each player. I'm still friends with Mick.

Do you still follow the footy?

Yes, I'm an Assistant Coach with Fitzroy Stars in the Northern Football League so I can't get to AFL games on a Saturday. I get to about half a dozen games a year.

Who do you watch?

The Bulldogs of course! Also watch Essendon as my nephew, Andrew Lovett plays there, but I'm a Bulldog.

Any particular Bulldog players catch your eye?

Lindsay Gilbee goes alright, so too does Robert Murphy. I know Jarrod Harbrow's family from Shepparton so I like him and Josh Hill.

Married/Children?

Not married although my partner and I have been together forever!

We have 6 children, 5 girls aged 27, 26, 25, 19 and 16 and a boy aged 22.

What do you do work wise?

I'm a youth worker and work for a youth hostel.

Les, thank you so much for your time and for those of us who were fortunate to see you at your scintillating best it was a privilege.

Thanks for that, you're welcome.

* changes made for minor corrections.

I learned a few things about Lelly's past from this interview, among them the connection with the Connolly family, that he was swapped for Strawbs, that he's related to Andrew Lovett and that he's not the father of 2010 draft hopeful Richard Bamblett (who inspired my search for the article in the first place but wasn't drafted) and, above all, that football clubs provide a much different environment these days in the way they understand and make our indigenous players welcome.

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

[She Devil 64 21]

Thanks W.J.

Always eager to hear more about the history of of our club and to learn & understand more about our indigenous players.

[Sir Why You Little 37,122]

It's good to know the club (and society) is slowly learning to respect the massive cultural differences that go on. A real shame about Bamblett and what happened during his time at Melbourne. He is an ex player who really should be invited back at some stage to patch up any long felt ills.

I wish him well.

[Whispering_Jack 30,634]

I don't want to diminish in any way the nature or the difficulties that indigenous footballers faced in those times but it's important to note that our society in general was so much different then as well - in all aspects. It's taken a few decades of education and confronting the truth to get where we are now but we still have a long way to go.

I was reflecting on this after I heard about Maurice Rioli's passing. He earned respect from all because he was a champion footballer but how many of his people have that opportunity and what happens to those who don't make it?

[Hulett Packard III 166]

I suspect that what happened with Les Bamblett in 1983 would never have happened today. Back then, players were expected to conform to a particular standard and cultural differences were neither understood nor respected. It would have been a radical departure from the norm to suggest that a young indigenous kid from the bush needed more help in acclimatising to elite football than someone coming from the local zone or a highly paid player recruited from another club.

If he was embarking out on a career today, he would have a pre season programme mapped out and there would be welfare officers, counsellors and an ability to communicate any issues you might have.

Still, it's a tragedy that someone like Bamblett played only 11 games at the club before being cast adrift. Having come to the club and won a Morrish Medal, I would imagine that he was the early 1980s version of a top ten draft selection. Any club would be disappointed with that result.

[jayceebee31 761]

A great story and insight- taught me something as well-I always called him Lal. I've been wrong for all these years but I wouldn't be the only one..

[Deeman 1,512]

I learned a few things about Lelly's past from this interview, among them the connection with the Connolly family, that he was swapped for Strawbs, that he's related to Andrew Lovett and that he's not the father of 2010 draft hopeful Richard Bamblett (who inspired my search for the article in the first place but wasn't drafted) and, above all, that football clubs provide a much different environment these days in the way they understand and make our indigenous players welcome.

I think you'll find that the Bambletts are a strong football family in that part of the country.

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART FIVE by Whispering Jack

Anthony "Andy" Lovell was a 17-year-old prodigy from Glenorchy when drafted by Melbourne at 42 in the 1986 national draft, the first of the current series of drafts, making him the first Indigenous Australian to be drafted.

A 180cm, 82kg ruck-rover, Lovell was also a woodchopper whose father Greg had been world champion, hence the nickname "Chopper". He was still a schoolboy when he crossed Bass Strait to join the Demons in 1988. He attended Melbourne High School and was a member of the first XVIII alongside fellow Demons of the future in Stephen Tingay and John Ahern. Matthew Knights and Stephen Ryan were also teammates in the school team who also later played in the VFL/AFL.

Lovell made his debut in the third round of 1988 against Geelong at home, quickly establishing himself at the club and becoming a member of the Demons' losing Grand Final team that year. A tenacious footballer, he was runner up in the club best and fairest in 1992. At his best near the goals, Lovell kicked eight goals on the MCG against Richmond in 1993 game that his side won by a record 121 points.

Surprisingly, after eight seasons that yielded 121 games and 146 goals, the 25 year old Lovell transferred to West Coast where he spent three seasons (43 games) before retiring not long after the tragic death of his father.

"Chopper" Lovell was well loved by Demon fans and was briefly reunited with the club when he became coach of its then VFL aligned partner, the Sandringham Zebras. He is now an assistant coach at Brisbane.

Phil Egan joined Melbourne at the beginning of 1991 after a nine-year 125 game career with the Tigers. He was 28 years old when he made a rather inauspicious debut for Melbourne (his only game) in a 79 point thrashing at the hands of the Eagles in the opening round of 1991. The Demons managed only two goals that day and Egan bowed out of senior AFL football when the team for the following game was announced. Proud of his heritage, he has been an opponent of the view held by many historians that Thomas Wills devised the rules of the game from rugby:

"To me there's no coincidence at all and the link is clear." Egan believes that the "so called inventors of the game ... would have been looking at the Indigenous people, where we're sitting today."

Coincidentally, another Aboriginal footballer also made his debut with Melbourne that year who represented the club once but 17-year-old Fabian Francis was at the beginning of his career and not the end when he made his only appearance on 13th July, 1991 against Fitzroy.

The Darwin born Francis grew up playing both rugby league and Australian football. He was drafted from Northern Territory Football League team Southern Districts at number 63 in the 1990 national draft but the clever young wingman did not enjoy living in Melbourne and after one season returned to Darwin to play rugby league. He was playing for the Port Adelaide Magpies when recruited by Robert Walls to the Brisbane Bears where he notched up 22 games before returning to the SANFL. He was then included on Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL squad in 1997 after a strong season in the SANFL and played 86 games for the Power. His chances of playing for a fourth club in Fremantle were snuffed out in 2002 when the AFL ruled the Dockers out of the pre season draft for salary cap reasons.

Local product Sean Charles from Powelltown, played his first senior game for Melbourne on the MCG against North Melbourne just five days after his 17th birthday wearing the number 44. He produced one of the finest debuts ever by a Demon recruit kicking five goals in a brilliant 19 disposal display on a wing and half forward against the Kangaroos.

Having watched him play as a junior when he was a virtual one man team for Carnegie and being aware of his speed, his skills and his fitness, I was one of the few who was not surprised at his performance or the fact that St. Kilda had once tried to spirit him away in one of their junior squads. Charles was resident in one of Melbourne's zones in the last days of zoning and the Demons claimed him and David Neitz just before the supposedly "uncompromised" draft took over.

He should have been an all time great for the club but the 175cm tall Charles managed only 47 games (60 goals) in an injury-riddled six-year career at the Demons before being traded to Carlton where he broke a leg in his first and only game. Ironically, his days as an AFL footballer ended at St. Kilda where he played eight games in 2000.

To me, Sean Charles represented the free-spirited meaning of marngrook. As a smiling faced youngster who played the game in juniors against my son, he epitomised the enjoyment of sport. He had speed and he had endurance (I once saw him burn off many older and more experienced runners in a local fun run) and his ball-handling skills were exquisite. I have little doubt that if he played the game today, he would come to be counted among the greats - on the same level even as perhaps an Andrew McLeod.

Yet, like "Lelly" Bamblett a decade before him, the prodigiously talented Charles did not get to play 50 games for the club and for that, the club must take part of the blame.

After nine games in his opening season, Charles broke a scaphoid bone in his wrist early in a pre season cup game at VFL Park against the Eagles. I'm not certain whether he was misdiagnosed but he returned to the ground after the initial injury, an unnecessary and poor move in an insignificant match because Charles didn't play another game in 1993.

For the next few seasons, the wrist injury dogged him. It became infected on one of his trips to the country swimming in a river. Perhaps, Sean could have done with better guidance or a mentor to help him through this period or maybe the lure of bush was too much for the instinctive and uncomplicated youngster? Whatever the case, he could never replicate the magic of his debut game. His career had peaked before his 18th birthday.

Charles recovered briefly to show glimpses of his true ability in the 1994 finals (now wearing the number 18) when the Demons made a late run for glory but he was restricted to two and three games respectively in 1995 and 1996. The switch to guernsey number 1 had done him no good at all.

His fortunes looked to be on the rise when the stronger bodied Charles opened the 1997 season with three goals in his team's upset victory over reigning premier North Melbourne but he was soon back on the injured list. He came back to play a total of 18 games in his final season, one in which the Demons won the wooden spoon and suffered badly under a period of dislocation when Neil Balme was sacked as coach and there was significant upheaval at administrative and board level.

By then however, Sean Charles had lost his zest and his pace, and more importantly, it appeared that he had lost his capacity to enjoy the game and to play it with the same freedom of spirit that was introduced to the MCG on that magical day in May 1992 when he announced his arrival to the Demon faithful.

These days, Indigenous players are better equipped to look after themselves and AFL clubs are better able to understand and then to respect the societal factors that drive them and make them such important contributors to our game. If only that was so in the early part of the 1990's!

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

This post has been promoted to an article

[Pink Freud 370]

I remember that first game of 1997 when we shocked North. Sean Charles and Jeff Farmer were simply electric. IIRC they each kicked three goals and led the Kangaroo defenders a merry dance. The season unravelled soon after that though.

[Demonland 73,139]

INDIGENE - PART SIX by Whispering Jack

They called him the "Wizard" or just plain "Wiz" because he had the uncanny ability to create goals from nothing and he became the ninth indigenous Australian to don the Demon guernsey in 1995 after the club traded Phil Gilbert to the new Fremantle franchise in exchange for the 178 cm 82 kg 17 year old who plucked from the obscurity of Tambellup, WA. Farmer was a true footballing freak who would duck and weave his way around unsuspecting opponents, soar to the heights for spectacular marks and kick goals from improbable angles.

With the Wiz it was always wise to expect the unexpected as Garry Lyon learned early in the youngster's career. Lyon was in among a pack of players in the goal square when he received a hospital handpass from Farmer who was just few metres away. He managed the goal but the glare he gave Farmer said everything and, after that, the Wizard must have decided to mostly kick the goals by himself.

In 1998 he won the goal of the year award and came very close to taking mark of the year. Both were efforts of sheer brilliance. The mark, taken high above a pack in the last home and away game before the finals, will remain forever etched in the memory of all those who came to the MCG that day.

Then there was another day in 2000 on the same ground against Collingwood when he kicked 9 goals in the second half after barely getting a sniff in the first half. He might have spent much of the second on the bench but for a wrist injury to Ben Beams. Farmer then put on a show the likes of which few had ever seen before, kicking goals from every conceivable angle and generally running amok on the Melbourne forward line. He finished that season with a career best 76 goal, played in a grand final (with a rib injury) after booting eight against North Melbourne in the preliminary final and was named in the All Australian team. A year later he asked for a trade back to Fremantle.

The Wizard had a wife and children back in the West and the lure of family and the money proved too great. The Demons couldn't match the deal and let him go although they really got nowhere near enough compensation for their marquee player

For a while, Farmer's career continued to flourish at Fremantle where he was called the "Purple Jesus" by some, but in the end, there was controversy both on and off the field and his career ended unhappily amid a blaze of adverse publicity. He had always been regarded an angry young man but later in his career he developed behavioural problems, some related to drinking and one has the feeling that, although he played more games with the Dockers to finish just short of 250 games and closing in on 500 goals (more than any other indigenous player), the move west was not the greatest of career moves

Nearing the end of 2008 one of the greatest but most flawed small forwards was beaten by time. I was saddened to read his words on retirement:

"From being a 17-year-old boy in Tambellup until today, I have known nothing else in my adult working life other than being an AFL footballer.

"It is something that I will sorely miss but having said that I'm looking forward to the next phase of my life."

The Wizard's record at Melbourne was 118 games and 231 goals but he will best be remembered for the pleasure he gave Demon fans during his stay with the club although he offset much of the goodwill by kicking a late goal to win Fremantle the first game he played in against his old club at Subiaco.

The introduction of the Dockers also led to Melbourne recruiting the Cockatoo-Collins twins David and Donald who were the younger brothers of Bomber star Che. Demon Jason Norrish had earlier played in a WAFL premiership with Claremont under the inaugural Fremantle coach Gerard Neesham and was targeted in 1994 as a priority signing, returning to Perth and the new club as an uncontracted player. This enabled Melbourne to select David Cockatoo-Collins from Port Adelaide as compensatory pick before the 1995 season. Melbourne then promised his mother who was dying of cancer, that it would draft his twin brother Donald at the end of the year. The boys were schooled at Wesley College, the promise was honoured and they both made their AFL debuts early the following year. David, a small forward managed just one more game in 1997 while Donald, a utility played 9 games for 3 goals and too he was gone by the end of 1998.

The Fremantle connection continued with the recruitment of Docker Scott Chisholm at the beginning of 1999 and it was only fitting that he found himself at a "blue blood" club like Melbourne because it was said that thanks to a "liaison" in his family back a century earlier, the blood of royalty flowed through his veins. They even called him "The Prince" but Chisholm, an exciting Jack-in-a-box player who ran, carried and often went sideways when it was the least expected, couldn't command a regular place in the side and departed just after the turn of the century at the end of 2000. Controversially, he was the object of a racist barrage from then St. Kilda ruckman Peter Everitt that resulted in AFL intervention over the racial vilification furore that followed. Today, such behaviour has thankfully all but been removed from the AFL scene and recently the AFL's policy on racial abuse was highlighted by the recently retired Adelaide champion Andrew McLeod inside the United Nations.

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

[45HG 1,559]

Somehow, he didn't actually win Mark of the Year in '98 for that screamer.

Winston Abraham won it for a much less spectacular effort.

Though Farmer gets all the recognition and media for it - I wonder if Norf fans are upset about that?

[e25 5]

Somehow, he didn't actually win Mark of the Year in '98 for that screamer.

Winston Abraham won it for a much less spectacular effort.

Though Farmer gets all the recognition and media for it - I wonder if Norf fans are upset about that?

Yeah, ridiculous.

That mark was one of the best I've seen for a bloke his size.

The only one that comes to mind is that one by Moorcroft.

I reckon there were better goals in 98 too, but they gave him the goal after making a mistake over the mark.

[Whispering_Jack 30,634]

Thanks.

I stand corrected.

How could that not have taken mark of the year?