Yes ... on the day of the death of one great African, a player takes on the name of another.

Meet Heritier Lumumba: Harry O's name change

Mandela dies, Lumumba rises.

We lose a great man, and we're stuck with a [censored].

Don't mind the surname change - makes sense to me. Expecting people to stop calling him Harry seems a little bit affected, though.

LOL - wonder if this will stay on wikipedia

"Lumumba changed his name to Harry O'Brien when he was 9 years old, taking an anglicised Christian name and the O'Brien surname of his step-father. In December 2013, he decided to change his name back and officially be named "Heritier Lumumba" in recognition of his father's family name and his paternal Congolese heritage and further cementing himself as a [censored] of the highest order.[6][7"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_O'Brien

oh look, its Harry O Brien looking for attention again

what a clown

Meanwhile, at AFL House the CEO is strutting around demanding that the staff address him in future as "Idi Amin Dada".

lets just give him space to express himself

this bloke has deep seated problems and needs understanding

not pity

definatly not ridicule

I dislike this guy a lot.

But it seems like he is only returning to his actual name and not a western name he took, I got no probs with that.

He is still a [censored] tho

The irony is that "Lumumba" wasn't Patrice Lumumba's name.

This bloke is an annoying [censored].

He has some big issues in his head and identity is a big thing. If rediscovering his name and heritage helps him get through life, helps him bring peace to whatever his inner turmoil is, then I am all for it. Good on hum. I genuinely hope he can reconcile his past to his present.

But he is still a [censored].

PS: I didn't know a rearrange of the word "golf" was rude and offensive!

So I've read here he's a [censored], annoying, a [censored], is hung like a horse and a clown... and the only reason given is that he supposedly has some big identity issues in his head. Given what he has gone through, I'd say he's done well if that's his only problem. I have a number of Collingwood supporting friends (I know... that discredits anything I have to say) who love him and reckon he and Heath Shaw have been fantastic rebounding half backs for the pies over the last 8 years or so. Pretty handy player I'd say.

It is easy to criticise from the safe spot most of us have enjoyed all our lives.

Some peoples journey is less than perfect.

Give him a break does it change one thing in our world?

No

If it makes him feel better about himself it is fine with me.

Like ^

I feel bad for whatever the heck we call him now because to me he's a clear case of a guy who needed guidance and didn't get any. Personally I'm surprised he hasn't left Collingwood like the rest of the exodus over the preseason but a turnover merchant who can't really defend at age 27 is probably not all that desirable despite his significant upside as a great in game runner who can break lines.

Anyway the story as we know it is this:

- Born in Brazil

- Moves to Aus but always seems overly keen to demonstrate how Brazilian and African he is

- Harry gets drafted and develops in to an above average footballer

- Step father commits suicide in 2009

- Witness a murder in Brazil

- At some stage between 2007 and 2011 he becomes almost a media junky who engages in way too much positive and individual press and too much hype over his twitter/blog and other things. The PR he did surrounding his charitable work seemed to outnumber the work 4;1.

- He has a melt down in 2013 with talk of depression and some strange story of sexual abuse in the family

Now anything he does gets seen as selfish and about drawing attention where as this name chance might be about a fresh start and moving away from his step fathers legacy that wasn't his.

No doubt the way he exploded his media profile and story about his background and twitter and charity work was way too much. It was the behaviour of a kn ob so I agree. But I think he also didn't do it all on purpose. He needed someone to step in and say listen H if you keep doing all this media that projects you as a saint then people will expect you to behave as one on the field as well as off. It might have been the lack of a father figure to step in. Maybe Eddie McGuire as someone who knows that being over exposed can lead to a lot of public animosity should've helped. Either way it would've been nice if someone who knew the intimacy of H's private issues would've helped him. You can't be a public matyr working to a higher standard as well as a gun footballer as well as a tackle a whole bunch of issues in your personal life.

Anyway he's getting a fresh start now. And he can do years and years of charitable work for the rest of his life. This time I hope he does it whilst also taking care of himself and by getting the public support when needed not seemingly trying to sell himself to the public and making him all about him.

I have absolutely no problem with him at all... I really cannot understand why so many dislike him and why anyone would have an issue with him reverting back to a name he had in the past.

So the guy writes like a kid who left school early and doesn't know how to put perspective and humility into a letter. He can join the other 99% on AFL lists with that skill (yes, I know that 99% is inaccurate). Personally, find the comments made around what was on the link FAR more offensive and written by "the worst kind of person". Can't say that I'd want to be Harry's best friend, but I think if he was on our list, a lot of Dee supporters would say he was a pretty handy player in his day and had been a good servant of the club. Maybe I'm wrong, just don't get the bitter dislike for a troubled guy who may not be a literary giant, but has had a decent footy career. If he wants to change his name back to his fathers, like Brian Lake and others, no biggie.

I have absolutely no problem with him at all... I really cannot understand why so many dislike him and why anyone would have an issue with him reverting back to a name he had in the past.

I gather for most it's the holier than God attitude that's a killer.

His letter that he wrote to Barack Obama was the most self-righteous carp I've ever read; and his continual criticism of Australia as a whole and it's casual racism was rubbish. If Australia tolerated racism like he suggested the Eddie McGuire, Adam Goodes scenario would've been ignored, or scarcely reported. On the contrary, it was flogged for two weeks. We have aboriginal appreciation round just in the AFL, and pour millions of dollars just in this code alone, into giving aboriginals, as an example the best opportunity they can to be drafted.

I'm not sure if you managed to catch the Cricket Australia tweet that the papers blew up over of 4 indian gentlemen featuring accompanying with the comment 'will the real Monty Panesar stand up'?

If the photo was of 4 young kids who were identical to Joe Root, would the same be considered a racist tweet? I can sure as blood beats red and blue say no.

Sadly, there is racism in every country. In Brazil, it would be just as bad if not worse than here. But Harry doesn't just pass judgement on what our country does poorly, but he loves telling us how many things he does brilliantly. I look forward to hearing whether he'll be willing to be called 'Harry' anymore in telecast or will they need to refer to him as Heretier every time. My guess is being the pain in the ass he is, it'll be the second.

I feel bad for whatever the heck we call him now because to me he's a clear case of a guy who needed guidance and didn't get any. Personally I'm surprised he hasn't left Collingwood like the rest of the exodus over the preseason but a turnover merchant who can't really defend at age 27 is probably not all that desirable despite his significant upside as a great in game runner who can break lines.

Anyway the story as we know it is this:

- Born in Brazil

- Moves to Aus but always seems overly keen to demonstrate how Brazilian and African he is

- Harry gets drafted and develops in to an above average footballer

- Step father commits suicide in 2009

- Witness a murder in Brazil

- At some stage between 2007 and 2011 he becomes almost a media junky who engages in way too much positive and individual press and too much hype over his twitter/blog and other things. The PR he did surrounding his charitable work seemed to outnumber the work 4;1.

- He has a melt down in 2013 with talk of depression and some strange story of sexual abuse in the family

Now anything he does gets seen as selfish and about drawing attention where as this name chance might be about a fresh start and moving away from his step fathers legacy that wasn't his.

No doubt the way he exploded his media profile and story about his background and twitter and charity work was way too much. It was the behaviour of a kn ob so I agree. But I think he also didn't do it all on purpose. He needed someone to step in and say listen H if you keep doing all this media that projects you as a saint then people will expect you to behave as one on the field as well as off. It might have been the lack of a father figure to step in. Maybe Eddie McGuire as someone who knows that being over exposed can lead to a lot of public animosity should've helped. Either way it would've been nice if someone who knew the intimacy of H's private issues would've helped him. You can't be a public matyr working to a higher standard as well as a gun footballer as well as a tackle a whole bunch of issues in your personal life.

Anyway he's getting a fresh start now. And he can do years and years of charitable work for the rest of his life. This time I hope he does it whilst also taking care of himself and by getting the public support when needed not seemingly trying to sell himself to the public and making him all about him.

Some very good points here The master. I think you are spot on that he needed a father figure, support person or mentor to guide him with some of his decisions and actions. H doesn't have enough maturity to understand the consequences of his situation. Probably wouldn't appear to be such a kn ob if he had the right advice and acted accordingly. Some of what has happend in his life is enough to mess anyone up.

I actually saw Harry give that talk in 2009 and I was really impressed that an up and coming footballer gave up his off-season holiday time, when the rest of his football mates were off celebrating, to go to Africa and help the less fortunate with a building and education program. He presented as a very caring, articulate and selfless person. I've been saddened to learn of his more recent personal struggles. If he chooses to change his name to identify with his heritage or align himself with one of the world's most influential leaders, so be it.

We have aboriginal appreciation round just in the AFL, and pour millions of dollars just in this code alone, into giving aboriginals, as an example the best opportunity they can to be drafted.

Not to mention the money we've wasted on Irishmen. Just too altruistic for our own good.

H O'B's letter to Obama is full of self-important over-compensation, but if pumping your own tires was a capital offence, fan forums would be littered with corpses.

I gather for most it's the holier than God attitude that's a killer.

His letter that he wrote to Barack Obama was the most self-righteous carp I've ever read; and his continual criticism of Australia as a whole and it's casual racism was rubbish. If Australia tolerated racism like he suggested the Eddie McGuire, Adam Goodes scenario would've been ignored, or scarcely reported. On the contrary, it was flogged for two weeks. We have aboriginal appreciation round just in the AFL, and pour millions of dollars just in this code alone, into giving aboriginals, as an example the best opportunity they can to be drafted.

I'm not sure if you managed to catch the Cricket Australia tweet that the papers blew up over of 4 indian gentlemen featuring accompanying with the comment 'will the real Monty Panesar stand up'?

If the photo was of 4 young kids who were identical to Joe Root, would the same be considered a racist tweet? I can sure as blood beats red and blue say no.

Sadly, there is racism in every country. In Brazil, it would be just as bad if not worse than here. But Harry doesn't just pass judgement on what our country does poorly, but he loves telling us how many things he does brilliantly. I look forward to hearing whether he'll be willing to be called 'Harry' anymore in telecast or will they need to refer to him as Heretier every time. My guess is being the pain in the ass he is, it'll be the second.

I think Eddie got off extremely lightly on the Adam Goodes comments. IMO it was reported widely purely to sell papers and gain TV viewers. Once it lost its traction, the issue disappeared. Window dressing? What were the consequences to the perpetrator? Did Eddie lose his radio or TV jobs after making those comments? Did he resign from the Coll presidency? Did he get charged? Would Goodes still feel let down by Eddie? All Eddie lost was face, which he probably quickly recovered. Not bad for effectively calling a champion aboriginal footballer a big monkey.

Probably the worst offender in the whole league when it comes to referring to himself in the third person.

Some people like him, some people don't. It's the way of the world.

No one is asking anyone to dislike him, why does it need to be explained, if I find him to be a pretentious vvanker that sticks his oversized head in where it's not wanted, preaching his self righteous dribble and what's playing on "Otunes" then good for me.

If you have no problem with him, good for you.

I personally don't like anyone that does high knee lifts after they kick a goal either, so him and Cameron Bruce can both [censored] orf.

My first and only reaction for some reason ( with apologies to RV )

Para bailar Lu Mumba
Para bailar Lu Mumba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere