ZCZC
BSP-12
FBL-AUS-WC-2019
Aussie football in world spotlight but indigenous recognition lags
SYDNEY, June 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – When Australia’s “golden generation” of women
footballers begin their World Cup campaign in France on Sunday, veteran goalkeeper
Lydia Williams will be flying the flag not just for her country but also for her
indigenous heritage.
One of Australia’s most successful players, Williams’ mother was a missionary from the
United States and her father an Aboriginal elder.
Williams grew up playing sport in the red dust of Australia’s outback and even had
kangaroos for pets.
“When I first started (playing elite football), I wanted to leave the game better than
when I first came in,” the 31-year-old said ahead of her fourth World Cup campaign for
the Matildas, “leaving my mark in whatever way, shape or form that’s possible.
“Hopefully inspiring younger generations — whether it is goalkeepers or players, or
indigenous people to come and play the game — that is my biggest goal.”
But football lags other Australian sports when it comes to indigenous recognition,
with pathways in remote areas slow to emerge.
It stands out among top-tier sports in Australia for lacking a dedicated indigenous
round in its men’s A-League and women’s W-League premier competitions.
Advocates say the absence of indigenous artwork on the Matildas World Cup kit is a
missed opportunity, with recognition of Australia’s culture dating back thousands of
years gaining more traction in other sports.
Rugby league and Australian Rules have targeted grassroots programmes in remote areas
and unearthed some of the country’s greatest talent with indigenous representation in
those sports running at about 10 percent for the premier men’s competitions.
Footballers with an Aboriginal background make up less than two percent of A-League
and W-League squads; indigenous Australians comprise about three percent of the
national population of 25 million.
“There are a lot of kids that are keen on our football, but don’t have the
opportunities in today’s modern football programmes,” the first Aboriginal selected for
Australia, John Moriarty, told AFP.
MORE/AU/10:40 hrs
ZCZC
BSP-13
FBL-AUS-WC-2019-2-LAST
– Role Models –
The FFA hall-of-famer comes from Borroloola, a tiny Northern Territories town with a
population of about 900 people more than 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) from Sydney in
the Gulf of Carpentaria.
He launched a football foundation there to tackle poor health and education issues
which affect remote communities.
“It is those types of barriers that we are hopeful in breaking and bringing kids
through to that level, where we think they can achieve greater aspects in their lives,”
he said.
Borroloola is also the home town of Australia Under-20 international Shadeene Evans,
who at 13 traded barefoot futsal on concrete basketball courts for boots and the lush
green pitches of Sydney.
Teenager Evans is a star of Moriarty’s foundation who started her W-League career at
premier Sydney FC last season and generates a buzz whenever she returns home.
“Even the young ones look up to me. It is great seeing the community get behind me,”
the highly-rated 17-year-old told AFP.
Moriarty said it was role models such as Evans and Williams who “will give our kids
the inspiration to achieve themselves”, although more are needed.
But the Football Federation Australia (FFA) has been criticised for not providing a
prominent platform for its indigenous stars, while several initiatives over the past
decade to boost Aboriginal participation have stalled.
“We’ve had a sporadic commitment which hasn’t lived up to the rhetoric or the
responsibility and we need to do more,” Socceroos legend and long-term indigenous
football advocate Craig Foster told AFP.
– Grass roots –
Foster points to community-led initiatives such as the annual Australian Indigenous
Football Championships — which this year yielded national indigenous men and women
teams — as important areas of growth.
“Like many other fields of Australian society, what is critically important is
indigenous Australia owns their own participation in the game,” he said.
Governing bodies should provide “institutional support” and “government connections”
to help nurture indigenous football, Foster added.
The Wallabies rugby union national side recently staged a high-profile launch of an
indigenous-themed away kit to be worn at the World Cup in Japan later this year.
Foster said it was a “glaring oversight” that the Matildas had not adopted regalia
demonstrating “respect and pride” of indigenous culture while on the world stage.
“Football can not only make this connection in Australia, it can make it around the
world,” he said.
Ros Moriarty, chair of the recently established FFA women’s council, said football is
a “great leveller” for embracing diversity, but many levels of “equality of care” need
addressing in the women’s game Down Under.
“I think France will show us where Australia sits,” she told AFP.
“And part of that is on the field and probably more of that is how do we compare with
opportunity and care that hasn’t been evident yet in football globally.”
BSS/AFP/AU/10:45 hrs