THEY’RE CALLING OUR BOYS MONKEYS

Why amateur footy is ground zero of fight against racism

Indigenous footballers say they are still being regularly subjected to racist taunts and have warned racism is embedded in WA football.

They say the Liam Ryan case is a reminder the fight against discrimination is never over and that some country leagues are failing to back players when cases of racism are reported.

Men are still being called monkeys and white coaches refuse to shake black hands.

Last year was Chilton Yarran’s first year as coach of a young Calingiri Cougars team in the Mortlock Football League. It was mostly made up of Aboriginal players.

“Last year we copped a lot of racism,” Yarran said. “It’s common. I tell them it’s going to happen and to use it to your advantage.

“Some of he spectators at Goomalling and Gingin, they called our boys monkeys, said, ‘Go back to the bush’, ‘Go back to the Dreamtime’ All this sort of stuff.

“One of our boys was racially abused by another player who ended up getting a one-week suspension. But the Mortlock League called it verbal abuse and swept it under the carpet pretty quick.

“The league doesn’t support us by saying racial discrimination will not be tolerated.

“Most of he other coaches never shake my hand before or after a game. Because you’re Aboriginal and because they don’t like the team.”

Despite talk from the AFL of stamping out racial abuse, Yarran said he believed it would never disappear from the game.

“You’ve got to accept it. I tell the boys, ‘Be ready, be prepared for it, play footy and forget about what they say’,” he said.

“It’s bigger than the AFL, it’s coming from the grassroots and it’s been happening for years and years.

“All these AFL guys say we’re going to stamp it out but it’s embedded in the grassroots. It’s in people. If you keep dwelling on it, it can make your really depressed. “I copped it when I was playing footy myself in WA and in Queensland in the 1990s, when you were called a ‘black c...’ and that sort of thing. It happened on a regular basis, it was like second nature,” Yarran, a father of 12, said.

For other players such as Paul Mugamb a, one of the most disappointing aspects of the vilification was not that it happened, but that it happened relatively recently. He was playing for Mundijong in the Peel Football League a couple of ears ba k when a racist slur was hurled from over the fence. It did not miss its target. It hurt. However, it won’t stop him pulling the boots on again this year, this time with Bullcreek-Leeming.

“I can definitely say that it has been happening a lot less over the past few years, but it still happens,” Mugambwa said from Mt Magnet, where he is on one of his many trips into the bush as general manager of the Stephen Michael Foundation.

The former South Fremantle champion said the victim usually responded in three ways.

“In the first instance, if you’re composed, you calmly report it to the umpire, or your teammates, or the coach and club, and it is dealt with on an official level,” he said.

“In the second instance, people can get angry, and often get into a fight, and thirdly, you can go into your shell and you don’t tell anyone, which can be equally destructive.”

Mugambwa, known for his towering marking ability and silky skills up forward during a celebrated WAFL career, witnesses first-hand the damage words can do to young people who “only want to play footy and have fun”.

“I know of several examples where young people have been racially abused and they lose their appetite for the game,” he said.

“One young man I know in particular who was playing amateurs and who came from a well-known footballing family, was racially vilified three times in six games.

“Is it any wonder they want to walk away from the game?”

Former AFL star champion Des Headland believes education at grassroots level is the key to preventing further incidents of online racism towards AFL players.

Headland, coach of Perth Football League side Nollamara and chair of the Indigenous Players Alliance, was devastated by the Ryan case.

“The WAFL and the AFL have really stamped out racism on the field towards players, it’s been fantastic to see that,” he said.

“(But) it still happens at amateur level, a few of our boys unfortunately have copped it over the years and they will always cop it, it’s just one of those things that will be around for ever.”

Former Richmond and West Coast forward Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, who also plays for Nollamara these days, experienced racism from a young age.

“Unfortunately, Aboriginal people have learnt to deal with it and live with it to a certain extent,” he said.

“That’s the sad thing about it. We know it’s not going to go anywhere anytime soon.”

Out in the Goldfields, Henry Papertalk, left, has been part of a strong indigenous presence at Boulder Football Club for more than a decade.

He says racism is not common but certainly present. “There isn’t outstanding real blatant stuff but we get the occasional incident.”

Papertalk said he felt “really optimistic” about racism being stamped out of footy.

These AFL guys say we’re going to stamp it out but it’s embedded in the grassroots.

Calingiri Cougars coach Chilton Yarran