FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME Indigenous cricket in Australia Dr Bill Fogarty, Professor Mick Dodson AM and Ms Corinne Walsh For the love of the game For the love of the game Indigenous cricket in Australia Dr Bill Fogarty, Professor Mick Dodson AM and Ms Corinne Walsh Page 1 of 128 For the love of the game ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY We acknowledge and celebrate the First Australians on whose traditional lands we work and meet, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history. Warning, this report contains images of people who are deceased and may be distressing to some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Cover photograph: Davy and Nobby, Aboriginal cricket players at Eucla, Western Australia 19051. Reproduced with the permission of the Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation. 1 Source: Evans, W.R. (photographer) 1905. Reproduction rights: State Library of South Australia. http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/36745178?q=+&versionId=47712111 Page 2 of 128 For the love of the game ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout the last twelve months, we have had enormous support from all quarters of the cricketing community. We would like to thank NT Cricket – particularly Brett Rankin, Bruce Walker, Andrew Ramsey and Margaret Loorham – for their support in getting this research off the ground and for their hospitality hosting us at the last two Imparja Cup carnivals. Thank you to Paul Stewart, John Watkin, Sam Almaliki, Andrew Ingleton and James Sutherland for your openness in undertaking this pilot. Thanks also to ANU colleagues – Dr. Jerry Schwab for your support and research efforts in South Australia, and Dr. Jill Guthrie and Associate Professor Cressida Fforde for support behind the scenes. We would also like to extend a huge thanks to Costanza Maffi for her effort in formatting this report, and Krystal Lockwood for research assistance in the early stages of the research. Many people took the time to speak with us and we would like especially to acknowledge the contributions of the following people: Ed Alexander, Simon Allport, Sam Almaliki, Damian Armagh, Ben Ballard, John Bannon, Matthew Bedgegood, Wayne ‘Swisha’ Bell, Shane Bernhardt, Aaron Briscoe, Anthony Brooks, Marilyn Brown, Ross Chadwick, Michael Christo, David Clear, Donna Collier, Simon Cotton, Peter Crossing, Fay Daniels, Will Davis, Brad Denham, Phillip Dotti, Aaron Dragwidge, Belinda Duarte, Mark Ella, Wayne Fossey, Paul Frederickson, Cameron French, Peter Fricker, Martin Garoni, Sean Gorman, Stephen Gray, Doug Harris, Annie Hateley, Nick Hatzoglou, Jonathan Hill, Peter Hill, Sandy Hodge, Graham Hunt, Luke Hyatt, Rob Hyatt, Andrew Ingleton, Jeremy Johncock, Alice Johnswood, Dave Kapeen, Bevan Ah Kee, Josh Lalor, Laremba cricket team, Margie Loorham, Phil Lovell, Gavern Lovett, Joe Marsh, Glen Martin, Michael Martin, Gary Maynard, Jamie McCafferty, Tanya McGregor, Bill Meaney, Keith Munro, NT Women's team, Hayden Page, Nev Paulsen, Grant Poulter, Reg Raghaven, Andrew Ramsay, Brett Rankin, Rita Ratzinger, David Ray, Tenile Rickards, Marcus Rosas, Blake Rutherford, Stuart Schultz, Jason Smith, Ben Smith, Paul Stewart, John Stock, James Sutherland, Peter Thomas, Russell Thomas, David Thompson, Malcolm Towney, Cameron Tradell, M ark Vergano, Bruce Walker, John Watkin, Barry Weare, Aaron West, Bernard Whimpress, Bruce Whitehouse and Wendell Zwiers. There are many others, far too many to mention here, who contributed to the findings in this report. We sincerely thank you all for your efforts and time. Page 3 of 128 For the love of the game Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY .................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... 3 ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................... 9 FOREWORD BY ADAM GILCHRIST ..................................................................... 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 11 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 18 PROJECT BACKGROUND .................................................................................. 21 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 23 Ethics .................................................................................................................... 23 Research review ................................................................................................ 23 Consultation ....................................................................................................... 24 Media interviews................................................................................................ 25 THE RESEARCH BASE .......................................................................................... 28 Historical perspective ....................................................................................... 30 Dealing with the legacy of racism in cricket ................................................ 56 Increasing participation and developing a new discourse for engagement ...................................................................................................... 58 Creating a positive discourse and measuring change .............................. 60 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................... 63 Indigenous Australia and statistics .................................................................. 63 THEMATIC ANALYSIS DRAWN FROM CONSULTATIONS ................................... 76 Racism and exclusion ....................................................................................... 76 Women and gender ......................................................................................... 80 Structure and governance .............................................................................. 84 Finance and funding ........................................................................................ 88 Indigenous leaders, mentoring and coaching: The importance of being with peers ................................................................................................ 92 Youth engagement models ............................................................................ 96 Cultural awareness, skills and capacity building ....................................... 103 Tension between high performance and community development .... 105 Infrastructure .................................................................................................... 106 Investment in people ...................................................................................... 107 Remote areas .................................................................................................. 109 What is working well ........................................................................................ 112 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 114 Page 4 of 128 For the love of the game RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................... 116 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 121 APPENDIX ........................................................................................................ 128 Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 128 Consent sheet .................................................................................................. 128 Participant information sheet ........................................................................ 128 Figures Figure 1: The New Norcia cricket team (1879) who walked 120 kilometres each way to Perth and Freemantle to play cricket. ......................................................... 30 Figure 2: Aboriginal cricketers at Coranderrk ca. 1877. Source: Kruger, Fred, 1831- 1888. Held in National Library of Australia, Trove Collection ......................... 31 Figure 3: 1867, English, Art work edition: The Aboriginal cricket match on the M.C.C. ground [Melbourne, 1867 Samuel Calvert Source: Libraries Australia. Held in National Library of Australia, Trove Collection. ........................................... 32 Figure 4: First Australian team to tour England, 1868, L-R: King Cole, Jim Jallachmurrimin, Tarboe [or Tiger] (standing), Peter, T W Wills - Capt (standing), Red Cap, Harry Rose [Mosquito], Mullagh (standing), Bullocky, Cuzens, Dick-a-Dick (standing). Absent are: Sundown Ballrinjarrimin, Twopenny and Charley Dumas. Courtesy of MCC. Source: Australian government. ......................................................................................................... 33 Figure 5: Oil painting of Australian sportsman Tom Wills, 1870, held in the collection of the Melbourne Cricket Club. Source: Greg de Moore, Tom Wills: his spectacular rise and tragic fall, Allen and Unwin July 2008. ......................... 35 Figure 6: Tracker and cricketer Yanggendyininanyuk, known as Dick-a-Dick or King Richard. Source: Horsham Historical Society. .................................................. 35 Figure 7: Aboriginal Cricket Team, Ballarat, Victoria 1877 Source: State Library of NSW .......................................................................................................................