INNOVATE RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN JULY 2017 – JUNE 2019 MESSAGE FROM THE I am very proud to present the Melbourne Given this history, it is only appropriate we Football Club’s inaugural Reconciliation developed this RAP. Action Plan. Through this RAP, we aim to create real outcomes The Melbourne Football Club is the oldest football for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. club, having been founded in 1858 by Tom Wills. He Our activities in Northern Territory and also is an important person for Reconciliation having through our other Next Generation Academy in ACKNOWLEDGEMENT befriended local members of the Djab Wurrung Dandenong, Victoria, provide the ability to achieve people. He later took an Aboriginal team on a real outcomes. We aim to provide a welcoming, cricket tour to England. inclusive and nurturing environment that is The Melbourne Football Club acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the The Melbourne Football Club has a proud history culturally safe and accessible for Aboriginal and Kulin Nation, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we reside. We pay of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players Torres Strait Islander people we work with in these and involvement in local communities. We have regions, now and in the future. also worked for a number of years with Melbourne These activities, together with the cultural INNOVATE RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN RECONCILIATION INNOVATE our respects to their Elders both past and present and extend that respect University in communities in the Northern Territory education of our own people on Aboriginal and | to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. to reduce and eliminate the incidence of Trachoma. Torres Strait Islander history and customs, have the Our connection to the Territory has extended in capacity to provide development and employment CEO // recent years through our partnership with the AFL opportunities at the Club for the Aboriginal and and Northern Territory Government to play AFL Torres Strait Islander people we connect with. games in the NT. Now we have our Next Generation I look forward to the outcomes we will achieve as a Academy in Alice Springs, providing a greater club over the next three years. connection to Aboriginal communities in the Territory. CEO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Peter Jackson Melbourne Football Club CEO FOREWORD BY The Melbourne Football Club is proud to make a OUR commitment to fully support reconciliation, now and into the future. We will continue to gather an understanding of, and embrace, reconciliation within our organisation and community, with the aim to truly value and embrace the VISIONFOR RECONCILIATION NEVILLEThe Melbourne Football Club means a lot to me. We have been doing a lot to represent our culture NEVILLE JETTA histories and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander I was drafted by the club in 2008 and have been andJETTA the First Peoples land that we train on and Neville is a Noongar man with it through the tough times and now the play on. peoples within our club. INNOVATE RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN RECONCILIATION INNOVATE exciting times, which have emerged. The past players are very important to the RAP | because they are the ones who have been the Through this RAP, we aim to create a welcoming, footballers as an AFL club. This is especially evident Being able to represent the Melbourne Football inclusive and nurturing environment that is socially, in the Northern Territory where our partnership with Club at the MCG and in Yarra Park – home to the trailblazers for myself, Jeffy Garlett, Jay Kennedy- Harris and Dion Johnstone. culturally and spiritually safe and accessible for the Northern Territory Government and the AFL Koori people and Wurundjeri tribe – only adds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, now provides us with an opportunity to play AFL games in to the privilege of wearing the red and blue. The past players have allowed us to do what we do and into the future. This RAP formalises our the Territory. OUR VISION on the football field. As a proud Noongar man, I am delighted the ongoing commitment to maintaining these strong // This alignment is deeper than playing matches in the club has launched a Reconciliation Action And if it wasn’t for them, I dare say it’d be a lot relationships. We are privileged to work within Territory, with the launch of the AFL Next Generation Plan. harder for us to be able to go out there and play our football, which has the ability to influence Academies. Our club is aligned to the Alice Springs JETTA It will be a document that will hold, not footy. and lead, and we see this as an opportunity (NT) and Greater Dandenong (VIC) regions. The Next only the club, but the people within it to I am proud that Melbourne has taken these to challenge community views, strengthen Generation Academy will enable us to be actively keep reconciliation going – even if there is important steps to initiate a RAP. outcomes and be a leader in creating genuine involved in introducing children of all backgrounds ever a stage where there are no Aboriginal opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait to the game and provide aspirational pathways for It is an important step in Australia’s reconciliation Islander people. or Torres Strait Islander players at the club. journey. players, coaches, umpires and administrators. The RAP is to represent the past players and to Melbourne has a proud history of Aboriginal and keep that connection with the community. Torres Strait Islander players and involvement in local communities. We have a long held, and strong connection, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LEFT TO RIGHT: DION JOHNSTONE, JEFF GARLETT, NEVILLE JETTA, JAY KENNEDY-HARRIS The Melbourne Football Club is the oldest football In 2010, the club committed to playing games in the Melbourne has a proud history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander club in the world. It was founded in 1858 by Tom Northern Territory, when it partnered with Tourism Wills, who was captain of the Victorian Cricket NT. Since then, the club has played on average players and involvement in local communities. We have long held a strong team at the time. In 1859, he along with three two games a year in the region. This was recently teammates, wrote “The Rules of the Melbourne extended to 2018, with the club to play another connection with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander footballers as an Football Club” that would become the basis for two games in the NT 2018 season. We see this as a Australian Rules football as we know it today. key partnership, as it gives the club the opportunity AFL club – here in Melbourne and across the other states and territories. Tom Wills is an important person for Reconciliation to reflect its support and dedication to the ongoing The development of this and Melbourne, as he grew up befriending local education of our players, supporters and staff members of the Djab Wurrung people, learning of outback Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander RAP ensures a framework OUR their language and customs. Later in life, Wills took communities. We in turn are able to give back and exists for an ongoing and the first Aboriginal cricket team to tour England. be part of the local communities by playing in Alice Wills used his experiences growing up playing Springs during the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous formalised commitment to Marngrook with local Djab Wurrung children to Round, holding community camps, organising and OUR shape Australian Rules football. attending activities, and being part of and learning Reconciliation. more about local customs and traditions. Melbourne currently employs approximately 104 Through this RAP, we aim to create a welcoming, full-time and fixed-term staff including athletes. Melbourne’s Next Generation Academy is a BUSINESS football and personal development program that inclusive and nurturing environment that is As of 2017, Melbourne has six Aboriginal and Torres socially, culturally and spiritually safe and Strait Islander staff members including players operates in the Casey, Dandenong and Mornington RAP Peninsula regions of Victoria, as well as Alice accessible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Neville Jetta, Jeff Garlett, Jay Kennedy-Harris, people now and into the future. Through our Dion Johnstone and Aliesha Newman, along with Springs. Established in 2016, the academy involves girls and boys aged from 11 to 15, who participate actions we hope to close the gap on Aboriginal and former player and Melbourne life member Matthew ACTION PLAN RECONCILIATION INNOVATE Torres Strait Islander life expectancy, poor health, Whelan, who was recently appointed the club’s in a long-term development program under the | lower education and employment outcomes and Indigenous Project Officer. guidance and support of professional coaches. The specialised training program is targeted to the age incarceration rates. Although Melbourne-based, the club operates group and covers topics outside of football such nationally within the Australian Football League, OUR RAP as healthy eating, goal setting and leadership. playing nine home games a year at the MCG and // As part of our commitment to reconciliation and two games in the Northern Territory – one at Alice opportunity for all, the development of a specific Springs and one in Darwin. 220,000 people identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent stream nationwide as Melbourne supporters of which has been identified as a key focus for our Next 40,000 are paid members. Since 2009, Melbourne Generation Academy staff for 2017 and beyond. OUR VISION has supported the University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Eye Health Unit Trachoma Elimination The club’s fan engagement and community Foundation. Player ambassadors have conducted activities are delivered in the City of Melbourne, public awareness campaigns in Northern Territory Northern Territory, Bayside, Stonnington, communities, as well as recording community Boorondara, Greater Dandenong and Casey service announcements broadcast more broadly regions.