Marn Grook - what happened

[Danzar]

START: RANT

1. What a shoddy pre-match effort for the one match in the year that is supposed celebrate the indigenous contribution and influence on our game. It was a slap dash effort and showed the AFL were just going through the motions. A short clip on the big screen and a quick-dash speech and that was it.
2. Not one mention of the Marn Grook trophy in any of the AFL or Swan's post-match wrap ups. It's not difficult - how about a mention that Sydney actually won the trophy again, or that our own MOL kicked his 400th goal at the annual Sydney/Essendon clash that celebrates indigenous culture?

One of the things I like about the AFL, compared to other codes, is the way it emphasises culture and themes certain rounds accordingly.

You get a nice advertising campaign, pre-match festivities and plenty of AFL & club generated stories that explain why each theme is important to the game.

The advertising campaign for the Marn Grook trophy last year was excellent.

I hope this element doesn't fade into the background. It certainly looked that way here.

END: RANT

[australian_made]

I have to agree with you there, the AFL and the Club could have done a lot more.

Think "Dreamtime at the G" earlier this year. The build up for that clash was great!

[Sanecow]

The speech Baz gave after was pretty half-hearted and the players seemed nonplussed. But then a trophy for winning four points is pretty lame anyway. I don't want to piss all over the concept but why do Sydney and Essendon play for the trophy? Adelaide and Sydney should compete for the rainbow pride trophy.

[Danzar]

Originally posted by Sanecow
The speech Baz gave after was pretty half-hearted and the players seemed nonplussed. But then a trophy for winning four points is pretty lame anyway. I don't want to piss all over the concept but why do Sydney and Essendon play for the trophy? Adelaide and Sydney should compete for the rainbow pride trophy.

It's not the trophy itself, but the opportunity it presents here in Sydney to promote the indigenous element to our game. Half of the city couldn't tell you who won Premiership 2004, let alone the fact that were over 50 indigenous players in that season.

That's pretty significant given population ratios methinks.

Plus, I'm right into the different themes that are applied each season. It adds a nice flavour.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

I was actually pleased there was no fake hashed-up 'build-up' to the match. No bloke to abuse us all about Land Rights etc etc (even though I am a 100% supporter of Reconciliation & Aboriginal self-determination).

We were actually given a full 5-8 minutes to get out on the field to get the banner up at long last. No last minute panics, no having to get the thing up without all the ropes attached. It was much appreciated to be honest.

I'm not a huge fan of pre-match entertainment at any stage. Because let's face it, at the SCG even the most lavish of events are watched by at best 50% of the crowd at that stage.

JF

[Eala ?ireann]

Gotta agree with you, it was a far cry from the demos at Aussie Stadium the last couple of times I went.

Maybe, the lack of acknowledgement pissed Goodesy off and that why he had such a quiet game when only being marked by that talentless eejit Mark Bolton?

[Sanecow]

The whole thing smacks of tokenism.

[Eala ?ireann]

It certainly did last week anyway.

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by Sanecow
The whole thing smacks of tokenism.

Yeah but it meant that there was time for banner. I too believe in justice and equality, but only to the extent that it does not interfere with the cheer squad and the important work they do.

[Tuco]

It was a joke. I didn't even know about it until after I sang the song after the match and the players hung around for a bit longer than expected.

(I was a little late and missed the Banners. Was it mentioned there?)

Personally I love the concept of the Marn Grook trophy. A long overdue acknowledgement of the contributions Indigenous Australians have made to the game.

Sat night, though? Pfft. Had all the impact of the cast of 42nd street doing a promo.

[swannieserin]

I noticed they changed the music for the night. We got a mix of Christine Anu and Yothu Yindi instead of Coldplay and Foo Fighters.

[Danzar]

Originally posted by Sanecow
The whole thing smacks of tokenism.

You would be right if I didn't prove you wrong through simple math:

469,000 - indigenous population in Australia
52 - number of indigenous players in the AFL (as at season 2005).
0.0118% - percentage of players relative to total population.

20,127,000 - projected Australian population, 2006 (excludes indigenous population).
650 - number of non-indigenous players in the AFL (across 16 clubs)
0.0032% - percentage of players relative to total population.

Apply indigenous ratio to total population and you get the equivalent of:

2,430 indigenous players.

So, if you accept the fact that the indigenous population's involvement in our game is four times more than the rest of the nation, then you should also accept that devoting just one round each season in recognition of this achievment is anything but tokenism.

Or maybe I should just accept the fact that I have a day off but have nothing better to do than play with numbers.....

[adnar]

It just annoys me that just about every game in the season is played for some bloody trophy.

Onto the Ron Barassi cup next week!

[Sanecow]

I suspect (without any data) that Indigenous participation rates in football at any level are higher than the participation rate of the general population. I don't deny that there are some great Indigenous players in the AFL now or that there have been great Indigenous players in the past in the AFL (or VFL, WAFL and SANFL).

It's tokenism because it's two randomly selected AFL teams playing for a trophy that means nothing to the majority of players who take the field. It's a few dollars thrown at a trophy and getting a past Indigenous player to say a few words after the game, then tick the "Indigenous event" box and move on.

If it was a game between two Indigenous teams representing their states or leagues then maybe it would mean something. But then it opens a Pandora's box of "What about the contribution of Italian players to the game?" etc which is too messy to get involved in.

[adnar]

I think the concept was only made to build up the Essendon Sydney telstra stadium clashes, which is redundant now.

Rugby League also has increddible rates of indigiouns participation.