” AFL champion Adam Goodes plays a starring role alongside premiership teammate Michael O’Loughlin and renowned Australian rapper Senator Briggs in a fun take on an important COVID-19 message that has premiered this week on NITV
Making a rare appearance in the AFL spotlight following his retirement from the game in 2015, Goodes joins fellow Indigenous football stars like Andrew McLeod, Michael Walters, Tim Kelly and Bradley Hill in the advert ‘Old Style, COVID style’.
Premiered on Yokayi Footy, the two-minute clip talks about social distancing, isolation measures and dealing with the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic with clever football references weaved throughout.
“Is it too much to ask to see some clean hands?!” 🧼
One of the greatest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander line-ups EVER assembled has joined forces to deliver this entertaining – and important – coaches’ address at the SCG.#InThisTogether#NRW2020pic.twitter.com/BZCJYDYPTA
Goodes, a 372-game AFL champion who won two Brownlow Medals and two premierships during his stellar playing career, plays a surprise starring role in joining O’Loughlin and Briggs to ram home the importance of social distancing within the community.
“Aboriginal and Non- Aboriginal kids are being inundated with the advertising of alcohol, junk food and gambling through AFL sponsorship deals according to a new study.
With obesity and excessive drinking remaining a significant problem in our communities, it’s time for the AFL ladder of unhealthy sponsorship (see below) to end,
Children under the age of eight are particularly vulnerable to advertising because they lack the maturity and mental skills to evaluate the messages. Therefore, in the case of the AFL, they begin to associate unhealthy products with their favourite sport and players
We need to ask ourselves why Australia’s most popular winter sport is serving as a major advertising platform for soft drink, beer, wine, burgers and meat pies. It’s sending the wrong message to Australians that somehow these unhealthy foods and drinks are linked to the healthy activity of sport,”
Says the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).
In the study published this week in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Australian researchers looked at the prevalence of sponsorship by alcohol, junk food and gambling companies on AFL club websites and on AFL player uniforms.
The findings were used to make an ‘AFL Sponsorship Ladder’, a ranking of AFL clubs in terms of their level of unhealthy sponsorships, with those at the top of the ladder having the highest level of unhealthy sponsors.
The study clearly demonstrated that Australia’s most popular spectator sport is saturated with unhealthy advertising.
Ainslie Sartori, one of the authors involved in the research confirmed, “After reviewing the sponsorship deals of AFL clubs, we found that 88% of clubs are sponsored by unhealthy food and beverage companies. A third of AFL clubs are also involved in business partnerships with gambling companies.”
Recommendation
Sponsorship offers companies an avenue to expose children and young people to their brand, encouraging a connection with that brand.
The AFL could reinforce healthy lifestyle choices by shifting the focus away from the visual presence of unhealthy sponsorship, while taking steps to ensure that clubs remain commercially viable.
Policy makers are encouraged to consider innovative health promotion strategies and work with sporting clubs and codes to ensure healthy messages are prominent
The study noted that children are often the targets of AFL advertising. This is despite World Health Organization recommendations that children’s settings should be free of unhealthy food promotions and branding (including through sport) due to the known risk it poses to their diet and chances of developing obesity.
PHAA CEO Terry Slevin commented, “When Australian kids see their sports heroes wearing a uniform plastered with certain brands, they inevitably start to associate these brands with the player they look up to and with the positive and healthy experience of the sport.”
He added, “The AFL is in a unique position to positively influence the health of Australian kids through banning sponsorship by alcohol, junk food and gambling companies. It could instead reinforce the importance of a healthy lifestyle for them.”
“Australian health policy makers need to consider innovative health promotion strategies and work together with sport clubs and codes to ensure that unhealthy advertising is not a feature. We successfully removed tobacco advertising from sport and we can do it with junk food and gambling too,” Mr Slevin said.
The recently released Sport 2030 plan rightly identifies sport as a positive vehicle to promote good health. But elite “corporate sport” plays a role of bypassing restrictions aimed at reducing exposure of children to unhealthy product marketing.
“The evidence is clear – it’s time for Australia to phase out all unhealthy sponsorship of sport,” Mr Slevin conclude
All four said they dreamt of playing at the top level from a young age, leaving no place for poor diet or smoking.
“(Footy) is a great driving tool — we could stand there and bat on about healthy eating and get a lot more out of it than a teacher trying to get the same message across,” Varcoe said.
“You don’t realise until you get out there how much joy footy does for people.
“It’s great for us Aboriginal boys to get out here and just meet the community and share a bit of our knowledge with them.”
Co-operative active lifestyle and tobacco action worker Ken Brown said football was a good way to target health changes in young people.
“It’s all ages but it’s starting with the younger ages because teenagers are smoking younger now,” Mr. Brown said.
“Having these blokes here is a big bonus but it is hard. It’s not a quick fix.
“Hopefully we can get it through that smoking will kill you.”
s.mccomish@fairfaxmedia.com.au
You can hear more about Aboriginal health and Close the Gap at the NACCHO SUMMIT
The importance of our NACCHO member Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHS) is not fully recognised by governments.
The economic benefits of ACCHS has not been recognised at all.
We provide employment, income and a range of broader community benefits that mainstream health services and mainstream labour markets do not. ACCHS need more financial support from government, to provide not only quality health and wellbeing services to communities, but jobs, income and broader community economic benefits.
A good way of demonstrating how economically valuable ACCHS are is to showcase our success at a national summit.
Imagine watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed over 225 years against your people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit.
Now imagine how it feels when the people who benefited most from those rapes, those killings and that theft – the people in whose name the oppression was done – turn away in disgust when someone seeks to expose it.”
Adam Goodes is the Australian of the Year and plays AFL for the Sydney Swans.: “It takes courage to tell the truth, no matter how unpopular those truths may be.” Photo: Rohan Thomson
“Put simply, reconciliation hasn’t worked in Australia because as a nation, we continue to refuse to face up to our real past. Just as you cannot have reconciliation without justice, you can’t have justice without truth”
Sol Bellear reviewing the movie Utopia (see below ) Sol is the chairman of the Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern and a long-time Aboriginal activist.
Hostility to John Pilger’s film a denial of nation’s brutal past-Adam Goodes
For the last few weeks, I’ve seen a film bring together Aboriginal people all over Australia. The buzz around Utopia – a documentary by John Pilger – has been unprecedented. Some 4000 people attended the open-air premiere in Redfern last month – both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians – and yet little appeared in the media about an event that the people of Redfern say was a ”first”. This silence has since been broken by a couple of commentators whose aggression seemed a cover for their hostility to the truth about Aboriginal people.
When I watched Utopia for the first time, I was moved to tears. Three times. This film has reminded me that the great advantages I enjoy today – as a footballer and Australian of the Year – are a direct result of the struggles and sacrifices of the Aboriginal people who came before me.
Utopia honours these people, so I think the very least I can do is honour Utopia and the people who appeared in it and made it.
It takes courage to tell the truth, no matter how unpopular those truths may be. But it also takes courage to face up to our past.
That process starts with understanding our very dark past, a brutal history of dispossession, theft and slaughter. For that reason, I urge the many fair-minded Australians who seek genuine prosperity and equality for my people to find the courage to open their hearts and their minds and watch Utopia.
Imagine watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed over 225 years against your people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit.
Now imagine how it feels when the people who benefited most from those rapes, those killings and that theft – the people in whose name the oppression was done – turn away in disgust when someone seeks to expose it.
Frankly, as a proud Adnyamathanha man, I find the silence about Utopia in mainstream Australia disturbing and hurtful. As an Australian, I find it embarrassing. I also see an irony, for Utopia is about telling the story of this silence.
Some say the film doesn’t tell the ”good stories” out of Aboriginal Australia. That’s the part I find most offensive.
Utopia is bursting at the seams with stories of Aboriginal people who have achieved incredible things in the face of extreme adversity. Stories of people like Arthur Murray, an Aboriginal man from Wee Waa, and his wife, Leila, who fought for several decades for the truth over the death in police custody of their son Eddie.
Their quiet, dignified determination helped spark the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, a landmark inquiry that still plagues governments today.
Even before that, Murray led a historic strike of cotton workers and forced employers to provide better wages and conditions for Aboriginal workers. How is this achievement negative?
The film also features Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, a strong Aboriginal woman who proudly speaks of truth and a long overdue treaty.
The work of Robert and Selina Eggington is also profiled in Utopia. After the suicide of their son, Robert and Selina created a healing centre in Perth called Dumbartung. Its aim is to stop the deaths and provide an outlet for the never-ending grief of so many Aboriginal families.
I reject any suggestion that by telling those stories, that by honouring these lives, Pilger has ”focused on the negative”. Their achievements may not fit the mainstream idea of ”success” but they inspire me and other Aboriginal people because they’re shared stories. They are our courageous, unrecognised resistance.
Nana Fejo, another strong Aboriginal woman, appears in Utopia. She tells of her forced removal as a child. It’s a heart-wrenching story and yet she speaks with a graciousness and generosity of spirit that should inspire all Australians.
Like Fejo, my mother was a member of the stolen generations. My family has been touched by suicide, like the Eggingtons. My family and my people talk of truth and treaty, just like Kunoth-Monks does. My family has been denied our culture, language and kinship systems, like all the Aboriginal people who feature in Utopia. This extraordinary film tells the unpleasant truth. It should be required viewing for every Australian.
Utopia brought back were not pleasant, and large sections of the film simply made me angry
Sol is the chairman of the Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern and a long-time Aboriginal activist
It’s the new mantra in Aboriginal affairs: get your kids to school.
Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were fond of saying it. So too is Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
While I don’t accept that education alone, or rather a lack of access to it, explains the desperate poverty in
But if it’s good enough for blackfellas, then it should also be good enough for whitefellas.
Mainstream Australia has long lacked a real education about Aboriginal people, about our shared history, and this nation’s brutal past.
Fortunately, there’s a simple way in – an opportunity to get a “punter’s guide” to the truth about the treatment of Aboriginal Australians.
John Pilger’s latest film, Utopia – a 110-minute feature length documentary more than two years in the making – should be required viewing for all Australians, in particular lawmakers.
I watched the film recently and it brought back many memories for me. Admittedly, a few of them were pleasant. The spirit of my people has always helped to sustain and inspire me, and watching old warriors such as Vince Forrester, Bob Randall and Rosie Kunoth-Monks, for me at least, took the edge off some of the hard truths in Utopia.
But many of the memories Utopia brought back were not pleasant, and large sections of the film simply made me angry.
During the 1970s, I travelled the nation with Fred Hollows. We travelled across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, treating Aboriginal men, women and children for trachoma and other eye diseases, problems which still plague remote Aboriginal communities today.
The Australia I saw in Utopia this week is the same Australia I saw with Hollows.
Very little has changed on the ground.
Attitudes in non-Aboriginal Australia, it seems, have not evolved much either.
In one part of the film, Pilger is taken on a tour of Rottnest Island by a local Aboriginal elder, Noel Nannup. But it’s not the tour tourists get – despite “Rotto’s” history as a brutal concentration camp, today it is a resort and luxury spa, with virtually all traces of its past erased.
The stories around deaths in custody; around an Aboriginal elder being cooked, literally, in the back of a prison van; around government and media deceit that led to the Northern Territory intervention; all made for infuriating viewing.
But for me, Pilger’s interview with the former indigenous health minister, Warren Snowdon, and the responses of white people on Australia Day who were asked why they thought Aboriginal people didn’t celebrate January 26, were the real nuggets in the film.
For Snowdon’s part, he was grilled about why, after 23 years in office, his constituents were still among the sickest and poorest on earth. Snowdon’s seething, bombastic response was to label the question “puerile”.
And then there were the vox pops from mainstream Australians on January 26, 2013. People were asked why they thought Aboriginal people didn’t celebrate the date. Most seemed to have no idea that was even the case, and others were just openly hostile.
To me, it’s these attitudes of indifference, and sometimes outrage when challenged, that are the real elephants in the room for this country.
The denial of our history, and our collective refusal to accept the truths of our past are the biggest hurdles to Aboriginal advancement.
I hope that people who see Utopia will have their consciences pricked. Those who do might feel embarrassed or ashamed. But I hope that’s not the only reaction. I hope, above all else, Utopia starts a long overdue national conversation.
We can’t just sweep aside the truths in Utopia because they’re uncomfortable. And we can’t let conservative commentators make it all about the film-maker rather than the film, which is what often happens with Pilger’s work.
I’m bracing myself for the inevitable focus on Pilger’s “style” and his “bias”. So before it comes, let me give you one assurance: You’d be hard-pressed to find many Aboriginal people with whom Utopia won’t resonate strongly.
The reason why is simple: what John Pilger and his co-director Alan Lowery have produced is a substantial work of truth, one which provides answers to many of the questions Australians have been too afraid to ask.
Why is this happening? Why were there no reparations to the stolen generations? Why do Aboriginal people still live in such grinding poverty? If, as Snowdon concedes in the film, the NT intervention was “wrong-headed” and “stupid”, why did he continue and extend it under the Rudd and Gillard governments?
The most pressing question from my perspective is why has reconciliation in this country failed?
Pilger touches on this in his closing remarks. He makes the point that until Aboriginal people are delivered justice, there can never be reconciliation.
I agree strongly. But I would add that the path to justice begins with the truth.
That’s a reality that nations such as Canada and South Africa recognised many years ago, when they established their respective Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
Put simply, reconciliation hasn’t worked in Australia because as a nation, we continue to refuse to face up to our real past. Just as you cannot have reconciliation without justice, you can’t have justice without truth.
Through Utopia, Pilger sheds some light on those truths. It’s likely to be very uncomfortable viewing for many Australians, and it will inevitably cause pain.
But you’ll find the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people are prepared to watch Utopia, and feel the hurt all over again.
The real question is how many non-Aboriginal Australians have the courage to watch this film, educate themselves a little, and feel the hurt for the first time?
* Sol Bellear is the chairman of the Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern and a long-time Aboriginal activist.
The importance of our NACCHO member Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHS) is not fully recognised by governments.
The economic benefits of ACCHS has not been recognised at all.
We provide employment, income and a range of broader community benefits that mainstream health services and mainstream labour markets do not. ACCHS need more financial support from government, to provide not only quality health and wellbeing services to communities, but jobs, income and broader community economic benefits.
A good way of demonstrating how economically valuable ACCHS are is to showcase our success at a national summit.
“Growing up as an Indigenous Australian I have seen and experienced my fair share of racism. It’s shaped my values and what I believe in today. Racism is a community issue that we all need to address.”
“It is not just about taking responsibility for your own actions but speaking to your mates when they take out their anger on loved ones or minority groups or make racist remarks
From Adam Goodes Australian of the Year acceptance speech
The chair of NACCHO Justin Mohamed on behalf of the board and 150 Aboriginal community controlled health organisation members throughout Australia congratulated Adam Goodes on his award for Australian of the Year and the support he has given NACCHO over the years.
Pictured above launching the NACCHO AFL indigenous all stars jumpers last year in Sydney with new team mate Buddy Franklin
The Australian Human Rights Commission today said it is “absolutely delighted” that its anti-racism ambassador, Adam Goodes, is Australian of the Year 2014.
“This honour acknowledges and celebrates the very significant contribution Adam Goodes has made to our understanding of human rights in Australia,” said Commission President, Professor Gillian Triggs.
“The award highlights Mr Goodes’ support for anti-racism initiatives such as Racism. It Stops With Me.
“It also draws attention to Mr Goodes’ support for constitutional reform,” Professor Triggs said.
Mr Goodes is an ambassador for the Human Rights Commission’s Racism.It Stops With Me campaign. He also features in an anti-racism Community Service Announcement (CSA) the Commission produced in partnership with Play by the Rules.
The CSA quickly went viral after Mr Goodes took a stand against a racist incident during an AFL game in Melbourne last year. Almost 250,000 people have viewed it on the Commission’s YouTube channel and the clip remains available for media use.
“Racism. It Stops With Me encourages people to think about what they say and to understand why racist comments are wrong,” Professor Triggs said.
“We are lucky to have the perfect ambassador in Adam Goodes. We congratulate him on his achievement and we thank him for his leadership.”
The Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, also congratulated Mr Goodes as the newly appointed Australian of the Year.
Dr Soutphommasane said Mr Goodes has delivered a simple but important message: that there is no place for racism in Australia.
“Adam Goodes’ stand against racism has inspired and empowered many Australians,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
The most ill-advised argument anyone could make right now is that Adam Goodes was named Australian of the Year for calling out a 13-year-old girl at the MCG in between chasing a piece of inflated red leather around a footy oval.
The most ill-advised question anyone could ask is what has the Swans footballer done compared with those who have served and lost lives in Afghanistan, or produced miracles in operating theatres?
It’s what Goodes can do over the next year that makes his appointment one of the most inspired choices in years.
When it was revealed on Saturday night that the 34-year-old had received the honour, the news was overwhelmingly applauded – yet also caused a predictable ripple of discontent.
After all, he is just – gulp! – a footballer.
Moaning about the worthiness of the Australian of the Year winner is the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel for your standard Australian whinger.
They’re the same people who complain about the heat in summer, and sand at the beach, and the traffic during school holidays, and how bad Seven’s coverage is of the tennis.
Goodes is the first sportsperson to win the award since former Australian Test captain Steve Waugh in 2004, and before that the likes of Pat Rafter (2002), Mark Taylor (1999) and Cathy Freeman (1998).
Some will point out that sportspeople often won during the tenure of Australia’s little Wallabies tracksuit-wearing prime minister and sports tragic, John Howard, but let’s just assume it was a coincidence.
With all due respect to those indigenous sportspeople who have gone before him – including Lionel Rose (1968) and Evonne Goolagong (1971) – Goodes’ influence can be immense.
A footballer, yes, but so much more than that.
On May 24 last year, a picture of Goodes ran on the back of some News Ltd publications, with him standing in the middle of the SCG on sunset, lifting his Swans jumper and pointing to his dark skin.
He was dipping his lid to another indigenous hero, St Kilda’s Nicky Winmar, who 30 years earlier had lifted his shirt and said, “I’m black and I’m proud” after Collingwood fans had baited him with barbs such as, “Go and sniff some petrol.”
Iconic image: Nicky Winmar raises his jumper in response to racial taunts at Victoria Park on April 17,1993. Photo: Wayne Ludbey
“That’s exactly what the photo symbolises to me,” he said of Winmar’s remarks. “Even today, 20 years later, it highlights how every indigenous person should feel about their heritage.”
The newspaper image of Goodes that day – that came at the start of the AFL’s Indigenous Round – was almost as significant as the iconic picture of Winmar.
Imagine, then, the grief Goodes must have felt when he was standing near the boundary line at the MCG later that night when a 13-year-old Collingwood fan called him an “ape”.
“People don’t understand how one word can cut me so deep,” Goodes says in a video on the Australian of the Year website, before later adding: “I haven’t always been a confident, young man. I was shy growing up. I learnt about standing up for what you believe in.”
Now, there’s standing up for what you believe in, and there’s standing up in front of tens of thousands of people at the MCG and watching on TV at home and on the 6pm news for the next week.
But it isn’t about that moment that makes Goodes a hero.
It is about the next day, when he took a call from a distressed teenage girl, and then asked via social media for the community to support her.
It is about how he handled Pies president Eddie McGuire a few days later after he joked on radio that Goodes would be a good promoter for the King Kong stage production.
It is about the way Goodes has used his own ugly, heartbreaking experience and turned it in the best possible tool to wipe out the stain of racism that is still there, even now.
It is about the GO Foundation he has formed with cousin and former Swans teammate Michael O’Loughlin in 2009, providing scholarships for indigenous students.
It is about the last year when he has been at the forefront of raising awareness of the issue of domestic violence.
Adam Gilchrist, former cricketer and Australia Day Council chairman, said last week: “People might debate if we made the right choice, but they can never say we made the wrong choice.”
Goodes will further a debate this country has been having since Australia Day 1788, with so much more to go, and surely that makes him the right one.
Indigenous AFL player Patrick ‘Paddy’ Ryder calls on Australians to get their eyes tested
Indigenous eye health in focus on World Sight Day
AFL Indigenous Ambassador and Essendon player Patrick Ryder is joining with peak health bodies Vision 2020 Australia and NACCHO in the lead up to World Sight Day to urge Australians to look after their sight.
The ruckman’s call is particularly important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have an increased risk of eye disease and vision loss.
Press launch
When: Tuesday, 8 October at 1pm
Where: Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) 186 Nicholson Street Fitzroy,
Melbourne.Why: The ruckman’s call is particularly important for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people who have an increased risk of eye disease and vision
loss.
Who: VACCHO representative Kulan Barney will be on hand to discuss Indigenous
eye health as well as Vision 2020 Australia’s CEO Jennifer Gersbeck
Vision 2020 Australia CEO Jennifer Gersbeck said: “In Australia, 75 per cent of vision loss is preventable or treatable. This figure increases to 94 per cent among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and yet 35 per cent of Indigenous adults have never had an eye exam.”
“Blindness rates in Indigenous adults are six times higher, and vision impairment nearly three times higher, than that of the wider Australian adult community,” Ms Gersbeck said.
“Being an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man, the higher rates of eye disease in our communities is concerning,” Paddy Ryder said.
“This World Sight Day, I am encouraging Australians from all walks of life to get their eyes tested but particularly Indigenous Australians,” he said.
“Closing the gap for vision is very important and I hope that by getting my eyes tested today I will encourage others to do the same.”
There are four main conditions which account for the majority of vision impairment and blindness in Indigenous Australians: refractive error, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and trachoma.
With the diabetes epidemic sweeping across the world, diabetic retinopathy is a growing concern among Indigenous people.
“Indigenous Australians are three times more likely to have type two diabetes compared to non-Indigenous Australians. This number of people with diabetes is even higher for those Indigenous Australians living in remote areas,” Ms Gersbeck said.
“From the 37 per cent of Indigenous adults who have diabetes, 13 per cent have already lost vision but, importantly, 98 per cent of blindness from diabetes is preventable or treatable with early detection and timely treatment,” she said.
Trachoma is a major blinding infectious eye disease caused by poor hygiene, and can be treated with surgery and antibiotics.
“Despite falling rates, trachoma still affects around 60 per cent of outback Indigenous communities. But with continued efforts, I believe this disease can eventually be eliminated,” Ms Gersbeck said.
“Australia is the only developed country in the world where the debilitating eye disease trachoma is endemic.”
Closing the gap on eye health for Indigenous Australians is important for many reasons. Vision loss and blindness in Indigenous Australians contributes to other health and social problems, including depression, an inability to manage everyday life, and a vicious cycle of disadvantage and poverty.
“A critical part of improving eye health for Indigenous Australians is to improve access to comprehensive eye care and health services.”
Lisa Briggs, CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation said: “I am proud to currently chair Vision 2020 Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee which is made up of the key players across our eye health sector. Together we are working to address many of the system-level issues that limit the delivery of quality eye health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians – issues that have been identified in the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision published by the Indigenous Eye Health Unit, University of Melbourne”.
“At the moment, for example, the Committee is finalising a nationally consistent spectacle scheme to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have access to affordable spectacles wherever they live across the country.”
About Vision 2020 Australia
Vision 2020 Australia is the peak body for the eye health and vision care sector. See www.vision2020australia.org.au Follow us at @Vision2020Aus or #WSD2013
About National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
NACCHO is the national authority in Aboriginal primary health care – Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands. See www.naccho.org.au/
About World Sight Day
World Sight Day is World Health Organisation an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. It will take place this year on Thursday 10 October. More information at www.worldsightday.org.au
NACCHO JOB Opportunities:
Are you interested in working in Aboriginal health?
NACCHO as the national authority in comprenhesive Aboriginal primary health care currently has a wide range of job opportunities in the pipeline.
Picture above Buddy Franklin and Adam Goodes with NACCHO executive at the launch in Sydney
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) has today announced the partnership with the Australian Football League (AFL) to support the Indigenous All-Stars International Rules team.
NACCHO Chair, Justin Mohamed, said he was excited by NACCHO’s ongoing involvement with the AFL.
NACCHO Chair Justin Mohamed and board member John Singer with Buddy Mick and Adam
“Working with the AFL gives us another channel to spread the health messages into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities all across the country,” Mr Mohamed said.
“Aboriginal people are great followers of AFL and love to support their Aboriginal players.
Background
The 2013 Indigenous AFL Players represent 48 of these language or cultural groups. The map below (CLICK VIEW SITE ) demonstrates the diversity of our current Indigenous players.
Explore the map by clicking on the footballs or shaded areas to discover the language and/or cultural groups of these players.
Below is a list of the 79 Indigenous players currently on AFL playing lists.
“AFL and Aboriginal community controlled health both have at their core a local, grass roots, community focus. Combining football with a good health message makes a lot of sense.
“Aboriginal health organisations who are run by Aboriginal people within their own communities are having the greatest impact in closing the disgraceful life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians and improving the lives of our people.
“We are hopeful that by partnering with the AFL more Aboriginal men and women will be encouraged to think about their health and seek out their local Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation for a check up.”
Jason Mifsud, AFL’s Head of Diversity welcomed NACCHO’s involvement with the Indigenous All Stars International Rules team.
“The AFL are thrilled to be associated with an organisation whose members are doing such great work in improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country,” Mr Mifsud said.
“We know that many of the AFL’s Aboriginal players are heroes within their communities and are advocates for good health and fitness.
“Through this partnership, the AFL welcomes the opportunity to help NACCHO spread the word in Aboriginal communities about the importance of good health and regular check ups.”
Media contact: Colin Cowell 0401 331 251, Olivia Greentree 0439 411 774
OFFICIAL AFL media release
MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
The AFL today announced the names of the players eligible for selection in the Indigenous Australian Rules team which will play in the 2013 International Rules Series.
Supported by Coles and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the Indigenous Australian Rules will play Test matches in Cavan and Dublin in Ireland in October.
Head Coach Michael O’Loughlin made the squad announcement at a special event held at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Sydney.
Representing the AFL Indigenous playing group, Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin and Sydney Swans forward Adam Goodes were in attendance.
AFL General Manager of Football Operations Mark Evans said this year’s International Rules Series is a significant and historic event in Australia’s Game.
“The series is a fantastic opportunity for the Indigenous All-Stars to come together as a team and to represent Australia for the first time ever in the International Rules against Ireland.
The Indigenous Australian Rules team will be made up of a very exciting list, which will showcase our Indigenous talent and prove to be a very competitive side to come up against.
“The final squad of 22 players which will travel to Ireland will be released following the Toyota AFL Grand Final Series.”
The current squad is:
Tony Armstrong (Sydney Swans), Harley Bennell
(Gold Coast), Eddie Betts (Carlton), Shaun Burgoyne
(Hawthorn), Allen Christensen (Geelong), Aaron Davey
(Melbourne), Alwyn Davey (Essendon), Courtenay Dempsey
(Essendon), Shane Edwards (Richmond), Lance
Franklin (Hawthorn), Adam Goodes (Sydney), Curtly Hampton
(Greater Western Sydney), Bradley Hill (Hawthorn), Josh Hill (West Coast), Stephen Hill (Fremantle), Leroy Jetta (Essendon), Lewis Jetta (Sydney Swans), Michael
Johnson (Fremantle), Andrew Krakouer (Collingwood), Nathan
Lovett-Murray (Essendon), Brandon Matera (Gold Coast), Ash
McGrath (Brisbane), Steven Motlop (Geelong), Danyle Pearce
(Fremantle), Patrick Ryder (Essendon), Mathew Stokes (Geelong), Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne), Travis Varcoe
(Geelong), Andrew Walker (Carlton), Michael Walters (Fremantle), Sharrod Wellingham (West Coast), Daniel Wells (North
Melbourne), Chris Yarran (Carlton).
Michael O’Loughlin will be supported by a senior coaching panel to be made up of Rodney Eade, Tadhg Kennelly and Andrew McLeod.
In the most recent series in Ireland in 2010 Australia secured a 2-0 victory under former coach Mick Malthouse, before losing 2-0 in Australia in 2011.
Partners
Coles is the official partner of the AFL Indigenous program which aims to deliver football, health, education, leadership and employment opportunities for Indigenous male and females.
The partnership extends to the elite level to include the Indigenous All-Stars, celebrating cultural identity in Australia’s game and strengthening Indigenous development in Australia.
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation represents the 150 health services across Australia that are run by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people.
Below is a list of the 79 Indigenous players currently on AFL playing lists.
Adelaide Cameron Ellis-Yolmen Graham Johncock Jared Petrenko Richard Tambling
Brisbane Ashley McGrath Sam Sheldon
Carlton Eddie Betts Jeffrey Garlett Andrew Walker Chris Yarran
Collingwood Andrew Krakouer Kirk Ugle Peter Yagmoor
Essendon Alwyn Davey Courtney Dempsey Leroy Jetta Anthony Long Nathan Lovett-Murray Patrick Ryder
Fremantle Jonathon Griffin Antoni Grover Stephen Hill Michael Johnson Jordon King-Wilson Michael Walters
Geelong Allen Christensen Joel Hamling Steven Motlop Mathew Stokes Travis Varcoe Bradley Hartman
Gold Coast Harley Bennell Jarrod Harbrow Brandon Matera Steven May Liam Patrick
Greater Western Sydney Rhys Cooyou Shaun Edwards Curtly Hampton Gerald Ugle Nathan Wilson
Hawthorn Shaun Burgoyne Amos Frank Lance Franklin Bradley Hill Cyril Rioli Derrick Wanganeen Jed Anderson
Melbourne Jamie Bennell Aaron Davey Neville Jetta Kelvin Lawerence Dom Barry
North Melbourne Cruize Garlett Lindsay Thomas Daniel Wells
Port Adelaide Brendon Ah Chee Danyle Pearce Chad Wingard Jake Neade
Richmond Shane Edwards Gibson Turner
St Kilda Raphael Clarke Terry Milera Nicholas Winmar
Sydney Tony Armstrong Adam Goodes Lewis Jetta
West Coast Joshua Hill Murray Newman Callum Papertalk Koby Stevens Gerrick Weedon Brad Dick Sharrod Wellingham
Western Bulldogs Liam Jones Koby Stevens Brett Goodes