Thanks Thanks:  4
Likes Likes:  0
Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Warragul
    Posts
    9,529
    Post Thanks / Like

    Calls growing for AFL to implement strategies to get more indigenous coaches involved at clubs

    Calls growing for AFL to implement strategies to get more indigenous coaches involved at clubs

    There are just two Aboriginal coaches in the AFL today, and only one indigenous senior coach in the last 30 years. So how does footy fill this gaping hole?

    Luke Beveridge had wanted Chance Bateman for years.

    The Western Bulldogs coach knew the former Hawk had a sharp football brain and there was a gaping hole at Whitten Oval that needed to be filled.

    The Bulldogs hierarchy had identified an ongoing issue at their club — they could not sign an Indigenous player and did not have one on their list.

    Not since Joel Hamling pulled on the red, blue and white in the 2016 premiership side had the Bulldogs fielded an Indigenous player.

    They struck out in trade pursuits of Jarman Impey (2017), Chad Wingard (2018) and Jack Martin (2019), and also missed out on drafting Kysaiah Pickett (Melbourne) in 2019.

    Bateman was a perfect fit – he had good relationship skills and was a Hawthorn premiership player who had become the first indigenous life member of the famous club.

    The problem for Beveridge was that Bateman, a descendant of the Ballardong Noongar people who understood what it took to combine an Indigenous background with playing AFL, kept saying no — and then he took an assistant coach and mentoring role with West Coast in 2018.

    It was not until the Bulldogs heard of a retirement at Collingwood last year that a solution arose - Travis Varcoe had hung up his boots and would be looking for a job.

    The timing could not have been better.

    The Bulldogs had just taken prodigious indigenous teenager Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at No. 1 in the national draft.

    The club’s four-year frustrations had partly been solved.

    They then appointed Varcoe as a development coach – a role that should have been a walk-up start for a player of his vast experience and significant talent.

    Except for one thing — he was Indigenous, and AFL clubs had a poor history of appointing Indigenous coaches.

    With the Dogs prepared to take a risk on an untried coach, Varcoe (a Narangga man) became the second to currently work in this space in the league — third if you count Fremantle’s Roger Hayden in his new role as the Dockers’ Next Generation Academy coach.

    The other is Xavier Clarke, development coach at Richmond.

    Why does it keep happening?

    Jason Mifsud, a proud member of the Eastern Maar people of the Gunditjmara nation in south west Victoria, continues to be dismayed by the lack of Indigenous coaches at the highest level.

    The AFL’s former head of diversity, who worked as an assistant coach at St Kilda and the Bulldogs, said the league was long overdue for change.

    “I think the industry needs to make a decision, that’s the starting point in my view,” he said.

    “If the industry believe that Aboriginal people cannot only make a significant contribution on the field, but also off the field it is a pretty simple matter of saying what are the pathways or the programs that need to be instituted to help facilitate that.

    “Now, if the industry does not feel that Aboriginals can make a contribution off the field I guess status quo will be held and, on average, we have had two Aboriginal coaches in the AFL each year for the last 15 years.”

    Over 10 per cent of the playing cohort in the AFL are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, but when it comes to coaches the number sits at just over one per cent.

    And when it comes to senior coaches it is even worse, with just two – Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer at West Perth, Geelong and East Perth in the 1960s and 70s and Barry Cable at Perth, East Perth and North Melbourne in the 70s and 80s – Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders at VFL, SANFL or WAFL level.

    “I think it is a clear-cut question (that needs to be asked),” Mifsud said.

    “If the industry feels like it is missing out on a clear uniqueness in its coaching cohort, then it will do something about it – and if it doesn’t, then it won’t (change).”

    The AFL has conducted numerous studies without arriving at a clear plan or solution.

    Several years ago Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams was employed as a consultant and after looking into pathways in American basketball, baseball and football, as well as the English Premier League, he wrote a proposal.

    He told the AFL’s website in 2018 that his view was “it should be mandated that there’s an Aboriginal on every coaching staff in the AFL”.

    At the time the AFL said it was yet to tick off a formal action plan from Williams’ findings.

    Almost three-years later and Williams has heard nothing from the AFL – who were contacted for comment.

    In addition to Williams’ findings, there has been calls in the past for the AFL to adopt an NFL-like ‘Rooney Rule’.

    The American football directive requires its clubs to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior operational roles.

    Mifsud said a like-minded approach in the AFL would not come at the detriment of others.

    “There’s a gross under representation of Aboriginal people at all levels of coaching and as I’ve said previously it’s either attitude or opportunity,” he said.

    “It’s either Aboriginal people not having the desire or attitude to coach or the lack of opportunity.

    “The reality is that it is probably both and what we’ve seen with Aboriginal people in talent pathways is if there is not an incentive, or if there is not a supportive entry into those pathways, it won’t happen organically.

    “Just on pure numbers it doesn’t make sense for 12 per cent of our players to be Aboriginal but just two out of 180 or so coaches being Aboriginal.

    “So, there is a serious gap there and it’s an industry question if they want to find the solution to it.

    “And if they do, there are a number of proactive interventions that I’m sure can close that gap in the next couple of years.”

    The way forward

    Bulldogs head of football Chris Grant said there needed to be a “focused approach” to tackling the issue.

    He told the Adelaide Advertiser that Varcoe’s appointment and Ugle-Hagan arriving at the club were the results of three to four years of planning.

    “It can’t be that you are going to run normal operations and when the opportunity arises you will look at it,” Grant said.

    “You have to recognise what your program and club has not been able to provide previously to not facilitate those opportunities.

    “So until you do that, you aren’t really going to see that – but it is when you look at yourself internally and be truly honest about what your processes have been, and what your focus has been, that you can really move forward with it.

    “Travis is only one appointment, we are not saying that we are doing an absolutely amazing job in that space because we have a lot more to do.

    “But we have started that process and we have pulled ourselves out internally a little bit and we want to do something about it.

    “In the last three months we have seen Jamarra and his story and the support we provided him over the last three to four years, and now Travis Varcoe.

    “It has really taken three to four years for this.

    “Because you have to have your programs set up to support them when they come in, you can’t just appoint someone and tick the box.”

    Varcoe did not wish to speak to the Adelaide Advertiser about his new role until he felt comfortable with his feet under his new desk.

    Grant said clubs can have a strong football department and program and at the same time provide opportunity for those who are under represented – whether they are indigenous, multicultural or female.

    “You can actually have both programs going at the same time to provide development opportunities for those who haven’t yet had that experience at AFL level, which previously it has been ‘capability, capability, capability’,” he said.

    “If you focus on one dimension of a particular role and say we want someone who is experienced, has run a program and has been a development coach for five or so years, you are going to potentially pigeonhole that position for a particular type of person.”

    Is there enough interest?

    It is understood numerous AFL senior coaches have wanted to employ an indigenous assistant coach to mentor and foster Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players.

    Many tried to sign Sydney great Michael O’Loughlin, but failed.

    Following Collingwood’s Do Better report into racism at the club, Magpies 2010 premiership player Sharrod Wellingham – the Pies’ only Indigenous flag-winning player – said the AFL must focus on ensuring more Indigenous players remain involved in the league after they hang up the boots.

    “We make up a huge percentage of the number of players in the league, but I don’t think there’s many coaches and people in admin roles and people in roles around the club other than playing,” he said on ABC Grandstand.

    Outgoing AFL Coaches Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw said the issue was concerning, but he believed the AFL and other stakeholders were doing everything they possibly could to solve it – such as club’s being allowed to pay indigenous and female football department staff outside of the soft cap.

    “Every time I speak to the senior coaches at a club on this topic they tell me that they are always on the look out for indigenous coaches who have the experience and capacity to work at an AFL club, because they can use some help to optimise their indigenous players’ talents,” he said.

    “The challenge to me seems to be convincing the players, in particular, to see coaching as a pathway and the times I’ve spoken to indigenous players about that not many seem to want to do it.”

    Grant said it might require clubs “thinking laterally” about appointments.

    “You might not get someone as experienced, you might not get someone who has been lucky enough or had the opportunity of being in an organisation where they open themselves up to provide those opportunities to them,” he said.

    “You might not get someone with the overall wealth of experience (in coaching) but you get so much back in return.

    “And if your club is strong enough and you have a good program in place with enough experience around them you can support those people who are under represented by providing them with the support and guidance they require at the initial stages.

    “But in the medium and long term you are going to get so much in return because of what they are able to bring.”

    Mifsud said the AFL would be missing out if it could not bolster the number of indigenous coaches in the system, with diversity helping a group make better decisions.

    “I would have thought if we want the AFL to remain the nation’s biggest sport that attracts the best players, the best coaches and the best administrators you would find proactive ways to ensure that any gates that might be closed to facilitate that outcome are opened,” he said.

    “People know why the gaps are what they are, people know the solutions but it just comes down to if the industry wants to proactively facilitate those opportunities – and it if does, like most elite sporting codes, they will adopt a policy to facilitate it.

    “We don’t need more studies, we don’t need more people researching it, we need more proactive policy encouraging Aboriginal people to see coaching as an attractive option post-playing career or even if they haven’t played.

    “It’s not a question of talent – it is a question of opportunity.

    “Our community has a vast array of skills, insights, intelligence, discipline and way of managing and coaching and it is distinct of what I would call the mainstream approach, the AFL approach.”

  2. Thanks hujsh, bornadog, SquirrelGrip, azabob thanked for this post
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    West of somewhere.
    Posts
    6,148
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: Calls growing for AFL to implement strategies to get more indigenous coaches involved at clubs

    Chance Bateman is an excellent coach.

    Spat out of West Coast's system post COVID, he is back at Perth now.

    Should be in the AFL system.
    What should I tell her? She's going to ask.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Posts
    3,453
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: Calls growing for AFL to implement strategies to get more indigenous coaches involved at clubs

    Quote Originally Posted by mjp View Post
    Chance Bateman is an excellent coach.

    Spat out of West Coast's system post COVID, he is back at Perth now.

    Should be in the AFL system.
    Assuming wanting to stay in WA would've been a reason for declining the opportunity at the Dogs?
    Float Along - Fill Your Lungs

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •