Sudanese Players

[LostDoggy]

I just watched the TAC cup show with Hutchy this morning, where they showed a very talented Sudanese player with the Western Jets. From the 10 seconds they showed of him he looked a talent - "Majik Daw"was his name, with a quick chat from Dalrymple to say that the Dogs are following his progress, I have long hoped that the dogs would be the first club to sign up a Sudanese/Horn of African player, and I would be filthy, if Collingwood or someone else beat us to it, as this is the emerging community of the Western suburbs, and with the African's being mad sports lovers, signing up a local boy from their community would see a surge in interest and memberships (much like Ireland now has Sydney and Collingwood members).

What do others here think?

[LostDoggy]

I'd be going more for Sean Tighe or McKenzie from the Jets. Sean is a mate of mine from high school, he has been in pretty good touch!

They said he could possibly be in the running for a rookie spot.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I've played against Tighe and whilst he's good, I would think there's a fair few other options we'd be looking at.

What position did Mad Jack play?

Interesting story.

[ledge]

Mad Jack? wow thats one name you wonder about the parents!

[bornadog]

I think it would be great if we had the first Sudanese player. As you say DrB, we could pick up a big following from the African community in the West and also bridges the gap between cultures as the Africans try to assimilate into the Australian community.

[The Coon Dog]

I just want us to pick the best player we think will do a job for us. I couldn't care less whether he was Sudanese, Vietnamese or Lebanese.

[AndrewP6]

Mad Jack? wow thats one name you wonder about the parents!

A great footy name...unfortunately the lad's name is actually "Majak".... nice attempt nonetheless..

[bulldogtragic]

A great footy name...unfortunately the lad's name is actually "Majak".... nice attempt nonetheless..
TCD, i'm guessing you know, what are the rules with international rookies?

What if they are refugees, do they need to be citizens or non-citizens? Do they have to be living ovserseas at the time of signing?

[LostDoggy]

A great footy name...unfortunately the lad's name is actually "Majak".... nice attempt nonetheless..

Thanks AndrewP6, as I said it was just a quick 10 second snapshot I got at the end.

[AndrewP6]

Thanks AndrewP6, as I said it was just a quick 10 second snapshot I got at the end.

If he ever gets anywhere, that'll be the name he gets stuck with!!:)

[LostDoggy]

I just want us to pick the best player we think will do a job for us. I couldn't care less whether he was Sudanese, Vietnamese or Lebanese.

The point I am trying to make CD is that if we have a local boy from the Sudanese community playing for us, we would get them all on board as supporters and members. For some reason the Vietnamese have never seemed to embrace our game, but we have more chance with the North AFrican community as they really enjoy their sport (soccer).

[LostDoggy]

The point I am trying to make CD is that if we have a local boy from the Sudanese community playing for us, we would get them all on board as supporters and members. For some reason the Vietnamese have never seemed to embrace our game, but we have more chance with the North AFrican community as they really enjoy their sport (soccer).

Would not know exactly what asian country most of the asians in my area are from (Sunshine) but sport is not something they seem interested in. Sudanese though seem very interested. See them in the parks kicking a soccer ball or shooting some hoops. May take a generation though before they are converted to our rules of football.

[Sockeye Salmon]

TCD, i'm guessing you know, what are the rules with international rookies?

What if they are refugees, do they need to be citizens or non-citizens? Do they have to be living ovserseas at the time of signing?

International rookies have to be living overseas.

There is another rookie category for anyone who hasn't played offical football for at least 3 years. It's designed to encourage clubs to steal the best athletes from other sports. Sydney have a kid on one.

[mjp]

Majak has come a long way - from Hoppers B' team to actually getting TAC Cup game time in a couple of years is a good effort. His brother (Riak) spent some time at the Jets a few years ago without actually cracking a game - bloody useless coaching staff down there! :-) Majak was part of the training squad in 2007 as a 16 year old...I admit that I would have thought if he was playing this year it would be under the 19yo rule. Nevertheless, a good effort by the kid who would have only been in Australia 5 or 6 years and had a soccer background.

[Rocco Jones]

I am a primary school teacher and most of the children at our school come from a Somali background. Soccer is big at the school but mainly because it lends itself more to primary school kids (easier to play a game, safer etc). They love playing footy but can get rather aggressive and it tends to get banned. The kids in the upper grades play for soccer sides but none of them play for footy clubs. Like a lot of Australians they can make a transition to footy later on as they have familiarity with the game through kick to kick and muck around games with their mates.

The Somali kids at my school play footy in a way that reminds me of indigenous players. We have one student who comes from a Sudanese background who is an amazing soccer player. Last year he was a star for his U/13's soccer side despite being only 8 and very small for his age. He decided to join a few older kids playing footy and he looked like an absolute natural, amazing how easy some kids can make it look.

[comrade]

The Somali kids at my school play footy in a way that reminds me of indigenous players. We have one student who comes from a Sudanese background who is an amazing soccer player. Last year he was a star for his U/13's soccer side despite being only 8 and very small for his age. He decided to join a few older kids playing footy and he looked like an absolute natural, amazing how easy some kids can make it look.

Send Dalrymple an email! :)

[Rocco Jones]

Send Dalrymple an email! :)

He is tiny and would need to have a few almighty growth spurts to be as tall as Robbie Nahas.

He is also soccer mad.

[LostDoggy]

Majak goes to my school. He's pretty tall.

http://http://www.sportingpulse.com/club_info.cgi?client=1-3020-27614-0-0&sID=59464&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=8752916&sectionID=59464

[bornadog]

Would not know exactly what asian country most of the asians in my area are from (Sunshine) but sport is not something they seem interested in. Sudanese though seem very interested. See them in the parks kicking a soccer ball or shooting some hoops. May take a generation though before they are converted to our rules of football.

Its the culture. I lived in Asia for seven years , 5 in Taiwan, and very few played sports. In fact at primary school, they eat their lunch and then have a nap.

[comrade]

Its the culture. I lived in Asia for seven years , 5 in Taiwan, and very few played sports. In fact at primary school, they eat their lunch and then have a nap.

Kind of like Richmond after half time? :D

[LostDoggy]

Kind of like Richmond after half time? :D
:DGold

[LostDoggy]

Its the culture. I lived in Asia for seven years , 5 in Taiwan, and very few played sports. In fact at primary school, they eat their lunch and then have a nap.

Depends on the sport a bit, don't it? Lived in Asia on and off these last 3 years. I see soccer is huge everywhere, incl. and esp. Vietnam, volleyball massive in some countries, boxing, etc. Rugby is also making small but important steps in S E Asia.

Personally, if we are looking overseas, why not look at the best national AFL team outside Australia -- PNG.

[comrade]

More insight into Majak Daw.

Having seen him play a couple of times, he is very athletic and holds his own at U/18 level. More impressive considering he's only been playing the game for a few years.

A possible Bulldogs rookie pick? I'm ready to jump aboard the GET MAJAK bandwagon. :D


Out of Africa, into the team
The Age
By Peter Hanlon, June 21 2009

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/out-of-the-ordinary/2009/06/20/1244918235299.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

WHEN Majak Daw first played Australian football, the friends from school who had encouraged him to have a go made the first team, while he was shunted down the grades. "I thought to myself, 'I'm pathetic, I'm not good at this'."

What worried him most was the prospect of walking this foreign path alone. "I thought I wasn't going to make any friends in the under-14Ds, but I didn't know how football works - you make friends wherever you go, wherever you play footy."

Just four years on from those first, tentative steps in the game, Majak Daw finds himself in the TAC Cup goal square, playing full-forward for the Western Jets. He is realistic about his prospects - "It hasn't come across to me that, 'I'll get drafted!' or anything like that. I'll just keep playing footy, and when the opportunity comes, take it."

Yet his progression shows what is possible, and what is surely on the horizon - the appearance of an African name on an AFL list. And then another, and another, and another.

"Five to 10 years there will be an African at the MCG," says Ahmed Dini, a 22-year-old Somalian refugee working as a youth advocate in the Flemington area.

"Inside the next five years," says Kim Kershaw, formerly of Richmond and Hawthorn, latterly coach of Flemington juniors, and of Team Africa in last year's International Cup. "These kids are very, very talented."

"Three, four years," says Daw. He is content that it might not be him, but knows many more will follow - kids who have played the game longer, learnt more, and are ready to shine.

Nick Hatzoglou endorses the shorter time-frame, and it's a day the head of the AFL's multicultural arm will rejoice in. Almost as much as April 13, 2005, when he started in a pioneering post at league headquarters. The son of Greek migrants, his pride at taking the game he grew up loving to a vast new audience is immense.

Football hasn't always been so ready to embrace, but like Daw's fledgling career, things are improving fast. Says the league's game development manager, David Matthews: "The next major investment the AFL will make in development will be in multiculturalism."

Six clubs now employ multicultural officers and, last year, 1300 AFL staffers and volunteers undertook training to increase cross-cultural awareness, and leave them better armed to interact, extend a welcoming hand, and use football as a means of helping newcomers to belong. People like Majak Daw, the face of footy in fast forward.

Daw was born 18 years ago in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, the third of what has become nine children. The family moved to Egypt for three years, and arrived in Melbourne in 2003. His upbringing was different to anything his new friends could know, "but I had a better childhood than others, those who experienced war", he says.

His native tongue is Majak, like his name, but he had little English. He attended a language centre, and one day a tutor and his wife took him to the MCG as Collingwood played Fremantle. "So many people going to watch a game of footy . . . " he recalls. A fire was lit.

From Taylors Lakes to Keilor Downs, and eventually Werribee, where the Daws' house was across the street from Wyndamvale footy ground. He wandered over one pre-season evening, remembers standing by himself for a short time, "then the coaches approached me and introduced me to all the other guys. They welcomed me very well."

One new teammate was Joey Halloran, who can still see Majak's big hands trying to get hold of the ball. "To tell you the truth, he was hopeless."

Now, Joey drives Majak to Western Jets training, and they are part of a group so tight that Joey changed schools to McKillop College this year to be with his mates.

Halloran sees his friend as a pioneer. "At Wyndamvale, there are a lot of Sudanese kids now, and they all look up to him like he's some sort of superstar. Probably in every Wyndamvale (junior) team, you'll see one, and they all want to be like Majak."

The AFL stresses that the "talent outcomes" will be a by-product of the groundwork Hatzoglou's team is putting in, but the major focus is on football helping refugee and migrant families to assimilate. "We've got a really good demonstrated track record of using the game as a vehicle for broader social outcomes - education, self-esteem, building communities," says Matthews. It's about investing in the whole village, Hatzoglou says, not just the child.

Daw has seen what Bachar Houli's appearance in red and black has done for Lebanese and the broader Muslim community, and sensed the excitement in Nick Naitanui's debut for West Coast last weekend. He knows people are looking for a trailblazer, feels the weight on his broadening shoulders, but is bearing it well.

"The role model thing, everyone says I have it . . . I just want to be like other footballers, Bachar Houli and the like - go out there and encourage others to join the sport."

Ahmed Dini has watched the change come like a wave. At Debney Park, below the Racecourse Road flats, footballs spin through the air where a blink ago there was only soccer. "There's a huge shift from soccer to football. In Flemington, there's not a soccer team any more. Young men are playing football, all for established clubs - juniors at Flemington, seniors at Glen Eira, Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong Park.

"I'm surprised, as a young person who grew up with soccer. But the best way we can connect easily is to take part in what Australians love."

The Glen Eira experience has been telling. Dini relays the story of Scott Diamond, a teacher at Debney Park Secondary College, who a couple of years ago asked some students if they wanted to play football. Now they drive across town to train and play, and Glen Eira's senior team boasts several Africans.

Kershaw coached them as juniors, then at the International Cup, and says Glen Eira is doing "amazing things with African men". Men like best-and-fairest runner-up Mahad "The General" Farah. And Said Elmi, who Ahmed Dini likens to Leon Davis. And the brothers Kershaw says were known simply as B01 and B02. "Great footballers."

Kevin Ryan, the sports master at McKillop College, agrees Daw's progression has been jaw-dropping - from barely making the team in year 9, to winning the school association's award last year in year 11. At 195 centimetres (and growing), and 90 kilograms, he has no trouble meeting modern football's premium on athleticism.

What he wants for is footy smarts, a knack for knowing what to do without thinking. "Every centre bounce he gets the tap, he can take a mark, but there are times he hesitates, just because he hasn't got that really long football background," Ryan says.

Daw doesn't hesitate to agree. "Reading the game, how it unfolds . . . I haven't had the experience of playing from under-nines to under-18s."

Yet those African kids who have joined Wyndamvale will have. Kids like Majak's little brother, who is playing his first game of football this weekend. "I've sort of brainwashed him," Majak says.

His father and older brothers once ribbed him: "Why are you playing this sport? Why don't you play soccer like the rest of us?" He replied that he was just trying something new.

He visits the gym with Halloran three times a week and, as a second-year Jet, is revelling in doing more around the ground, changing in the ruck, feeling his skills and touch mature. "I'm a more important player for the team now."

Ryan says it would be a huge gamble for an AFL club to draft him, but a rookie-list spot might appeal to a team that likes a flutter. Whatever, football is only part of the equation. From Ahmed Dini, to Kim Kershaw, to the women in the McKillop College front office, there is a resounding theme - this is a young man to be proud of.

Football has played its part. "It's helped me to fit into Australian society," Daw says, noting that the Sudanese kids who play soccer tend to stick to their own. "I'm one of the Sudanese who interact with other Australians."

Joey Halloran says the relationship works both ways; like all mates, they have learned much from each other. "He used to be just an African kid who played footy, now he really fits in. Footy hasn't got everything to do with it, but it's helped."

[bulldogtragic]

If he is holding his own, we might have competition to secure him!

[LostDoggy]

Keep an eye on his letter brother as well:)

[comrade]

It looks like the Dogs might be knocking on Majak’s door come (rookie?) draft day.

This from today's Herald Sun (thanks to Baz for the tip)

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv120/brettmexico/majak.jpg


He’s exactly what we should be looking for in a rookie – big, athletic and obviously a quick learner.

If he becomes a Bulldog I may even have to knock Boumann from my avatar. :eek:

[bornadog]

If he becomes a Bulldog I may even have to knock Boumann from my avatar. :eek:

Brett, wash your mouth with soap:D

[LostDoggy]

Boo for them not having Brennan Stack in the photo as well.....hahaha.....

Id love for Majak to come to the doggies..........i may even have a new fav player as well hehee......

[Cyberdoggie]

He is tiny and would need to have a few almighty growth spurts to be as tall as Robbie Nahas.

He is also soccer mad.

Isn't that your job as Teacher and a moulder of young minds!

I'm expecting you to instill Bulldog methodology into these young lads and remove the hethen soccer craze from their heads!

[The Coon Dog]

Surely if he's touted as being picked up as a rookie, he'd be worth a latish pick in the National Draft.

Be a bugger if you thought he'd slip & someone took him with pick 87.

[LostDoggy]

Looks like a big unit! ***k me!

[LostDoggy]

He's massive. Looks taller than 193 cm at school.

[hujsh]

Apparently my mate is his bitch at school.

LOL at him cause he won't be fighting back.

[The Coon Dog]

Apparently my mate is his bitch at school.

For those of us who have gone past our teenage years, can you explain what this means please hujsh? ;)

[Rocco Jones]

Isn't that your job as Teacher and a moulder of young minds!

I'm expecting you to instill Bulldog methodology into these young lads and remove the hethen soccer craze from their heads!

:D

The kids at our school both games. Nearly all of the boys in my class follow the Dogs, I had to convert a few. The girls don't like the boys and find Dogs (the actual animal) repulsive.

[Happy Days]

Apparently my mate is his bitch at school.

LOL at him cause he won't be fighting back.

Unlucky...think you'd just have to cop that.

[Happy Days]

Majak just got a mention on the Footy Show.

Hutchy said that he could go to the Bombers with a low rookie pick. No mention of us.

[anfo27]

I saw some footage of Majak on the footy show and it was very very exciting. This kid could really be something. Hutchy said that he has been playing footy for 12 months, what a moron does that bloke ever get anything right.

[LostDoggy]

Majak just got a mention on the Footy Show.

Hutchy said that he could go to the Bombers with a low rookie pick. No mention of us.

F*** off Essendon, I want him at the Dogs!

[LostDoggy]

Great! Goes to Essendon and there goes the rest of the community barracking for them as well. For god sake dogs - get in first for a change.:mad:

[The Coon Dog]

Great! Goes to Essendon and there goes the rest of the community barracking for them as well. For god sake dogs - get in first for a change.:mad:

I could understand this post if it was posted after the draft & he'd actually gone elsewhere, but it's still 2 months away! Sheesh!

[hujsh]

For those of us who have gone past our teenage years, can you explain what this means please hujsh? ;)

Not prison bitch just come with me and do as i say or I might punch you. Most social groups have a designated 'bitch' of some form


He denies this BTW.

[hujsh]

I could understand this post if it was posted after the draft & he'd actually gone elsewhere, but it's still 2 months away! Sheesh!

And based on the word of Craig Hutchinson.

[alwaysadog]

Hutchie has been caught and "bitched" by his own spin machine.

As Thomas More said of his son in law in A Man for all seasons,

"We must hope when his head stops spinning it's facing the front".

With Hutchie that may be a big ask.

[comrade]

4ZYr4YqzYK0

You can only take highlight videos with a grain of salt but he definitely has a little bit of Natanui about the way he moves across the ground.

He seems to naturally hunt the man and create pressure and I like the way he's not afraid to take multiple players on.

Looks alright around the goals, too.

Maybe he's worth more than a rookie pick after all.

[GVGjr]

Daw is quite the athlete and there is even some speculation that he might have been better suited to a track and field career.
It's probably doubtful now given his profile that he would last until the rookie draft.

[Dancin' Douggy]

I want him at the dogs. Hope we get him.
Looks like a one man headline a la Natanui and great for the Sudanese, and other African communities in the West.
I want to see them all in Dogs jumpers.
Not the (insert vomit sounds) lousy Bombers.

[GVGjr]

I want him at the dogs. Hope we get him.
Looks like a one man headline a la Natanui and great for the Sudanese, and other African communities in the West.
I want to see them all in Dogs jumpers.
Not the (insert vomit sounds) lousy Bombers.

You would have to think a lot of clubs would be interested in him. He has so much to learn and the upside would be enormous if it all clicks for him. He's certainly a player that could learn his craft with the Williamstown 2nds for a season.

[LostDoggy]

From watching the highlights - Doggies, please sign him up!!
Size / pace / pretty good skills / athletic....and more upside...and huge marketing potential!

[comrade]

From watching the highlights - Doggies, please sign him up!!
Size / pace / pretty good skills / athletic....and more upside...and huge marketing potential!

Remember, highlight videos only show his best work. I'm all for picking Majak, but wouldn't want to pay over the odds for him.

If another club thinks he's worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick, then good luck to them.

If we end up with 4 picks in the draft this year, I'd be happy with using our last pick, but ideally we'd secure him in the rookie draft, as he probably needs at least 2 years of development just to get him close to AFL level.

[GVGjr]

Remember, highlight videos only show his best work. I'm all for picking Majak, but wouldn't want to pay over the odds for him.

If another club thinks he's worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick, then good luck to them.

If we end up with 4 picks in the draft this year, I'd be happy with using our last pick, but ideally we'd secure him in the rookie draft, as he probably needs at least 2 years of development just to get him close to AFL level.


Yes, amongst some good things I have seen from him it's often few and far between. At times he appears lost and others a natural.

[comrade]

Yes, amongst some good things I have seen from him it's often few and far between. At times he appears lost and others a natural.

He's the ideal rookie pick, but his increased profile might see him get snagged earlier than he probably should.

With the shallowness of this draft, we really have to make every post a winner and picking an extremely speculative project player above the odds isn't a good move, IMO.

[GVGjr]

He's the ideal rookie pick, but his increased profile might see him get snagged earlier than he probably should.

With the shallowness of this draft, we really have to make every post a winner and picking an extremely speculative project player above the odds isn't a good move, IMO.

Teams like the Tigers with a number of selections (possibly in the 8 to 10 mark) will ensure that he won't slide to the rookie list I would have thought.

[comrade]

Teams like the Tigers with a number of selections (possibly in the 8 to 10 mark) will ensure that he won't slide to the rookie list I would have thought.

If no other team is prepared to offer picks for the Tigers' discards, how will they end up with up to 10 selections in the draft?

[GVGjr]

If no other team is prepared to offer picks for the Tigers' discards, how will they end up with up to 10 selections in the draft?

They have a number of players coming out of contract. They have already cleared 5 from the books and I think a few other might not see the week out.

[aker39]

If no other team is prepared to offer picks for the Tigers' discards, how will they end up with up to 10 selections in the draft?

The uncontracted ones will be delisted.

They started yesterday with Oakley-Nicholls

[comrade]

They have a number of players coming out of contract. They have already cleared 5 from the books and I think a few other might not see the week out.

So, if Richmond have 10 spots that need to be fulfilled on their list due to retirements/delistings, do they just get extra late picks to use?

[GVGjr]

So, if Richmond have 10 spots that need to be fulfilled on their list due to retirements/delistings, do they just get extra late picks to use?

Yes. They might very well have selections 3, 19, 35, 51, 67, 69, 71, 72 and 73 etc with a pick or 2 saved for the next draft.

[bulldogtragic]

Majak was on the TAC Cup show today. They showed his highlight reel, very impressive, but obviously very raw. He has scored an invite to national trials as a result of good form, kicked 5 a few weeks back.

For community/public relations but also on footy ability I wouldn't mind taking him on as a project player. He can run, jump, catch and kick the ball over 60 metres. Whilst he still needs technical work, we cold do much worse with the 42nd spot than him (and we have done!).

[Dancin' Douggy]

We've done worse with a number 4 pick.

[The Coon Dog]

Sudanese-born Daw gets scholarship (http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/84520/default.aspx)

http://mm.afl.com.au/Portals/0/images/AFL/AFL%20A-E/Daw246BIG.jpg

SUDANESE-BORN draft prospect Majak Daw is one of 11 young footballers to receive a Mike Fitzpatrick Scholarship for 2010.

Daw, who plays for Wyndhamvale and the Western Jets, accepted his scholarship at Monday night’s AFL Players’ Association MVP Awards.

Daw started playing football at school at age 14 after his family immigrated to Melbourne and quickly developed into a promising ruckman/key forward.

Article in full... (http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/84520/default.aspx)

[bulldogtragic]

Would be the WBFC media managers dream to snare him on draft day.

[LostDoggy]

Would be the WBFC media managers dream to snare him on draft day.

I agree, although a difficult balancing act between, players that will bring supporters to our club, and players who will win us a premiership.

[bulldogtragic]

I agree, although a difficult balancing act between, players that will bring supporters to our club, and players who will win us a premiership.
Whilst Majak is raw, he has an impressive highlights reel. He could be anything from Tim Walsh to Nic Nat. I think the package for the club media, PR, community relations, building a new supporter base and having a very raw and impresive kid should be too good to knock back.

[GVGjr]

Whilst Majak is raw, he has an impressive highlights reel. He could be anything from Tim Walsh to Nic Nat. I think the package for the club media, PR, community relations, building a new supporter base and having a very raw and impresive kid should be too good to knock back.

Whoever selects Daw will get a lot of free publicity and in time he could be regarded as a good selection. Athletically he is very impressive.

[The Coon Dog]

Whoever selects Daw will get a lot of free publicity and in time he could be regarded as a good selection. Athletically he is very impressive.

If he's as expected, a late selection, then lets be honest, he's probably going to be of a comparable ability to 15 or 20 other kids selected late on.

With that in mind, unless you have a specific target in mind, you might as well draft him & take advantage of the free publicity that comes with it.

[GVGjr]

If he's as expected, a late selection, then lets be honest, he's probably going to be of a comparable ability to 15 or 20 other kids selected late on.

With that in mind, unless you have a specific target in mind, you might as well draft him & take advantage of the free publicity that comes with it.


I don't disagree. It's just finding the right spot to select him.

[Rocco Jones]

I don't disagree. It's just finding the right spot to select him.

Where do you/TAC Cup watchers see him going?

[BulldogBelle]

Be a great project player. At 193cm could be a real x-factor CHF if he developed enough to play AFL. First rookie draft pick would be a fair investment.

[GVGjr]

Where do you/TAC Cup watchers see him going?

A few weeks back I would have thought a late pick or even a rookie selection but his profile has increased enormously in the last month.
It's hard to say but depending on how he goes in the testing, a late 3rd pick might be around the mark.

[The Coon Dog]

Be a great project player. At 193cm could be a real x-factor CHF if he developed enough to play AFL. First rookie draft pick would be a fair investment.

With all the publicity & being invited to the draft camp/state screening or whatever it is he's been invited to, I doubt he'll still be around at the Rookie Draft.

[Rocco Jones]

4ZYr4YqzYK0


Interesting background music.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Whoever selects Daw will get a lot of free publicity and in time he could be regarded as a good selection. Athletically he is very impressive.

Certainly is. Looks like a Nic Nat clone.

He's obviously raw, but the thing I like about Daw is his second and third efforts. He's never out of a contest and seems to continually follow up the play. It's instinct; he doesn't have to think about it. He just runs, and by the look of it, pretty hard too. His skills look OK on the whole. Developing his body so he can take those marks/hold his ground etc. will be a real key though.

I'd love for The Dogs to draft him with a third or fourth pick. He has a lot to work with that most tall players don't. With the way the game is constantly changing, his type of running and repeated efforts would hold him in good stead.

[Happy Days]

In a shallow draft, we could do worse than Majak with our 3rd pick. The lack of talent in the later rounds makes me feel more inclined to see us take a punt on a kid with a world of upside, rather than an average player who would, in all likelyhood, end up an also-ran. Majak has an element of Karmichael Hunt to him in the sense that the marketing that would result from his recruitment would make the selection almost worthwhile, even if he doesn't turn out to be a worldbeater.

[bulldogsman]

Interesting background music.

Vertigo by U2 is a much better fit ;)

[LostDoggy]

Looks like Mad Jack is getting a bit of interest from Essendon and Norf:mad:

Still we are still in there fingers crossed, he just really apeals to me as a player and as a potential pull for the Sudanese community, who, I might add seem to be coming to our games;).

On a side note - did anyone see Sam Newman down at Footscray doing Street Talk, when a Sudanese man walks path and calls out 'hey cuusin' to Sam - very funny moment.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/majak-daw-one-giant-leap/2009/10/30/1256835153144.html

[vho]

Speaking of which, it's a pity there are no Asian/Vietnamese players as of yet to be drafted to the AFL. As an Australian with Vietnamese heritage myself, i know the community would be extremely proud and follow their man if a Vietnamese player was able to make it in the AFL. I can only hope one day this comes true and lets hope he lands at the Bulldogs. It would be a marketing dream if a player with that background and talent be drafted to the dogs as there is a huge Vietnamese community based in Footscray.

Remembering back, about 4-5 years ago i recall a player plying his trade in the VFL for Werribee or Williamtstown going by the surname 'Nguyen', anyone know what happened to him?

[ledge]

Nguyen is like Smith but twice as many!
Yeah i vaguely remember one being reported on but no idea where it lead.
The Vietnamese are probably built more for soccer than footy though that might be a reason.

[hujsh]

Not many Vietnamese play AFL. I have met one who was pretty good when playing school football so their build may not be that much of a problem.

[Dancin' Douggy]

I remember a really solidly built and quite raw but athletically gifted Vietnamese kid played against Braybrook when I was playing many years ago. Can't remember who he played for but he certainly blew the racial stereotype away. My immediate thought of course was how great it would be if he got drafted by the dogs. Maybe one day...................someone...................

[AndrewP6]

Remembering back, about 4-5 years ago i recall a player plying his trade in the VFL for Werribee or Williamtstown going by the surname 'Nguyen', anyone know what happened to him?

Did a bit of trawling, is this the guy? Works for the AFL now...

Michael Nguyen

My name is Michael Nguyen and I am of a Vietnamese background. My parents migrated to Australia from Vietnam 30 years ago. I was born in Melbourne and have played Australian Football since the age of nine. Australian Football has given me the opportunity to travel to every state in Australia. More importantly, being involved in an Australian Football team has also allowed me to develop lifelong friendships. I am delivering the Multicultural School Football Program within the south-eastern region of Melbourne, working closely with the Hawthorn Football Club.

Michael Nguyen
Multicultural Development Officer
michael.nguyen@afl.com.au

Article from http://www.afl.com.au/Contacts/tabid/10293/default.aspx

Also found he played for Sandringham (TAC Cup and VFL.

[BulldogBelle]

What about Danny Seow that played for Collingwood? Maybe not Vietnamese though - and I hate stereotyping, sorry! But I do think what a untapped resourse west Melbournes African community. I wish as much effort was put into identifying and nurturing talent there than there is looking at Fiji and New Zealand

[LostDoggy]

Whats the rush with getting the first. Lets get the best players and not worry about the race of the individual. Let Essendon or whoever do all the hard yards with the possible duds and we can move in and take the cream later when there are actually good players coming through that deserve to be picked up in the Draft and are not questionable Rookies at best.

If he is still there to be picked up as a Rookie then OK else good luck to other clubs.

[Cyberdoggie]

What about Danny Seow that played for Collingwood? Maybe not Vietnamese though - and I hate stereotyping, sorry! But I do think what a untapped resourse west Melbournes African community. I wish as much effort was put into identifying and nurturing talent there than there is looking at Fiji and New Zealand

Yes i agree that it would make more sense investing in local areas than travelling to fiji or some place that has never heard of our game.

You would think it would be much easier to work with some african kids here than anyone overseas.

I think multi-culturalism is absolutely critical to the success and survival of the AFL.
If you can get 'new australians' playing our game it has so many benefits, not just seeing a kid become a success. It's all about families, communities and culture.

If we don't convert them, they will stick with what they know or what they identify with, and that would be soccer and basketball.

[Rocco Jones]

Yes i agree that it would make more sense investing in local areas than travelling to fiji or some place that has never heard of our game.

You would think it would be much easier to work with some african kids here than anyone overseas.

I think multi-culturalism is absolutely critical to the success and survival of the AFL.
If you can get 'new australians' playing our game it has so many benefits, not just seeing a kid become a success. It's all about families, communities and culture.

If we don't convert them, they will stick with what they know or what they identify with, and that would be soccer and basketball.

Not sure how Sudanese/any Horn of Africa country basketball is. I know it's huge amongst African Americans but as I have mentioned earlier in this thread, the school I work has a 70% African student base and basketball isn't popular at all. We have basketball courts and they get me (being the only male) to put them up everyday but no one actually plays basketball (bar maybe a prep who struggles to shoot the ball anywhere near the rim!).

Footy is very popular at the school but soccer is even bigger (both in following and playing the game). More kids play soccer but that's the normal for any background at the age. AFL is well ahead of the other sports in his promotion of the game. We have had a series of Aus Kick clinics, a couple of series of clinics from Essendon and one Bulldogs clinic in the last couple of years. North don't do clinics at our school because apparently Flemington falls out of their zone! I have filled our sports equipment bin with footballs and they all taken every recess/playtime. In terms of following the game, the EPL and AFL are clearly the most followed leagues.

The issue with developing players from within Australia is that any club can pick them up. We can put as much work into an area like Flemington and it's Somali kids for example but once they nominate for the draft, we have no more right to them than any other club.

[Cyberdoggie]

Not sure how Sudanese/any Horn of Africa country basketball is. I know it's huge amongst African Americans but as I have mentioned earlier in this thread, the school I work has a 70% African student base and basketball isn't popular at all. We have basketball courts and they get me (being the only male) to put them up everyday but no one actually plays basketball (bar maybe a prep who struggles to shoot the ball anywhere near the rim!).

Footy is very popular at the school but soccer is even bigger (both in following and playing the game). More kids play soccer but that's the normal for any background at the age. AFL is well ahead of the other sports in his promotion of the game. We have had a series of Aus Kick clinics, a couple of series of clinics from Essendon and one Bulldogs clinic in the last couple of years. North don't do clinics at our school because apparently Flemington falls out of their zone! I have filled our sports equipment bin with footballs and they all taken every recess/playtime. In terms of following the game, the EPL and AFL are clearly the most followed leagues.

The issue with developing players from within Australia is that any club can pick them up. We can put as much work into an area like Flemington and it's Somali kids for example but once they nominate for the draft, we have no more right to them than any other club.

Auskick is one thing but I think there is a giant step between that and getting these kids to play regularly in a club side. How many of the kids at your school would play for the local footy side on the weekend?

Out in the Dandenong area i see a lot of the Somali's on the public basketball courts and wearing basketball clothes around the streets. To be honest i see more Indians and Sri Lankans kicking footies around than any africans out east.

I remember Coon Dog saying that there were several Africans playing out Werribee way, which is great to see. We just have to get them into club footy at any level.

[hujsh]

There's this kid who's only knows as 'Bugsy' who's African and plays footy.

There might be a few in Kensington as well but I have trouble remembering team names so that may be wrong.

One team had a few Africans so we were given this racial relations seminar thing in U-14's.

[Rocco Jones]

Auskick is one thing but I think there is a giant step between that and getting these kids to play regularly in a club side. How many of the kids at your school would play for the local footy side on the weekend?

Out in the Dandenong area i see a lot of the Somali's on the public basketball courts and wearing basketball clothes around the streets. To be honest i see more Indians and Sri Lankans kicking footies around than any africans out east.

I remember Coon Dog saying that there were several Africans playing out Werribee way, which is great to see. We just have to get them into club footy at any level.

How many primary school kids play for a local footy side? It's an area that soccer dominates but Aussie Rules makes massive ground on when they turn 14 or 15 but I do get your point mate.

As into Aussie Rules as our kids are, none of them play for a footy side. The local U/13's Soccer side is dominated by kids in our 4/5/6 grades. I definitely agree (well strongly agree) with you about more work being put into the African community to get them to play for a footy side.

[BulldogBelle]

I seen Majak Daw having a run with the Western Jets today. It was the first time my son had seen him in the flesh and said he was "massive"...I hope someone picks this kid up. His potential is enormous, given that he has only played for 4 years. No more a risk than an Irishman or a rugby/basketball convert, and there are plenty of them running around at an AFL club.

[AndrewP6]

Sidenote... my sports club is running a Wheelchair Basketball Come and Try Day (I found out on Facebook) and Majak Daw has been invited. I think he's listed as "Maybe Attending"...

[bornadog]

‘I’ve only been here four years and I’m better than you!’ How South Sudanese players are enriching the AFL (https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/i-ve-only-been-here-four-years-and-i-m-better-than-you-how-south-sudanese-players-are-enriching-the-afl-20220523-p5ans2.html)

Buku Khamis made the all-Australian Under 16 team in 2016 and was at Melbourne airport with his passport, about to board a plane to represent Australia in New Zealand alongside Sam Walsh, Connor Rozee, Jack Lukosius, Tarryn Thomas and the King twins. But at the gate, a shock awaited. Khamis was turned back because he was not an Australian citizen.

“We had to put him in a taxi and sent him back to his foster family in the western suburbs,” said Kevin Sheehan, the doyen and guru of AFL talent-spotters. He and coach Luke Power presented Khamis with his Australian guernsey in a subsequent private ceremony.

Two years later, in 2018, Khamis made the Under 18 all-Australian side as a half-back, was inexplicably overlooked in the draft, but taken by the Bulldogs as a Next Gen academy rookie. That was him out there soaring over and away from Collingwood at Marvel stadium the other Friday night. You could hardly miss him.

Khamis is one of a dozen players on AFL and AFLW lists whose family origins are in South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011. His story is all their stories. Axiomatically, they’ve had to go the extra mile. Most have in their backgrounds upheaval, refugee camps, resettlement and still scattered families to whom AFL footy was and is an alien pursuit. Twelve might not sound many, but it already outstrips in the AFL’s demographics the vastly bigger and older Asian migrant communities, for instance.

“We haven’t been able to crack that market,” said Sheehan. “But the Africans are great for the game, because they add so much to it.” The best known are Majak Daw, Aliir Aliir, Changkouth Jiath and Mabior Chol. These you will readily recognise. Their profiles distinguished them in advance and their footy caught up. In 2021, Aliir became the first South Sudanese Australian to make the All-Australian team.

In AFLW, the trail is being blazed by Akec Makur Chuot, now with Hawthorn after stints at Fremantle and Richmond.

The latest is Bigoa Nyuon, aptly Biggie to all, who made his debut for Richmond two weeks ago. Biggie is the sixth of eight siblings. One is Gach, who was briefly on Essendon’s list some years ago before sadly running off life’s rails.

Another sibling is Nyadol, the noted lawyer, writer and activist. She was at a hospital for a doctor’s appointment when Biggie rang to say he had been picked. “I just desperately needed to shout, but I couldn’t,” she said. “I can’t explain how much joy he brought to us.”

The Nyuons’ footy odyssey is typical. When the family first arrived in Australia, they didn’t like AFL, because it wasn’t soccer and because of what Nyadol calls the “migrant experience”.

“The emigre kid, especially the refugee, your parents want you to pursue things that are solid,” she said. “A British comedian jokes about it: in migrant communities, you’re either a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer or a disgrace to your family. We were expected to go to school and university and do something real.

“Football was dream-generated. It wasn’t good enough to survive on. It took us a long time to let go of this image of the need to survive.

“Now it brings me so much joy on two levels, as a game, and on the level that my siblings get to achieve dreams that seemed unrealistic to us when we came here. It’s a story of feeling safe enough and secure enough in a country to leave behind survival and go into dreaming.”

A couple of years ago, Nyadol felt strangely excited as she left work one Friday night, but could not explain why. “Then it dawned on me: it was Friday night footy,” she said. “And I remember thinking: I have become one of them!”

The lag tells a tale. As long ago as 2004, that arch-dreamer Kevin Sheedy brought in Goaner Tutlan to train with Essendon, though he was never listed. In 2009, Daw became the first South Sudanese to be drafted, as a rookie, and in 2013 the first to play a game.

Others followed, mostly on the fringes, but last year became a watershed when Mac Andrew was drafted by Gold Coast at No 5 and Leek Aleer by GWS at No 15. It was an AFL draft with a sheen of NBA about it.

Sheehan has been eyewitness-in-chief to the emergence of this new cohort. Invited by Western Jets manager Shane Sexton to a game at Werribee years ago, he saw a lithe teenager suddenly explode, taking mark of the day and kicking goal of the day. “I thought, how exciting’s this?” he said. It was Daw.

In Sheehan’s mind, an idea formed. “I thought, we’ve got to force the market, put it that way,” he said.”

Queensland state talent manager and former Swan Mark Browning alerted Sheehan to a kid in a trial one day at Ikon Park. “He looked like Buddy Franklin,” Sheehan said. “There were a couple of moments where he just stepped around on the left and went ping.” ‘He’ was Chol.

At the National Academy a year or two later, he clapped eyes on another. “It only took one training session and we said, that kid’s going to make it,” he said. The kid was Jiath, CJ to all.

Best of all, there was the Queenslander who on a bus after a trial match in Sydney one day fell into conversation with a teammate from WA and found that both their mothers were looking for lost sisters - then realised their mothers were sisters and they were cousins. As a result, Aliir moved to Perth and in 2013 became the first south Sudanese to be taken in the national rather than the rookie draft.

As the AFL combed the world for new markets and sources, all the while one was gathering almost unseen under their eyes. Geopolitics provided.

But it hasn’t all been simply a matter of tapping them on their shoulders and handing them guernseys. Soccer, basketball and athletics still make their appeal. Thomas Deng captained the Olyroos in Tokyo. Peter Bol captivated the country with his run in the 800 metres there. Sheehan remembers knocking on the door of a likely 201-cm type who subsequently won a US college basketball scholarship and is still there.

Nor has it been all cheer and skittles for the African AFL pioneers. At least two have had skirmishes with the law, including Gach Nyuon, and Daw’s travails have been well-documented. It is not within everyone to blithely outrun a disrupted life.

There is also culture shock, then on top of that the shock of the locker room environment and the strictures of elite sport. This disorientation applies to most of footy’s minorities, including Indigenous Australians, Muslims and other Africans.

But change is broad in clubland, says Tarkyn Lockyer, Collingwood 200-gamer and now AFL academy manager and coach. “They’re far more understanding of the complexities in life in general,” he said. “Yes, it’s an elite competition and the behaviours associated with that are uncompromising at times. But the support and wellbeing networks the players are afforded now are greater than ever.

“Potentially, that’s why we’re seeing people from all walks of life flourishing. They feel supported and safe, and we’re seeing the best versions of themselves.” Lockyer says the AFL cohort now is more truly representative of the Australian community.

Personally, he can’t wait for the debut of Andrew, a national academy alumni. “He’s a 200-cm ruck who can play forward or back,” he said. “His ability to impact through his vertical jump, then follow up at ground level, is really exciting. When the ball hits the ground, he genuinely plays like an inside midfielder.”

Two COVID-blighted seasons played havoc with footy’s supply chains, but slowly they’re reconnecting. At VFL club Werribee, five South Sudanese have now pooled, including Reuben William, who played three games for Brisbane in 2016. Their coach is Michael Barlow, an AFL late bloomer in his time who knows all about the hard slog to the top. His mentor is the ubiquitous Mark Williams, who has a Sheedy-esque vocation for a rainbow AFL.

Barlow says the south Sudanese division are a joy to coach. All have been dropped at some point this year, none has grumbled. “State league footy is the hardest in terms of commitment,” Barlow said. “The wages aren’t there. Our salary cap is $210,000. The players are largely at uni or working, providing for their own lives.

“Bior Malual, for instance, is a real contributor to his family, He works 40, 50 hours a week, and commits to a state league program. I’m privy to lots of stories like that.”

Barlow won’t nominate the next likely AFL player among them. “We’ve got one who hasn’t played VFL yet, Emmanuel Ajang,” he said. “I won’t say he’s my favourite, but I will tell you that my brother is his player sponsor.”

Two weeks ago, all five plus two other teammates with non-traditional heritage played together for the Fitzroy Cubs, a Chris Johnson-inspired team made up entirely of multicultural and Indigenous players, who played and beat Carlton’s VFL team. Watching from the wings, Barlow and Sheehan separately noted the same thing, that in this environment, they drew strength from one another and gave full expression to their flair and instinct.

The cheek necessary to play topline sport peeked through, too. Post-game, a Carlton player told Sheehan that at the final siren, one of the Sudanese players had grabbed him by the guernsey and said: “I’ve only been here four years - and I’m better than you already.” Both laughed.

For the South Sudanese community, this flourishing is a fillip. You could say that in the space of one Federal parliament, the story has changed from African gangs to gangling Africans, except that the gangs existed only in a politician’s fevered imagination and the footballers are a whole lot better than merely gangling.

“Just pride. They give us pride,” said Nyadol Nyuon. “We haven’t had the best media coverage. It’s good to get positive media coverage. It makes the idea seem real to the young kids. If you can see yourself in something, it becomes real.

“A lot of the boys here grew up thinking they would have to become basketballers. A lot now see footy as a real option.

“It shows where we are in the transition of our community. If you think of integration as a progression, it shows the rest of the community where we are in our journey towards integration. What better way to do it than through footy?”

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Great article.
Footy is the best way for migrants to assimilate and share the joy with the whole community.