How many Cultures do the Saints cover

[joffaboy]

its interesting isnt it
the race thing

you get too easily labeled a racist when you are not even saying a racist comment.

its like the indigenous players want to be treated the same as everyone else, and too bloody right, they have a different colored skin, thats all, we all have different colored skin ffs
but then we get a whole dreamtime round celebrating the indigenous players??

now i like the round, it can raise awareness to how a race of people has been completely mistreated by other races, but mainly its a marketing ploy by the league

so if wanting to be treated the same as all people, no matter our skin color, whats the big hoopla over indig round??

not exactly 'just being treated normal is it'

go ahead and label me a racist
some pratt at work did

No pretty fair assessment. I have an irish surname but I know I also have English and German direct ancestors as well.

So what? In todays Australia who cares.

I think ind round is a little bit more than a marketing ploy though.

Aborigines are overrepresented at the top level of Aussie Rules with about 10% of AFL players being aboriginal where the general population is about 3%.

The AFL has been at the forefront tackling racism brought about by racism hurled toward aboriginal players like Winmar and Long.

We can see the results at the revulsion towards racism towards Majak Daw and the backlash towards Maguire when he used the race card for his own advantage and belittled the seriousness of the issue.

I think it is a good concept and the AFL should be applauded.

As for you being racist - hogwash. You can have an opinion on a concept that involves aborigines without being racist.

Obviously the guy at work has about as much concept on racism as does Maguire.

[Austinnn]

its interesting isnt it
the race thing

you get too easily labeled a racist when you are not even saying a racist comment.

its like the indigenous players want to be treated the same as everyone else, and too bloody right, they have a different colored skin, thats all, we all have different colored skin ffs
but then we get a whole dreamtime round celebrating the indigenous players??

now i like the round, it can raise awareness to how a race of people has been completely mistreated by other races, but mainly its a marketing ploy by the league

so if wanting to be treated the same as all people, no matter our skin color, whats the big hoopla over indig round??

not exactly 'just being treated normal is it'

go ahead and label me a racist
some pratt at work did

no...fair comment..imho....but i actually don't see much wrong with the concept......

It's difficult to balance the idea of equality with the recognition of a particular group of people who have traditionally been marginalised and mistreated.

The AFL probably wants to encourage more aborginal involvement in the sport - nothing wrong with that. Their market reserch might have indicated that they get low interest from the Indiginous community, or perhaps they see increased involvement in sport as a way of empowering the Indiginous community and giving it a 'leg up'.

I think the AFL's modern stance on Aboriginal affairs is leading the way around the country, it has been commended from within the community and I think it should be congratulated.

As to Matrix's point, it IS marketing and if it can bring encourage indiginous people to get into the sport, then it's the kind of marketing I like. The same is true of the Women's Round, or the Mother's round, or whatever it is. Expect more of that down the track. It's a bit tokenist and it grates a bit, but on the other hand, it's inclusionist and that is one of the things that is so great about Australia.

In particular the AFL, with the Salary Cap, its involvement in Indigious communities, the encouragement of families and hard line on prejudice must surely be one of the most balanced and eglitarian organisations in the world. This is a good thing.

Maybe I should change my signature to "another bloody speech"!


EDIT: After just reading Joffaboy's post, I thought it necessary to mention that I was talking about AFL trying to increase Indiginous involvement on a Supporter level, not just a Player level.

[Thinline]

Arn't we all Australian? why must we cont too label players by the color of there skin or the spelling of there surname or how they pray at the end of the day

What next a round too celebrate player's with blonde hair????

just more PC Crap that the AFL seem too love

a Footballer is a footballer is a footballer and long may it be so

Agree. Marketers s*** me.

BTW I reckon Polo might be Maltese.