Bigoa (Biggy) Nyuon

[Joffa Burns]

I was at a sports function last night and spoke at length with an admin person from an athletics background.

They work and from time to time research athletes born OS and their history and do some cross over work for AFL clubs.

I was told that there are a number of Regional Chinese, African & Middle Eastern born children in Australia who derive from regions where birth records are unavailable or in some cases deliberately hidden so age is specific to information available on entry to Australia.

In some cases the age of the person has been found to be lowered by up to 4 years to ensure the child enters school, sporting environment with an advantage. I was told the names of three elite athletes (and validated these on line) who have been re-badged by up to three years which then makes their sports performance more average than exceptional.

It was stated there was a potential draftee this year that a club found on investigation to be at least three years older than his stated age, I guess this would impact the perceived upside of the player. The person would not tell me club or player name so I cannot confirm if it was or was not Biggy.

If it was, (IF) it may answer some questions as to why we did not pursue the kid.

[The Fireman]

good to live in a country where that is all above board...I'm 45 btw

[Joffa Burns]

good to live in a country where that is all above board...I'm 45 btw

Afternoon young fella

[saynta]

I was at a sports function last night and spoke at length with an admin person from an athletics background.

They work and from time to time research athletes born OS and their history and do some cross over work for AFL clubs.

I was told that there are a number of Regional Chinese, African & Middle Eastern born children in Australia who derive from regions where birth records are unavailable or in some cases deliberately hidden so age is specific to information available on entry to Australia.

In some cases the age of the person has been found to be lowered by up to 4 years to ensure the child enters school, sporting environment with an advantage. I was told the names of three elite athletes (and validated these on line) who have been re-badged by up to three years which then makes their sports performance more average than exceptional.

It was stated there was a potential draftee this year that a club found on investigation to be at least three years older than his stated age, I guess this would impact the perceived upside of the player. The person would not tell me club or player name so I cannot confirm if it was or was not Biggy.

If it was, (IF) it may answer some questions as to why we did not pursue the kid.

I might take that up with his brother to see if it might have been Biggy.

But with 8 brothers and sisters should be relatively easy to see where he fits in the family and thus work out his age.

Interesting though.

[Joffa Burns]

I was at a sports function last night and spoke at length with an admin person from an athletics background.

They work and from time to time research athletes born OS and their history and do some cross over work for AFL clubs.

I was told that there are a number of Regional Chinese, African & Middle Eastern born children in Australia who derive from regions where birth records are unavailable or in some cases deliberately hidden so age is specific to information available on entry to Australia.

In some cases the age of the person has been found to be lowered by up to 4 years to ensure the child enters school, sporting environment with an advantage. I was told the names of three elite athletes (and validated these on line) who have been re-badged by up to three years which then makes their sports performance more average than exceptional.

It was stated there was a potential draftee this year that a club found on investigation to be at least three years older than his stated age, I guess this would impact the perceived upside of the player. The person would not tell me club or player name so I cannot confirm if it was or was not Biggy.

If it was, (IF) it may answer some questions as to why we did not pursue the kid.

Imight take that up with his brother to see if it might have been Biggy.

But with 8 brothers and sisters should be relatively easy to see where he fits in the family and thus work out his age.

Interesting though.

To provide a bit more info from the discussion Junior National Athletics has issues from a Midle Eastern & African background where it is Chinese born Australians in swimming.

The Chinese apparently go to great lengths to reduce their kids age on entry to Australia for school & sport purpose.

The Africans just sometimes have no record.

Worth the question for sure, the person certainly said there is history with the Nth boy who has been in the system for a long time said to be at least 3 years older than stated age.

[saynta]

I will make some enquiries

[Scollop]

I'm not sure whether the Saints were confident enough that they had a support network for Biggy and perhaps that's an area we need to improve.

What's really important is that the club tries to create an environment where talented young kids feel comfortable playing for the club.

I'm only speculating whether money or lack of resources had a part to play in the decision not to recruit him and if the club felt relieved to miss out on him

If it's something that was troubling some of our officials, perhaps they need to engage in open dialogue with the AFL and get some more financial help

We need leaders at our club and at AFL level that will genuinely embrace the next generation of kids from African born families....whether they are 18 or 20 or 21

[CQ SAINT]

Perhaps he is just another great athlete with average skills and we are moving away from that. I saw a news clip.that talked about his athletic ability but also.mentioned that he had a lot of work to do on his skills.
His athleticism is said to be elite, so he drafted high for some reason.

[saynta]

From the age.com.au

"St Kilda

It was always going to be a quiet night for the Saints after their heavy trade period involvement left them with minimal picks. Midfielder Ryan Byrnes (52) was taken after a stellar year for the Sandringham Dragons before Gippsland outside speedster Leo Connolly (64) also became a Saint late in the piece. St Kilda opted not to match Richmond’s bid on academy player Bigoa Nyuon. Having lost Jack Steven and Jack Newnes, the Saints went some way to replenish their Jack stocks by taking raw tall Jack Bell as a rookie.

Recruiting manager Chris Liberatore: "We probably thought there was a reasonable chance that someone would bid towards the back end of the draft. In the end we had to weigh up the decision between matching the bid and what else might be there at our next pick. It was a pretty difficult decision."

[Gershwin]

From the age.com.au

"St Kilda

It was always going to be a quiet night for the Saints after their heavy trade period involvement left them with minimal picks. Midfielder Ryan Byrnes (52) was taken after a stellar year for the Sandringham Dragons before Gippsland outside speedster Leo Connolly (64) also became a Saint late in the piece. St Kilda opted not to match Richmond’s bid on academy player Bigoa Nyuon. Having lost Jack Steven and Jack Newnes, the Saints went some way to replenish their Jack stocks by taking raw tall Jack Bell as a rookie.

Recruiting manager Chris Liberatore: "We probably thought there was a reasonable chance that someone would bid towards the back end of the draft. In the end we had to weigh up the decision between matching the bid and what else might be there at our next pick. It was a pretty difficult decision."

So I wonder who they were hoping for at 64. Could have been any of those taken 55-63 or Connolly.

[Ghost Like]

From the age.com.au

"St Kilda

It was always going to be a quiet night for the Saints after their heavy trade period involvement left them with minimal picks. Midfielder Ryan Byrnes (52) was taken after a stellar year for the Sandringham Dragons before Gippsland outside speedster Leo Connolly (64) also became a Saint late in the piece. St Kilda opted not to match Richmond’s bid on academy player Bigoa Nyuon. Having lost Jack Steven and Jack Newnes, the Saints went some way to replenish their Jack stocks by taking raw tall Jack Bell as a rookie.

Recruiting manager Chris Liberatore: "We probably thought there was a reasonable chance that someone would bid towards the back end of the draft. In the end we had to weigh up the decision between matching the bid and what else might be there at our next pick. It was a pretty difficult decision."

So I wonder who they were hoping for at 64. Could have been any of those taken 55-63 or Connolly.

Maybe it was Connelly.

[kosifantutti]

From the age.com.au

"St Kilda

It was always going to be a quiet night for the Saints after their heavy trade period involvement left them with minimal picks. Midfielder Ryan Byrnes (52) was taken after a stellar year for the Sandringham Dragons before Gippsland outside speedster Leo Connolly (64) also became a Saint late in the piece. St Kilda opted not to match Richmond’s bid on academy player Bigoa Nyuon. Having lost Jack Steven and Jack Newnes, the Saints went some way to replenish their Jack stocks by taking raw tall Jack Bell as a rookie.

Recruiting manager Chris Liberatore: "We probably thought there was a reasonable chance that someone would bid towards the back end of the draft. In the end we had to weigh up the decision between matching the bid and what else might be there at our next pick. It was a pretty difficult decision."

So I wonder who they were hoping for at 64. Could have been any of those taken 55-63 or Connolly.

That's a good point. Most have been asking what did they see in Connolly over Biggy but they may have been keen on any of those players in between.
I guess we'll never know.

[saintsRrising]

That's a good point. Most have been asking what did they see in Connolly over Biggy but they may have been keen on any of those players in between.
I guess we'll never know.

A poster on BF claimed that Dal Santo, who is involved with our Academy Players, indicated that the Saints rated Biggy as a rookie pick.

If so then the Saints were never going to match an offer.

If the Saints did rate him as a rookie it would be silly to match just because another club wanted to pay more for Biggy than we did.

[saintspremiers]

I hope Biggy is a few years older now the Tigers got
Him

[saynta]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 2475f3fdc5

"Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon tipped to make Saints regret letting him slip to Tigers

Former AFL star Darren Bewick, who has watched Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon develop at Rowville Secondary College, says the 195cm midfielder has the attributes to emerge as the Tigers’ next Sudanese star.


"The Sudanese refugee Richmond drafted from St Kilda’s Next Generation Academy has been hailed a brilliant athlete who has “just scratched the surface” of his football potential.

The Tigers secured 196cm defender Bigoa ‘Biggie’ Nyuon when the Saints declined to match their bid of pick No. 54 at Thursday night’s draft.

Rowville Secondary said the Saints “did a really good job” developing Nyuon, although come draft night they chose to take Gippsland Power midfielder Leo Connolly at No. 64 instead of Nyuon.

Nyuon – who has was four sisters and three brothers – was nicknamed ‘Biggie’ by his kindergarten teacher because he loved rapper Biggie Smalls.

The family fled to Australia when Nyuon was a toddler and all eight children were raised by single mother Mary in Cranbourne.

Nyuon excelled at athletics early when Mary decreed football too rough before she eventually let her son play for Hallam.

Older brother Gach spent 2016 on Essendon’s rookie list. Nyuon will join fellow Sudanese talent Mabior Chol at Punt Rd as they hope to join Aliir Aliir (Sydney) and Majak Daw (North Melbourne) as success stories.

“The Tigers have got a bloke who’s 201cm (listed at 196cm) and athletically through the roof,” Rowville football academy boss Darren Bewick said.

“He tested the fastest over the state and national combine for speed (20m in 2.85 sec), he’s got a great leap, he kicks the ball really well and I think we’ve just scratched the surface.

“He’s got all the attributes to be a really good player.”

The popular teenager returned to Rowville to address the Year 7-8 students on Friday.

“He’s a very likeable young man, a king down here, and he spoke about what it meant and how he got to speak to Dusty Martin that night,” Bewick said.

“The Tigers have got a ripper kid and I hope they’re able to furnish his ability. If they can they’re going to have a really, really good player.


“For him to be able to firstly come to this country as a (three-year-old) with eight brothers and sisters and his mum taking care of them all … and he’s never forgotten that, he’s really appreciative of people that help him along the journey.

“He’s a ripping kid. He’s taken on everything that’s been presented to him, and sometimes he’s needed a little bit of a push, like all boys, but he loves the game and loves the team aspect of it and it’s only going to hold him in good stead.

“His journey has just begun and I think it can really turn into a really special one.”

Saints NGA manager Jack Henty spoke to Rowville regularly and helped get Nyuon to school for early study sessions every Thursday.

“The Saints were fantastic,” Rowville sports academy director Craig Jamieson said.

“I spoke to Jack once every couple of weeks and we met with Biggy every three or four weeks checking on how he was going with his subjects.”

Nyuon will join fellow Rowville alumni Jon Patton (Hawthorn), Hayden Crozier (Western Bulldogs), Tom North (Fremantle), Taylor Garner (North Melbourne), Taylin Duman (Fremantle), Jack Maibaum (Sydney) and Sam Hayes (Port Adelaide) on an AFL list in 2020.

[saint6709]

He’s certainly an incredible specimen - being 3 different heights is quite an achievement for 1 young man

[ace]

Single mother and a family of 8 children.
Maybe we decided he did not come from a good family.
That is our main selection criteria.

[Gershwin]

Single mother and a family of 8 children.
Maybe we decided he did not come from a good family.
That is our main selection criteria.

Clearly his mother can’t cook a roast.

[Nick_BlueNRG]

Apparently Biggy is bad mouthing us now.

[CURLY]

Apparently Biggy is bad mouthing us now.

Much like yourself Troll.

[saynta]

Apparently Biggy is bad mouthing us now.

something you are good at.

[Junior]

Apparently Biggy is bad mouthing us now.

Absolute rubbish my son spoke with him over the weekend nothing but good things to say about the club.

Seriously why you are allowed to continue to post your dribble beggars believe.

[Munga]

"Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon tipped to make Saints regret letting him slip to Tigers

What a stupid headline. Typical of course

[saintspremiers]

Apparently Biggy is bad mouthing us now.

Absolute rubbish my son spoke with him over the weekend nothing but good things to say about the club.

Seriously why you are allowed to continue to post your dribble beggars believe.

Simon knows he’s a permanent troll but is happy for us to play with him. So treat him like you would treat any vermin

[Ghost Like]

"Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon tipped to make Saints regret letting him slip to Tigers

What a stupid headline. Typical of course

Yes, another headline could easily be...

"St Kilda draftee Connolly tipped to make Tigers regret white anting Saints"