Indigenous All-Stars (Australian rules football)

History

All-Indigenous sides have been documented as early the turn of the 20th Century, and the first representative teams began playing matches after World War II.

Following his career in the VFA, Doug Nicholls was instrumental in the concept of an All-Aboriginal representative side. He organised (assembling players mainly from Taree in New South Wales), captained and coached an All-Aboriginal side against the VFA's Northcote Football Club in 1944. Among the aboriginal players was James Murray, Australian Kangaroos rugby league representative. The match drew more than 10,000 spectators.

Nicholls team's matches against the Northcote Football Club became an annual event becoming a regular fixture in 1945 and 1946. The match led to a number of similar contests springing up around the country. It played a charity match against VFA club Oakleigh Football Club attracting 2,000 spectators.

One of the first major representative matches was a side's defeat the Australian Capital Territory, one of the strongest sides in the country, at Manuka Oval in Canberra in 1970.

In 1973, a team was assembled from the best Indigenous Australians across all states and territories to tour Papua New Guinea and play against the Papua New Guinea team. It was originally also scheduled to play against Nauru's national team. Sir Douglas Nicholls accompanied the side. The Australian side lost narrowly and a return match in Australia was scheduled for an Aboriginal Australian Rules carnival to be hosted by the Australian Capital Territory Papua New Guinea narrowly defeated the Indigenous Australian side at Ainslie Oval.

All-Stars take on the VFL

In 1983, the "All-Stars" competed in a once-off post-season exhibition match in Mildura; two games were played in 1985, while another one-off game was played in 1994.

A match between the All-Stars and The Swans was proposed for Canberra in 1984, to be organised by the National Football League, but did not go ahead.

All-Stars take on National competition

In 1993, a bi-annual All-Stars vs Collingwood match was proposed.

In 1994, disputes over player releases put the concept into doubt. The St Kilda Football Club refused to release Nicky Winmar, while the West Coast Eagles refused to release Chris Lewis to play.

As of 2015, the All-Stars have won six of the ten matches it has played. The record attendance for the match was 17,500, in the 2003 match against Carlton at Marrara Oval.

Hiatus and return in 2025

There was a ten year gap to the next Indigenous All-Stars match. Postponing the proposed 2017 match, the AFL Players' Association's Indigenous members, which managed the team, decided that the match should be scheduled for every four years instead of two.AFL Indigenous All-Stars match postponed until 2019 as focus turns to AFLPA camp By Daniel Cherny for The Age 28 January 2017

No full Indigenous All-Stars match was played in 2019. The 2019 AFLX tournament in the 2019 pre-season featured an all-Indigenous AFLX 8-player team named "Deadly", captained by Eddie Betts. This team won one of its three matches. However, the experimental AFLX format was not popular and has not been repeated since.

At a summit in 2022, a 2023 match was proposed between the Indigenous All-Stars and a newly formed Multicultural All-Stars team to draw from players of a variety of diverse cultures, though this never occurred.

The AFL scheduled an Indigenous All-Stars match for a pre-season fixture against at Optus Stadium in February 2025. The match was heavily promoted by the league and most of the league's best Indigenous players were named in the side. The Indigenous All-Stars defeated Fremantle by 43 points with a crowd of nearly 38,000 in attendance. The success of the event led to the AFL CEO, Andrew Dillon, stating the league would look to more regularly schedule All-Stars contests, possibly within a State of Origin context.

Sponsorship and naming rights

Until 2005, the All-Stars were sponsored by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, who had naming rights over the team. After the abolition of ATSIC, the team was renamed from Aboriginal All-Stars to Indigenous All-Stars. Since 2006, the team has been sponsored by Qantas through the AFL Kickstart indigenous program.

Results

Squads

1973 team

Roger Rigney (SA); Michael Mansell (Tas); Anthony Miller (WA); Brian Warrior (SA); Dennis Lewfat (NT); Patrick Purantatameri (NT); Reg Mathews (QLD); Bill Ellis (NT); John McHenry (WA); Leon Wanganeen (SA); Alec Smith (Vic); John Pepperill (NT); Phillip Archer (SA); Ian Charles (VIC); Robbie Muir (VIC); Ken Liddle (NT); Wilfred Wilson (SA); Tim Agius (SA); Garry Murray (VIC); Paul Hansen (WA); Lloyd Bray (NT)

International Rules

In 2013, the Indigenous All-Stars team competed under the Australia banner against Ireland in the International Rules Series, a hybrid sport which consists elements of Gaelic football and Australian rules football. For the 2013 Series a 33-man squad was chosen, which was reduced to 21-man touring party.

The Indigenous team lost the series 2–0 and by an aggregate score of 173–72, a record-high margin for the International Rules series.

Polly Farmer Medal

The Polly Farmer Medal is awarded each game to the best Indigenous All-Stars player.

References

References

1. "Indigenous All Stars to Represent Australia in 2013 International Rules Series - World Footy News".
2. "Official Website of the Australian Football League".
3. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/historian-reveals-marngrook-influence-on-afl/8439748 Indigenous influence on AFL creation confirmed by historical transcripts, historian says] Malcolm Sutton ABC News 13 April 2017
4. [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/nov/13/golden-age-of-indigenous-aussie-rules-in-victoria-beckons Golden age of Indigenous Aussie Rules in Victoria beckons] Patrick Skene for The Guardian 13 November 2014 07.31 AEDT
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