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Indigenous All Stars player Wendell Sailor breaks throiugh during the Indigenous All Stars v NRL All Stars match at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
For all the success of the NRL’s inaugural All Stars match – a bumper crowd and thrilling match – there’s a flaw in the concept that will blight our nation should it continue into the future. By pitting the best Indigenous players against the best of the rest, the NRL will continue to segregate race and colour – something sport shouldn’t stand for.
It is a difficult subject to broach, but one that deserved a proper public discourse (is the Australian ‘tabloid’ press capable of such a debate?) as part of the build-up to last night’s match – beyond just the sports pages.
With the future of the concept seemingly guaranteed beyond its initial three years thanks to the media traction it has attracted for the NRL on the eve of its season – particularly when compared with the AFL’s lacklustre NAB Cup – we need to ask the question whether it’s appropriate for the game to continue to segregate Indigenous and non-Indigenous players, particularly if the clash develops into an intense rivalry between the two.
While there was undoubtedly immense pride from the likes of Preston Campbell, who spoke eloquently about his pride in playing for the Indigenous team, it says a lot about Australia’s relationship with its Indigenous population that we continue to differentiate between Indigenous and non-Indigenous athletes.
As a celebration of the anniversary of the apology to the stolen generations, the game served a purpose. Going forward in years to come, the game and Australia as a whole should move forward under the one umbrella of a united Australian identity.
This doesn’t mean the All Stars game doesn’t have merit; just that it should move away from this racial divide.
There’s no concrete evidence to suggest the popularity of the All Stars match was solely the result of the Indigenous concept.
As my Roar colleague Steve Kaless noted, part of the reason for the popularity and fanfare caused by the match was its appeal to younger generations, particularly with the popularity of such concept matches in America, with Australian sport embracing more of the attributes that define their American counterparts.
Incidentally, the NRL’s All Stars match coincided on the same weekend as the NBA All Stars weekend.
One can only imagine the outcry if NBA commissioner David Stern announced his league was forgoing the West versus East conference battles for an All Stars match pitting the best African American players against the rest.
It reminds me of the controversy surrounding the opening of the Harvey Milk High School in New York, America’s first public school for gay and lesbian kids.
Rather than trying to educate younger generations about accepting those with different sexual orientation, it seems the creation of the school is, sadly, taking the easier option of dividing rather than accepting difference.
Positive discrimination is still discriminating by segregating.
The NRL All Stars match, by dividing the cream of League’s talent along racial lines, will do the same if the concept continues for years to come.
Sport, for all its commercial corruption, should be egalitarian at heart.
It should never create rivalry by dividing race and colour