Reviews of Legends: The AFL Indigenous Team of the Century 1905-2005
Steven Carroll, The Saturday, August 20,2011
This is just the ticket for football fans or anybody interested in the wider historical and social issues the sport incorporates, Sean Gorman who teaches at Curtin University in Perth, provides crisp, Short biographies of the 25 players in the team who – drawing on Michael Long’s observation that “sport has been our greatest ally” – demonstrate the ways the players themselves benefited from football but also how they enhanced and changed the game. And, in the case of Long, courageously changed the whole culture of the game, his actions famously resulting in the AFL’s rule 30, the anti-vilification law. From trailblazers such as Pastor Doug Nicholls (rejected by Carlton because he was thought to be unclean) and the incomparable Polly Farmer to the likes of Maurice Rioli, Nicky Winmar and Jim Krakouer, right up to Adam Goodes, these profiles amount to an entertaining, informative and enlightening team portrait.
Bevan Eakins, The Weekend West, September 3-4, 2011
The stories are more than just football. It’s about where they came from, their families, their struggles, successes and failures. It parallels how the Aboriginal rights movement matured, illustrated by Winmar pointing to his black skin in front of the Collingwood crowd in 1993 and Michael Long’s brave stance against racism, which Gorman describes as a “tipping point” against vilification in the AFL. Overall, it is a positive story. “Knowing the back stories I was mindful this could have been just another document looking at victimhood and negativity and I didn’t want it to be that,” he says. “I wanted indigenous kids, girls and boys, to read it and have a sense of pride and positivity about those sorts of things.”
Peter Crossing, The Canberra Times – Panorama,Saturday September 3, 2011
Gorman, a research fellow at Curtin University’s Centre for Aboriginal Studies, traveled far and wide to conduct interviews with team members at home or in a familiar environment. The stories of the players are brought to us in their own words. While a number of common themes emerge, there are many personal insights into the individual. As Gorman says in his excellent introductory chapter, “football stories provide a starting point for other conversations”.
The players speak of the honour to be chosen in the team and pay glowing tribute to their families and to indigenous players who have gone before.
Legends: The AFL Indigenous Team of the Century is a marvellous work of oral history about the lives and careers of men who are not only the best Aboriginal footballers, but among the best footballers who have ever played the game.