Heritier Lumumba

His issues with Collingwood and Nathan Buckley seem unresolvable but there are other voices emerging.

In many ways – and it’s an indictment on the rest of the country – football has led the way on this issue. It’s harder and more complicated when we’re dealing with the most powerful president and most prominent media figure in the game. And it’s harder and more complicated when we’re dealing with casual racism; with entrenched attitudes, with an accumulation of indignities and sleights. He spoke of the importance of community, of the Great Depression, of identity, of standing on the right side of history. The footage of Lumumba speaking at the 2014 Best and Fairest is instructive in this regard. As Greg Baum wrote in The Age yesterday, “in Lumumba’s voice, there is the remnant of real affection. It’s harder and more complicated when we’re dealing with a beloved former club captain. In football, we love to celebrate a “great story” – the Aboriginal footballer recently released from prison, the powerhouse from the Tiwi Islands, the cheeky little bugger snapping goals from insane angles. In both, there is a sense of something lost”. We met a fierce man determined to maintain his connection to his ancestors, a man who at first tried to assimilate, who was then put in the too-hard basket, and who was finally actively briefed against by his former club. A lot of the criticism came with a sneering tone. In this country, and in football, we pride ourselves on our self-deprecation.