More Dots than a Dot Painting: How Cricket can help Reconciliation
Troy Martin | November 10, 2023
I had blocked out an over; the keeper quipped, ‘Come on boys, more dots than a dot painting’.
While I am not Indigenous, imagine if I was and that comment had been said? Just a bit of banter, right? Just brush it off, right?
In many ways, Australian Cricket is a mirror to Australian society; the first ever tour of England by an Indigenous Team saw the team worked like slaves, ignored on their return and white-washed out of the history until the 21st century. The tough Colonials taking it to the English, the brave and bold Bradman facing Bodyline, the brash sides of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The 1980’s saw a dark time and a questioning of identity, of a rapidly changing world that saw economic and societal changes that made the world smaller and yet somehow more foreign to the traditional, it was when cricket started to be considered a career and a commodity. The domination of the mid to late 1990’s and early 2000’s when our Prime Minister wanted us to be ‘comfortable and relaxed’, and most of us were, on and off the field.
Cricket, for many Australians, has been intrinsically linked to the Australian identity; for much of Australian Cricket, that has meant it has reflected a white-male prism. For every Chee Wee, Khawaja and Jason Gillespie, there dozens of Smiths and Jones’.
Over the last decade, this has changed, just as Australia has changed. If you look through any junior teams, the teams are reflecting more and more the demographic of Australia. However, our men’s national teams are still very Anglo. Cricket knows it is well behind the other major sporting codes in Indigenous participation at the grassroots level and through the elite pathways.
Recently, Indigenous players were selected to play against an MCCXI at the MCG in a 20/20. As soon as the post went live on Cricket NSW’s Facebook page, cue the comments. Cricket NSW has now deleted them. In another post celebrating the Player of the Match, the first comment was, ‘well he doesn’t look Indigenous’.
Yesterday, Cricket NSW released plans for a First Nations Round; something other major codes have embraced over the last decade.
This was the first comment:
“Tired of having this racist propaganda rammed down our throats. Aus voted 61% no with only 39% supporting racism.’
It seems Cricket is still reflecting Australian society.
In the aftermath of the failed Voice Referendum, it seems Cricket will need to have a conversation about celebrating and recognising Indigenous players, and how it can play a role in Reconciliation. Cricket rightly sees itself as a way to promote Reconciliation; there is no other sporting code that can say its first ever overseas touring team was Indigenous.
Celebrating Indigenous cultures in Cricket isn’t a new thing. Over the last 20 years various Cricket boards and volunteer committees have been active in the community, from the grassroots through to first class. At the Club level you see it in the shirts, often designed by local Indigenous groups.
Yet, looking at the comments from the Cricket NSW post, it seems we have a long way to go. This was another comment:
Not a fan of tribal flags… we are a united nation with both state and commonwealth flags.. this is just maintaining division by race… didn’t we just vote on this?
The idea that the Indigenous flags are divisive, that they are tribal, read uncivilised and inferior, is a throwback to the assimilationist ideals that led to the attempted cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples, that led to the Stolen Generations and deliberate Government policies to exclude and marginalised Indigenous people.
On a personal note, while I am not Indigenous, the game I love needs to play a part of bringing people together. Celebrating Indigenous cultures is not divisive, it’s education. It is something to be embraced. It is not something to be feared.
As games kick off across Australia this weekend, let’s take off our shoes and socks and stand on the ground, barefoot, as people have for thousands of years and look each other in eye and open our hearts.
