Majak Daw and Aliir Aliir’s clash at Docklands a sign of welcome change
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On the biggest weekend of the sporting year, the most eye-catching image was not that of President Emmanuel Macron punching the air with delight after France's World Cup victory.
Nor was it the always photogenic Serena Williams straining every sinew in yet another Wimbledon final or the Tour de France field winding its way through yet more achingly beautiful countryside.
The most striking moment came when North Melbourne's Majak Daw and Sydney's Aliir Aliir were locked in a wonderful head-to-head contest in the closing stages of Sunday's thrilling game at Docklands Stadium.
It was not merely the sight of the two African-born athletes playing such vital roles in a provincial game that would have baffled their ancestors that grabbed attention — although the excellent performances of the understandably late-blooming pair will not have gone unnoticed by AFL scouts trying to fill rosters from Australia's small and well-fished talent pool.
Daw and Aliir's headline performances came at the end of yet another week when Australia's African community had been subjected to predictable stereotyping and political opportunism surrounding alleged gang violence.
Of course, the mere presence of two talented athletes of South Sudanese descent on a football field is not a rebuttal of the real or imagined problems of urban violence.
But it does provide a welcome counterpoint to those who would use the worst elements of a community to damn and stigmatise all of its members.
Crossing a new frontier
As fans of other Australians sports will be quick to point out, you might have found a similar image to that of Daw and Aliir elsewhere some time ago.
It might just as easily featured NBA star Thon Maker or any one of the many African-born players who have infused the W-League and A-League with their talent.
"I actually like Aussie Rules but its provincialism kills my joy for the game,'' tweeted former Socceroo Francis Awaritefe.
"This pic [of Daw and Aliir] for example is so common, so normal in football and basketball, that most people wouldn't give it a second glance — but not in AFL world. Quite revealing about AFL and its followers."
Awaratife is right to point out the normalcy of such encounters elsewhere. Yet the AFL's very provincialism, and its large local audience, surely adds potency to the image because it demonstrates a new frontier is being crossed and a new audience exposed to African immigration success stories.
The AFL can only hope that encounters such as that between Daw and Aliir are soon considered as routine as in some other sports.
Meanwhile, at least their clash was not staged but organic. It was the culmination of their sometimes difficult paths into the AFL (Aliir came to Australia via a Kenyan refugee camp and Daw after three years in Egypt), the faith invested by their clubs and, most simply, their sheer mental and physical ability.
As I wrote earlier this year on a similar topic, sport's cause-merchants have a habit of using such symbolism as the Aliir-Daw clash to promote — and sometimes fund — their leagues, rather than the causes they purport to champion.
When not attached to initiatives that create genuine change, themed rounds and other promotions can leave you wondering if various sports bodies are more intent on tapping government funding and commercial sponsorship than making a real difference.
But what happens on the field, beyond the grandiose announcements and carefully crafted social media signalling, can be a wonderful reflection of real change and, in this case, inclusion.
Thus the sight of Daw and Aliir going head-to-head in the decisive moments of a thrilling game was a heartening reminder of the many great stories about African-Australian immigration.
Sport a way to connect our communities
There are, of course, many other areas of society in which African-Australians are thumbing their noses at the vile media stereotypes with vast achievement.
But professional sport enjoys a massive public stage which makes it even more vital that it properly reflects societal change.
This is particularly true for those involved with local sports clubs who are attempting to integrate more African-Australian children in teams not merely because of their potential talent, but as a way of connecting our communities. Daw, Aliir and many others are now providing powerful role models.
After writing about the experiences of my own local basketball club in fostering African-Australian kids earlier this year, I discovered there is one barrier that would seem unlikely to those who continually denigrate this community.
At our club and others, the parents of some African-Australian children want them to spend more time doing their homework and less time with a ball in their hand.
Having come to Australia, often after horrific experiences in war-torn countries, they want their children to gain the education they were denied — or, in some cases, which is not recognised here.
These parents take some convincing that sport is a potentially valuable part of community life, not a distraction from the hard work required to succeed in a new country.
So the widely circulated image of Daw and Aliir was powerful in two ways. A perfect rejoinder to the recent vilification suffered by Australia's African community, and also a source of inspiration to some kids trying to convince their parents to let them play.
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