Indigenous Team of the Century facts for kids
The Indigenous Team of the Century is a special group of players chosen to celebrate the amazing contributions of Indigenous Australians to Aussie Rules football. This team was announced in 2005. It marked 100 years since the first senior game played by an Indigenous player, Joe Johnson, for the Fitzroy team.
A group of experts picked 24 players for this special team. Most of these players (19 of them) played in the top league, which is now called the AFL. The other five players were chosen because they were stars in other big leagues, like the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) or the West Australian Football League (WAFL).
The team's captain was Graham Farmer, a legendary player. The coach chosen for the team was Barry Cable. When the team was announced, eight of the players were still actively playing in the AFL.
Meet the Team
Here are the amazing players who made it into the Indigenous Team of the Century:
An umpire named Glenn James was also honored as part of this special selection.
Who Picked the Team?
A group of important people helped choose the Indigenous Team of the Century. They were:
- Patrick Dodson (from the AFL Indigenous Foundation)
- Ernie Dingo (a well-known media personality)
- Glenn James (a former umpire)
- Kevin Sheedy (a famous coach from Essendon Football Club)
- Kevin Sheehan (the AFL's national talent manager)
- Mike Sheahan (a sports journalist)
- Michelangelo Rucci (another sports journalist)
- Col Hutchinson (an expert on AFL history)
Other Special Teams
The Indigenous Team of the Century isn't the only special team ever picked.
- The AFL chose its own Team of the Century in 1996. Graham Farmer was also in that team!
- Other groups have also picked "Teams of the Century" based on heritage, like the Greek Team of the Century and the Italian Team of the Century.
- Many individual clubs have also named their best teams from their history. For example, the South Fremantle Football Club announced its own Indigenous Team of the Century in 2009.
- Even the National Rugby League (NRL) picked their Indigenous Team of the Century in 2008.
See also
