Are there any indigenous Africans playing at the elite level of NRL? No?
Tiwi islands are part of Australia.
The fact Aboriginal people follow many teams (not one like you say happens in the NRL) I think is a positive - or at best irrelevant. Some could argue this is not a good thing - it is a very myopic world you live in I think but hey that's okay. Just cause a sport doesn't do things like the NRL do them doesn't make it wrong - it's called being a different sport......
So are there are more aboriginal players playing at AFL level than playing at NRL level? It would be very close re: actual numbers.
Is Aussie Rules the number one sport in many many indigenous communities - yes. There is a great documentary about the leagues in the outback - how they travel for hours to play another team - wearing no boots when they playas well some of them. So I am not sure, if this is indeed what you are alluding to, that Aussie Rules is not embraced by the indigenous community in this country - in fact, I know it is - for many remote communities it is what binds them at times. I'll look for the documentary for you.
Quick Google Search:
https://bcec.edu.au/assets/BCEC-After-t ... rt-Web.pdf
1 in 4 Indigenous men in Western Australia play AFL, second only to the Northern Territory at 31.2%.
Who wants to play footy?
• Almost 50% of young Indigenous men aged 15 to 19, living in the AFL States, participate in AFL.
• Participation in AFL increases as one moves away from the major cities – reaching more than
65% for young men aged between 15 to 29 living in remote areas of Australia
• 1 in 4 Indigenous men in the AFL States had played AFL in the last 12 months.
Indigenous players are now overrepresented on the team lists of the 18 clubs in the AFL.
37% of male Indigenous AFL players reported experiencing discrimination or racism, compared to 33% for nonparticipants.
http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/af ... enous-map/
The map highlights the cultural diversity of the AFL’s Indigenous players with the league’s 87 male players and 22 female players represented across 71 cultural and language groups.
With roughly 10 per cent of the current AFL playing group identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, the map demonstrates the connection the players across the league have to the country’s remote communities and language groups.”
http://www.aflplayers.com.au/wp-content ... 020_v3.pdf (MAP)
Anyway - just a few things. couldn't find the documentary.
There is still a long way to go - no doubt. Racism is still a big issue in the community and within the large family of AFL supporters that follow the game. It is pleasing to see when Racism rears it head that it is widely and unanimously condemned. There are issues within clubs too. I wished Collingwood would have just come out and apologised to Héritier Lumumba, noted the error of their ways, and used this to move forward and heal wounds - they haven't. There is an independent inquiry - great - but was it really needed - cause what it needs to do we already know - acknowledge fault - place blame where it lies - nothing less will be tolerated nor should it. The game is embraced by the indigenous community and it should be embraced equally by the sport. What it does do is give these racists a platform from which they can be exposed, educated, and if required, shut down.