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Rugby tackles Aboriginal violence

31 March 2005 - BBC UK - Aboriginal leaders in Australia say rugby is helping to battle the domestic violence blighting their community. Statistics show Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than white Australians.

The organisers of Blackout Violence, a group set up to tackle Aboriginal domestic violence, used one of Australia's biggest indigenous sporting festivals - the New South Wales Aboriginal Rugby League Carnival - to start getting their message across late last year.

Players from more than 80 clubs wore purple armbands to show their support, and each side was also given information on how to prevent violence, and where to seek help.

Wes Patton, captain of one of the participating teams, told BBC World Service's Everywoman programme that the scheme had given the players the chance to talk openly about domestic violence.

"Playing rugby league is a very aggressive, hard game, and there's a lot of hard men out there wrestling each other," he said.

"There is a whole 200-plus years of history of violence committed against us. We internalised it all, and are actually hurting each other Dixie Gordon, Aboriginal Legal Service

"We're doing this on a football field - but we still take notice and we recognise that there shouldn't be violence against women."

Aboriginal leaders acknowledge that alcohol and drug abuse is so acute in their community that Aboriginal households are some of the most dangerous places in Australia.

In the Northern Territory, the leading cause of death amongst Aboriginal women is murder.

One woman, Paula - who survived six years of physical abuse at the hands of her partner - described her experience to Everywoman.

She said she was repeatedly raped and beaten, to the point where she could not walk.

"I remember my partner saying to me once, 'this is how we treat our women.'

"You get the image of the caveman, from the days when he was dragging the woman around by the hair on her head."

Dixie Gordon of the Aboriginal Legal Service in Sydney said she believed the causes of domestic violence in households were highly complex, stemming back to European colonisation.

"There is a whole 200-plus years of history of violence committed against us," she said.

"We internalised it all, and are actually hurting each other.

"You've got to look at the whole Aboriginal history to appreciate why and where we are at today."

The community also suffers disproportionately high rates of ill-health, imprisonment, and unemployment.

No tolerance

The Blackout Violence venture recently received a prestigious government award - and already appears to be making a difference.

"It's something that if it is out of sight, it is out of mind," Mr Patton said. "We wanted to put it out there."

Aboriginal leader Rob Welsh, who has been closely involved in the campaign, said he believed efforts to counter it are slowly making a difference.

"I think the community is aware that we're tackling this issue head on," he said.

"Whether it is rape, domestic violence, or heroin [that] is going on in our community, we are not going to tolerate it.

"This is the way that I believe the rest of the Aboriginal communities around Australia have to stand up and say, 'enough'."

Source: BBC

related links :

• Australia's Aboriginal Debate
  BBC website (UK) - Improving the lives of Australia's Aboriginals is an important challenge, with no easy answers. The BBC News website asked two prominent members of the Aboriginal community to debate the issues by email. This is the conversation they had over the last few weeks.

Further information: sport news index

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