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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lA right good didgeridooMike Floyd 26 October 2002 - Dust off your didgeridoos, get a Sheila on your arm, and take a walkabout to Spotland Stadium on Sunday for a fair dinkum rugby league match. The Aboriginal Development squad, which flew into England on Thursday, take on the pride of Lancashire when they face the county team, kick-off 2 30pm. The Lancashire side includes Littleborough’s Gary Keegan. The Aboriginals, an explosive outfit renowned for their exciting open style of play, are embarking on a six-match tour which will include two tests against the BARLA Great Britain Lions. According to team manager Wayne Griffiths his team is raring to go. He added: "We are really looking forward to the tour. It’s been a long time planning, and every effort has gone into making it a success. The football will be exciting. "We are a very patient people, so we’ll take our time. We want to ensure we don’t leave any stone unturned for our first match. I’m sure some of the players will want to impress the selectors to get into the team for the first test. That’s why we are here, to take the trophy back home." Griffiths was also impressed by the venue for the first game as he walked out on to the Spotland pitch. He was also pleased with the chilly weather. "There are lot of football ovals in Australia that are good, but they don’t come to this. And the weather’s lovely. It will suit our boys down to the ground, the lads will run all day." Cultural entertainer Alf Priestley, who will also visit schools and provide half time entertainment at tomorrow’s game, will accompany the touring party. Alf is from the Kamilaroli people, a nation in north-west New South Wales. He is a traditional dancer, he sings, he is a very talented artist, a didgeridoo player, a story-teller, and a poet. Junior players from five Primary schools will take part in a mini-rugby festival before the game. They start at 1pm. Admission to the main stand at the ground will be £4 for adults, £1 concessions. Aussies start with comfortable win 28 October, 2002 - The Australian Aboriginal touring team had too much pace and power for a gutsy Lancashire County BARLA outfit at Spotland Stadium on Sunday. It was the first game of their tour and, in front of a good-sized crowd, the Aboriginals were soon into their stride, with probing runs from Jimmy Storer and Benny Wellington. The ball was moved quickly to the right and Peter Taylor skipped past Simon Warhurst to touch down. Lancashire bounced back and, in the 12th minute, Danny Kilshaw’s astute cross kick was collected by Jason Brassington. His dummy wrongfooted the Aboriginal’s defence and he ran in to score. The try seemed to bring the visitors to life and three tries in the space of five minutes from Benny Holden (2) and Robert Standon gave them a 12-point lead. Lancashire showed their resilience and a fluent move allowed Jason Fishwick to force his way over in the corner. The Lancashire forwards drove towards the line just before the break. The ball again reached Fishwick on the right, and he burrowed in at the corner to close the gap to 16-12 at half-time. But the BARLA defence failed to deal with an up and under straight after the break and Lamar Armstrong collected the loose ball to touch down unopposed. Casey Conway converted. The Aboriginals were well in control and, after a period of incessant pressure, the BARLA defence finally buckled to allow Storer to sneak in. Conway added the extras. BARLA drove forward, but as the ball was moved wide close to the visitors’ 10-yard line, Paul Albury intercepted and sprinted the length of the field to score. Conway made it a six-pointer. The 56th minute brought an action replay of the earlier try as Josh Garden launched a bomb deep into home territory. The ball was allowed to bounce and Holden collected to score a try which Conway converted. Littleborough’s Gary Keegan made a brief appearance for BARLA but had to substituted after picking up a hand injury. The BARLA lads, to their credit rallied and Fishwick finished off a slick-passing move to complete his hat trick. Steve Warburton then showed good strength before slipping the ball to John Cole, who ran in to score. Fishwick converted. The Aboriginals finished in style as the impressive Alan Daly burst clear. He was stopped 10 yards short but, from the play the ball, the ball was moved to the short side, and Luke Grant barged his way over. Five minutes before the end, Ian Lacy unloaded to the rampaging Blake Champion and he bulldozed his way through. Conway’s kick brought up the half century for the tourists. The Aboriginals and the BARLA lads left the field to rapturous applause after an entertaining and competitive game. Source: Rochdale Observer Barla cruise to victory Barla 30-6 Australian Aboriginals Monday, 28 October, 2002 - BBC Sport - Barla Great Britain inflicted a first Test defeat on the visiting Australian Aboriginals at a windswept Robin Park. The home side led 10-6 at half-time with tries from Anthony Broadhead and Lee Moreton, plus a conversion from Phil Hasty. The only try scored by the Aboriginals came in the 28th minute from second-rower Alan Daley. In the second half, Barla stepped up the pace to score four more tries from Paul Toole, Hasty, captain Scott Fletcher and man of the match Terry Lynn. Toole added a further two goals. The tourists will now play Yorkshire at Wakefield on Wednesday, with the second Test against Barla taking place at Batley on 3 November. The Aboriginals round off their seven-match trip with a game against the Combined Services at Portsmouth on 6 November. Source:BBC Sport Aboriginals arrive in Yorkshire National Rugby League Tue October 29 - The Australian Aboriginals are aiming to put their tour aspirations back on track following their 30-6 mauling by the BARLA Great Britain Lions in the First Test at Robin Park Arena, Wigan on Sunday. BARLA County Champions for the past two seasons, Yorkshire are next up on this hugely attractive tour which has seen large crowds enjoying the three previous games. The tourists made an excellent start at Rochdale with a 50-22 defeat of Lancashire before succumbing 28-22 to Cumbria in the midweek game at Whitehaven in a game of outstanding quality. Junaid Malik, Elland stand off and BARLA’s first Asian international, who was a member of BARLA’s 2000 Emerging Nations World Championship winning team against Italy, will captain the White Rose in what is expected to be a mouth-watering encounter on Tuesday 29 October 2002 at Belle Vue, home of Wakefield Wildcats, kick off 7.30pm. The match will also be a homecoming for the Aboriginal Trainer Ronnie Gibbs the former Castleford and Australian star. The Aboriginal party are a young squad and have arrived in Great Britain as virtual unknowns. But the touring party will be well aware that their predecessors who toured England in 1996 included several players for whom that trip provided a notable stepping stone to future glory. Top of the list were Dean Widders and Lee Hookey, youngsters who went on to first grade status with Parramatta and St. George Illawarra respectively. Aboriginal Hooker Jimmy Storer is an outstanding player who looks set to follow in his predecessors footsteps and has taken the Aboriginal Man of the Match award in the three tour games to date. The match is supported by the City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council who are hosting the tourists for their three day stay in Wakefield. Throughout the stay, the Aboriginal Cultural Entertainer Alf Priestly, who performed at half time to a crowd in excess of 61,000 at Old Trafford for the Super League Grand Final, will be performing in schools throughout the stay in Wakefield to promote cultural awareness and cultural tolerance, which is a major focus for the tour. Admission is £4.00 adults and £1 concessions with proceedings starting at 6.30pm with a Mini-League display. Remaining Tour Fixtures Sunday 3 November 2002 Wednesday 6 November 2002 Source:National Rugby League Young Aboriginals left to freeze in Wigan Barla 30 Australia Aboriginals 6 By Dave Hadfield at Robin Park 28 October 2002 - Britain's amateurs, as might have been expected, coped much better with the extreme weather conditions here in Wigan yesterday than Australian tourists unused to icy gales. After a close first half, the Aboriginals froze in the second to allow a well-organised British side to run away with the first of their two-Test series, with the West Hull pair Terry Lynn and Scott Fletcher, at the heart of most of their good work. It was Lynn's break that created the game's first try for Anthony Broadhead, but the tourists equalised when Alan Daley picked himself up from a half-completed tackle to go over. The young Aboriginal side exerted plenty of pressure from a series of penalties near the British line, but the pivotal moment of the game came when the home side broke out of defence to score through Lee Morton just before half-time. The second half was a one-sided and increasingly irritable affair that swung irretrievably Barla's way when Lynn and Darren Mitchell set up Paul Toole. The Aboriginals would have done much better if they had responded to the running of their hooker, Jimmy Storer. Instead they lost their pattern and went further behind to Phil Hasty's try. With Nathan Smith in the sin-bin, but their trainer, the old Castleford and Australian forward, Ronnie Gibbs, on the field as much as most of their players, they conceded two further tries to Fletcher and Lynn before they retreated to the warmth of the dressing rooms. Barla: Moreton; Thacker, Corfield, Robinson, Toole; Hasty, Lynn; Dancer, Mitchell, M Taylor, Halmshaw, S Fletcher, Broadhead. Substitutes used: Crowe, G Fletcher, Davidson, Aramayo. Australia Aboriginals: Conway; King, Albury, Champion, Holden; Standen, P Taylor; Smith, Storer, Lake, Daley, Armstrong, Wellington. Substitutes used: Clarke, Lacey, Webb, Grant. Referee: C Walker (Oldham). Source: The Independent Lions Complete Series Win November 3 - The BARLA Great Britain Lions completed a two-match series whitewash of the Australian Aboriginals with a 26-20 victory at Mount Pleasant, Batley. The Lions established a 26-4 lead early in the second half, before the Aboriginals staged a thrilling fightback in a bid to square the series. Britain eased to a winning position with two tries for Wigan St Judes centre Gavin Corfield and touchdowns by hooker Darren Mitchell, winger Phil Thacker and Thacker's Skirlaugh club-mate Phil Crane, with winger Paul Toole adding three goals. But the Aboriginals, who had been limited to a Ben Wellington try early in the second half, hit back with three late touchdowns. Paul Albury, Luke Grant and Michael Clarke crossed, with Casey Conway adding two goals, to reduce the deficit to six points. But time ran out on the tourists, who play the Combined Services in Portsmouth on Wednesday. Source: Sportal related links :
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