He endured ridicule and racism. Now he’s calling for change

After a career spanning nearly two decades, Michael Cedar can still remember feeling alone – even in a team sport like basketball, and in front of fans – before he reached the game’s upper echelon.

Every year he would be the only Indigenous player on his teams. Every year he would hear comments from the sidelines, at times making him consider abandoning his dreams.

“It was a pretty lonely place for a First Nations athlete. It was very much a place where I felt a little isolated,” Cedar told this masthead.

Michael Cedar, who forged a long career in the NBL with the Townsville Crocodiles, has reflected on his experience as the only Indigenous player in his junior teams.Credit: Getty Images

“There were moments where I considered, ‘can I continue to take some of the comments and ridicule I was copping?’ Some were personal attacks, but the majority of it was people who didn’t truly understand what they were saying and how hurtful it can be for a young person.

“There’s intergenerational stuff that’s happened, intergenerational trauma or – what I believe is very prevalent still – intergenerational racism, where people don’t even realise some of the things they are saying have hurtful and attached derogatory meaning.”

Cedar ultimately went on to forge a 219-game NBL career with the now-defunct Townsville Crocodiles. He continued to play in the NBL1 North state competition, with the Logan Thunder and Townsville Heat, ahead of a move to the Gold Coast.

He also went on to work with Patty Mills’ Indigenous Basketball Australia, Queensland Basketball, and now PCYC.

But despite programs being set up to better support young athletes, very few Indigenous men have reached basketball’s top plateau.

Last season, only six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players featured in the national competition, a number the NBL has sought to address by implementing Indigenous Player Rule guidelines.

Speaking ahead of the Brisbane Bullets’ Indigenous Round clash with Melbourne United on Thursday night, Cedar suggested two factors were still holding First Nations talent back: the cost of participation and the lack of opportunities to play at an elite level.

“I think the NBL now is probably at the strongest I’ve seen it. I just think for opportunities for people to make those levels, more teams probably need to be in the competition,” Cedar says.

“There needs to be more spots available, but also just the end-to-end support going from juniors all the way through to seniors, and making sure everyone has some sort of pathway to get to where they want to get.

“I’d love to see the Townsville Crocodiles back in the competition. I don’t know whether that’s possible or not, but there are a lot of big cities now, and populations are booming. There’s definitely potential, I can see, for more teams to be part of this competition.”

Given the Boomers have only delivered one Olympic medal to the nation – bronze at the Tokyo Games – Cedar believes tapping into the Indigenous demographic could help identify the talent needed to produce long-term rewards.

“We’re seeing a lot of young sports stars who are making the wrong choices, and that’s definitely where … role models are needed,” Cedar said.

“As soon as you become someone who has a bit of a name, you have a target on your back, and people, unfortunately, wait for you to take the wrong step, so you definitely need people in place that can help guide you through that.

“If you tap into it, you could have a couple more Patty Mills running around. He’s the benchmark; he’s set the standard for what can potentially happen if given the opportunity and the right pathway.”

While Cedar has seen change throughout his career in cultural awareness education, he still has concerns for First Nations people and the challenges they face.

He says if not for the network around him, he never would have reached the heights he attained.

“I reflect daily on how much support I was afforded around me. I work in this space seeing so many communities and young people come through who don’t have the support I was afforded,” Cedar says.

“Without those people, I wouldn’t have made it. There are no hurtful feelings from me any more because I lived through that and was able to get through it.

Michael Cedar has credited his support network for getting him through a tough basketball initiation.Credit: Getty Images

“I believe there’s good in everybody. Sometimes people just need to be reminded you’re not allowed to say that sort of stuff because it carries meaning you don’t quite understand.

“It’s things I have to go through so my daughters won’t have to.”

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