Essendon and Port Adelaide AFL champion Gavin Wanganeen’s mission to inspire Indigenous youth

AFL champion Gavin Wanganeen has spoken about a memory as a seven-year-old that has stayed with him, and how it’s now inspiring him.

As a seven-year-old boy, AFL Hall of Famer, Brownlow medallist, and dual premiership winner Gavin Wanganeen had to pull out the sprigs of a pair of footy boots to wear to school when his family couldn’t afford new sneakers.

“There was a time where my sneakers were worn out and we didn’t have any money to buy new shoes,” he said.

“They were really bad (and) I couldn’t wear them any more because most of my toes were hanging out.

“There was hardly any lawn at our school, it was all bitumen, so the sprigs wore down really quick and the first day was really hard because of that.”

Wanganeen was only in year 3 but with not much money in the home, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, had to borrow pliers to make the boots wearable for school.

“I went home [after school] to get these pliers from the neighbours. I had some friends who were neighbours and they were really good to us and borrowed the pliers to get the sprigs out,” he said.

Gavin Wanganeen, aged 16, with his sister Rebekah, in 1990. Picture: Chris Picton

Growing up in public housing “without much”, he shared similar struggles to many Aboriginal children in the low socio-economic area.

“We didn’t have a lot, we didn’t have much. There were a lot of times we went to school without lunch and stuff like that, which was, you know, normal,” he said.

Wanganeen found support from schoolmates, who would share their lunches so he didn’t have to go hungry.

“The Italian kids had the most amazing packed lunches and sandwiches, like I remember looking at this big, white cheese which I later learned had all these fancy names,” he recalled.

Throughout his childhood, Wanganeen witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of intergenerational trauma and historical disadvantages on Aboriginal families.

“As a young kid, there were serious temptations and bad stuff going on and that was the way of life,” he said.

“I think there was just one person in my extended family who had completed year 12 or finished their schooling.”

Port Adelaide footballer Gavin Wanganeen stretching at training, in March, 1991. Picture: Neon Martin

Wanganeen always wanted to play footy but as he got older it became more than a game – an opportunity to forge a new path for himself and his family.

“If you keep delving deeper and deeper into [the disadvantages], it can be overwhelming and disheartening, and you lose your focus and motivation quite easily [but] luckily for me, I found football,” he said.

Discovered as a teenager by Port Adelaide Football Club, it was clear that Wanganeen was destined for greatness.

Playing in Salisbury North junior teams, Wanganeen trained regularly with the club’s under-17s development squad and was determined to become the best player he could.

“Port Adelaide provided a bus on a Monday and Wednesday for some of the talented kids in Salisbury – half the team’s players were from out that way – and I jumped on that bus because I knew I could train to get better,” he said.

A young Gavin Wanganeen, who grew up in Adelaide’s north.

But Wanganeen was among the lucky ones. Sydney Swan Michael O’Loughlin was also among those from Adelaide’s north who went on to achieve great things, on and off the field. But other talented young Aboriginal players were forced to set aside their own passion and aspirations.

“There were other Aboriginal kids who were just as talented as me [who] for various reasons didn’t get on that bus to go to training, because they faced difficult challenges,” he said

The “discipline and structure” of football motivated Wanganeen to remain on track.

“Once you make a commitment to maintain your training, you naturally do have structure and it’s consistent structure too,” he said.

“If you’ve got structure, it’s so much easier to take care of other things in life that could possibly affect you and sets you up for better outcomes.”

Wanganeen left Adelaide to make his AFL debut with Essendon in 1991. Just two years later, in 1993, he would make history as the first Indigenous player to win the AFL’s best-and-fairest award, the Brownlow Medal – aged just 20.

Wanganeen would go on to play 127 games for the Bombers, playing in the 1993 premiership, before returning home to Adelaide to take on the role of captain for Port Adelaide’s first AFL season in 1997.

Gavin Wanganeen celebrates Port Adelaide’s 2004 AFL Grand Final victory over the Brisbane Lions at the MCG.

In 2004, Wanganeen helped the Power to their first premiership victory in 2004 and later became the first Indigenous AFL player to reach 300 games in 2006, before retiring later that year.

Wanganeen has since gone on to become a respected Indigenous artist and entrepreneur, starting his own coffee pod company, JooJu, and an Indigenous-owned and led recruitment company, Murra Partners, an agency supporting all Australians to find work.

Throughout his career, Wanganeen proved time and again that he had the passion, drive and determination to succeed on the field but feels empowered to see Aboriginal youth pursue careers beyond the field.

“Back in the early days, and even now, Aboriginal people had to gain respect and one way to do that was to become a footballer and do well on the field where they can gain true respect,” he said.

“But the sporting arena is just a small area and there’s so many other careers out there and it’s so empowering to see young Aboriginal people having a go.”

Gavin Wanganeen, now a professional artist and business owner, in Adelaide’s parklands. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Despite the increased opportunities for Aboriginal people today, economic independence and financial security remains a challenge due to intergenerational poverty tracing back to colonisation.

“The challenges for Aboriginal people to get off the bottom is all about economic independence and how they can set themselves up, whether it’s in business or buying their own property, which is out of most Australians’ reach, let alone Indigenous Australians which is 20 times harder,” he said.

Wanganeen wants to help young Aboriginal people have positive role models to inspire them to overcome the adversity caused by intergenerational disadvantages, which he says are “shackles that need to be broken.”

The vicious cycle of poor education, employment and life outcomes, he said, can be counteracted with more positive role models for Aboriginal people, coming from all walks of life.

“It’s at the stage now [for young Aboriginal people] where it’s really important that the role models that are around and the support they’re getting are positive from not only Aboriginal people but also non-Aboriginal people who have got their back,” he said.

For young Aboriginal people, Wanganeen has a message of inspiration and encouragement.

“There are so many opportunities out there for you. You’ve just got to find what you think you can be good at, and if you don’t know that, you just go searching for that,” he said.

“You put the hard work in. You be dedicated, you make sacrifices towards that career that you want, you can go and achieve it. There’s no doubt.”

Talara McHugh is a Narungga/Ngarrindjeri woman.

Originally published as Essendon and Port Adelaide AFL champion Gavin Wanganeen’s mission to inspire Indigenous youth