December 4, 2020 8:45:13 am
Australia’s best fast bowler Mitchell Starc in the new kit. (Source: Twitter / CricketAus)
AUSTRALIAN cricketers are set to fold up their famous yellow jerseys for the first International T20 against India in Canberra on Friday.
Instead, they will sport T-shirts designed by indigenous women, Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen, with traditional motifs on a charcoal background, a belated recognition of the land’s Aborigines with a culture dating back some 60,000 years.
On each jersey are gold stars representing ancestors, a ‘Walkabout Wickets’ centerpiece representing Aboriginal cricketers past and present, green circles of unity and continuity, and blue tendons of rivers and land. On the back of the shirt is an acknowledgment to a 152-year-old piece of history featuring the first Aboriginal team to tour England in 1868, standing around a campfire.
“I am pleased that CA (Cricket Australia) has decided on the indigenous jersey,” wrote retired indigenous cricketer Jason Gillespie in response to inquiries from The Indian Express. “I am hopeful that greater recognition of our culture will continue the conversations and learnings for people in our country who may not know much about our Aboriginal history,” he said, referring to Australian cricket’s commitment to the rather painful past of the country.
The jersey comes after criticism of the Australian men’s team for failing to kneel during a limited series in England in September in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was also an encouraging push from the Australian women’s T20 team, who embraced their own indigenous jersey earlier this year when they played against New Zealand.
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Cricket writer and social commentator Gideon Haigh called the trip to England, where the local team’s adherence to BLM was in stark contrast to the cautious Australian reciprocity, a revelation.
“This is a pretty mundane group of cricketers who have traveled a lot and are in tune with what is happening. They were aware of developments and clearly would not want to be the exception among teams. The BLM Against Racism struck a chord, and it was inevitable that recognition would follow at home, ”he said.
“There was a degree of callousness in not learning about it in England, so this is a timely gesture. Sport is an integral part of Australian culture, but it is tremendously difficult to get athletes in their bubbles to step out of it and do this. So it’s good to see it, ”Haigh said.
The advantage, of course, came from the women’s team, with indigenous cricketer Ashleigh Gardner tying up her aunt and inspirational Murrawarri speaker Doris Shillingsworth to run a familiarization program for the women’s team.
Shillingsworth in a CA video interaction spoke of the pride the Gidgee trees take in watching Gardner win the Player of the Series with Australia. When asked what the women’s squad could do to help, Shillingsworth said: “Meet some Aboriginal people and find out where they come from … The limits of our land are not fences, our limits are rivers, lakes and mountains.”
Getting city-bred cricketers, mostly white, to understand the nuances of ‘First Nations People’, as culturally varied as the Santhal of India are from Gond and Oraon from Munda, has been a challenge. repeated that even Gillespie has repeated.
Last summer, the Sheffield Shield side in Western Australia opened the season with a ‘barefoot circle’, a ceremony that included blowing the long Didgeridoo pipe and using clappers to ask ancestor souls to join them and they will walk among the inhabitants of the earth.
And on a YouTube show, indigenous storyteller Tamika Sadler spoke of the need for Australian cricketers to learn about the history of genocide, the introduction of disease and discrimination. At the same time, international Dan Christian came under fire for speaking out about his Aboriginal identity, just before leading Nottinghamshire to its T20 title in October.
“There is opposition and adverse comments within Australia questioning why cricketers need to do this (which implies that they should just prepare and play). But Aussie Rules Football has led the way as many indigenous players play the sport, ”Haigh said.
According to him, a 2013 census showed that indigenous participation in sport had plummeted to 10,000; the concerted efforts of governments have raised it to 70,000 now.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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