Kildonan
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Former Saints assistant coach Matt Rendell has resigned his position as recruitment officer for the Adelaide Football Club after a "throw away line" about only drafting Aboriginal players with at least one white parent.
Sorry Rendell: I'm not racist
Jesse Hogan
March 20, 2012
[He] insists it was simply an example of what could occur if the AFL did not immediately help remedy the high attrition rate among young indigenous players.
Rendell said he had made the comment when Mifsud made an unannounced visit to Adelaide in January. He said he used the opportunity to float a policy based on the experience of Hawthorn dynamo Cyril Rioli, who was educated in Melbourne before he was drafted. Rendell told Mifsud it was essential to create a program where the top 30 under-16 indigenous players of every year were given scholarships to study in Melbourne as a means of preparing them for the strictly regimented life of a modern AFL footballer.
"I said to 'Jase' [Mifsud] that the attrition rate was too high at the moment. He agreed that there were too many indigenous players dropping out of the system. I said, 'I've got my theories, tell me if you reckon I'm right'," Rendell said. When he then declared indigenous players generally came from more laidback families and were "not prepared for AFL life as others . . . he [Mifsud] said, 'That's a fair assumption of Aboriginal life' ".
"I was using that as a basis for an idea I had to help more indigenous players stay in the system. I want every kid to play 10 years no matter where they are from," he said. "I said to Jason there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed right now. It was a throwaway line — a ridiculous line — but I said you might find we only recruit players with only one white parent."
"People don't like talking about it for fear of being branded because you might get one word in the wrong place," he said. "In my eyes, there is no racism in footy. We [recruiters] don't talk about that sort of stuff, we just want to pick the best players."
Sorry Rendell: I'm not racist
Jesse Hogan
March 20, 2012
[He] insists it was simply an example of what could occur if the AFL did not immediately help remedy the high attrition rate among young indigenous players.
Rendell said he had made the comment when Mifsud made an unannounced visit to Adelaide in January. He said he used the opportunity to float a policy based on the experience of Hawthorn dynamo Cyril Rioli, who was educated in Melbourne before he was drafted. Rendell told Mifsud it was essential to create a program where the top 30 under-16 indigenous players of every year were given scholarships to study in Melbourne as a means of preparing them for the strictly regimented life of a modern AFL footballer.
"I said to 'Jase' [Mifsud] that the attrition rate was too high at the moment. He agreed that there were too many indigenous players dropping out of the system. I said, 'I've got my theories, tell me if you reckon I'm right'," Rendell said. When he then declared indigenous players generally came from more laidback families and were "not prepared for AFL life as others . . . he [Mifsud] said, 'That's a fair assumption of Aboriginal life' ".
"I was using that as a basis for an idea I had to help more indigenous players stay in the system. I want every kid to play 10 years no matter where they are from," he said. "I said to Jason there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed right now. It was a throwaway line — a ridiculous line — but I said you might find we only recruit players with only one white parent."
"People don't like talking about it for fear of being branded because you might get one word in the wrong place," he said. "In my eyes, there is no racism in footy. We [recruiters] don't talk about that sort of stuff, we just want to pick the best players."
