Tiger team-mates Richard Tambling and Clayton Collard visited Alice Springs this weekend, travelling to indigenous communities and spreading the word about the Richmond Football Club. Below is Richard's blog of the trip.


Day 1 – Friday May 9, 2008

With a break this weekend for the Hall of Fame match, it was the perfect opportunity for the Club to launch its Tigers in the Territory program in Alice Springs. We have chosen to work with the communities of Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, with particular focus on indigenous footy and health.

I arrived at the airport to catch the 8.45am flight to Alice. Joining me on the trip is Clayton Collard, Brian “Choco” Royal & his wife Maree, club CEO Steven Wright, Greg Miller, Dale “Flea” Weightman, Adrian Ceddia (media officer) and Philip Allison from our sponsor Auslab.

We are going to be working with a number of indigenous communities over the weekend – taking football training and delivering health advice on general fitness and how to prepare and recover from football games. This year, for the first time, the Central Australian Football League (CAFL) has been extended to include all teams from the local Indigenous communities, which is fantastic.

I’m really excited about the trip. As much as I love Melbourne and Richmond it’s always great to head back to the open spaces of the Territory. This is Clayton’s first time in the Territory and I am sure he will enjoy it as much as I do.

After a three-hour flight to Alice we were met at the airport by people from the CAFL and we headed directly to the Santa Teresa community. We jumped into some 4WD vehicles and drove along 80km of unmade road. When we arrived, Flea reckoned the drive was so rough it was like going through 15 rounds with Mohammed Ali!

Even though Santa Teresa is regarded as one of the better resourced communities in the region, they still have lots of needs and it will be great to be able to work with them and provide some of that assistance.

When we arrived at the ground I saw it even had grass! Most of the grounds in the communities are usually made of dirt.

The Santa Teresa football team is coming down to play in the curtain raiser against the Fitzroy All Stars in the Dreamtime at the G game in two weeks. Given our developing relationship with them they have even changed their colours from St Kilda to Richmond and we have provided them with new jumpers and boots!

Footy is the thing that unites these communities, and everyone gets behind their own team.  About 500 people live at Santa Teresa. One of the coaches is the local policeman and the players know that if they misbehave they won’t get selected and he told us it has made a big difference in that regard.

Choco, Flea, Clayton and I took training and drills for about an hour, with 45 enthusiastic players on the track. When Choco spoke everyone listened intently, and he said it was the most respectful group of footballers he had trained in a long time (outside of Richmond of course!).

At the end of training we had a free kicking session, and boy do these guys know how to kick torps. I couldn’t resist, and slotted a spiral from 60 metres out! After training finished, we showed a DVD, put together by the boys back in Melbourne, which provided information on a number of exercises, drills and programs that the guys can use as part of their training regime and to improve their diets and general health. We then headed back to Alice Springs to unload our gear and get ready for the evening’s activities. By this time we were all starving as Greg had forgotten to organize lunch!

When we got back to Alice I met with a number of primary school kids, talked about footy and presented a number of medals after the completion of the U15 School Championships.

Choco then ran a meeting of all the coaches in the CAFL, out of which a new coaches association was formed. He will provide training and skill development for the coaches going forward.

In the evening we hosted a dinner for all the officials of the CAFL, the clubs and their sponsors. Steve Wright spoke on behalf of the club and told everyone how we were looking forward to working with them and developing programs to assist the development of football, and importantly aboriginal health in the coming years.

After dinner we relaxed with the locals and even Clayton was seen on the dance floor!


Day 2 – Saturday 10 May, 2008

After an early morning jog, Clayton, Greg and I headed to CAAMA radio to talk about our community involvement. Clayton is generally a quiet guy, but he came into his own on the radio, and is now known as ‘DJ Clay’.

After a quick breakfast, Steve Wright and I met with Warren Snowdon, the local Federal MP and also a Minister in the Rudd Government. Steve and I have made a number of presentations to federal ministers and politicians over the last couple of months about our proposed new indigenous training institute as part of the redevelopment of Punt Road Oval. The institute will provide a great leadership and development program for aboriginal teenagers. Warren really liked the idea, as have all of his fellow ministers that we have met. Hopefully this support will turn into a financial commitment in the near future.

After that meeting we again jumped in the 4WD’s and headed off to the Hermannsburg community, about 130km from Alice Springs. We were lucky to make it after experiencing Greg Miller’s 4wd off road driving skills…on the bitumen!!! When we arrived there was nobody to be seen, and we wondered whether we’d come at the wrong time.

We went to the local store and met Kenny, who turned out to be one of Hermannsburg’s football managers. Kenny told us not to worry and the players would be there in a few minutes. He then simply walked out the door of the shop and gave three blows on his whistle. Suddenly 40 footballers appeared walking down the road, riding motorbikes or driving cars and gathered at the oval.

Flea, Clayton and I were due to take training but the first task was to remove a horse and its recently deposited fertilizer from the dirt oval. When I had first seen the dirt ground I wanted to play in bare feet, but then I saw the horse and quickly realized that Terry wouldn’t be very happy if I came home with an infected toe!

Hermannsburg is currently undefeated at the top of CAFL ladder and are enjoying a great start to the season. During training I was once again reminded of the skills of the indigenous players in these communities. With such little coaching and resources their skills continue to be amazing.  After training we had a snap shot goal kicking competition on the boundary line, including shots from behind the fence! After watching Steve trying to kick a footy, now I know why he is an administrator!

Joel Bowden has a huge following up here. Everywhere we go everyone is asking about him. Even the local Hermannsburg shopkeeper said his son went to school with him!

Hermannsburg was a very different community to Santa Teresa but they all have a common passion for footy. Once again we left a bag of goodies for them, including coaching aids, boots and shorts.

After farewelling Kenny and the guys we headed back into Alice to watch the first of a double header in the CAFL at Traeger Park. I loved going to country footy games. With everyone keen to kick goals it is  exciting to watch and it brings back so many memories.

A large crowd watched two close games and I think even Greg was impressed with some of the skills. I saw him making some recruiting notes!

A couple of weeks ago in the AFL, Sydney had a problem with playing 19 men on the ground. Well In Alice they have a simple way to stop that problem. The interchange players aren’t allowed on the ground at quarter and three-quarter time. They just sit in the grandstand and watch!! Apparently, last year they had 7 or 8 head counts due to too many players being on the ground at the start of quarters so they have adopted this policy and it seems to have worked. Sometimes it’s the simple solutions to problems that are the best!

Saturday night was the night of the Victoria v Dream Team Tribute match. Both Flea and Choco had played many times for the Big V but I was going for the Dream Team. We made sure we chose a restaurant for dinner where we could watch the match. Whilst the Big V won in a tight match, it was good to see all our boys in Axel Foley, Richo and Simmo all play well.


Day 3 – Sunday 11 May

Clayton and I once again went for a run to start the day and then returned to the hotel for our bacon and eggs. At about 10.30 we checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport. It’s Mother’s day today and I am keen to get home to spend it with my partner Amy and our little son Tyson.

I’m currently sitting on the plane heading back to Melbourne after what has been a fantastic weekend. It really is a great initiative of the Richmond footy club to work with the local indigenous communities and to promote footy and health issues in the Territory.

It’s a long way from Alice Springs to the MCG, but in two weeks’ time we play the Dreamtime at the G game.  If you’re coming to the game, make sure you get there early to watch Santa Teresa and find out how footy is played in the Territory!


We’ve taken lots of photos and video, and we’ll upload these in the next few days.