Walker, Ashley --- "An Interview with Marcia Ella-Duncan" [2010] IndigLawB 36; (2010) 7(20) Indigenous Law Bulletin 25
An Interview with Marcia Ella-Duncan
by Ashley Walker
Born and raised in La Perouse, Sydney, Marcia identifies both as a descendant of the Yuin nation on the NSW far south coast and as a member of the La Perouse Aboriginal community. Marcia was the first Aboriginal scholarship holder at the Australian Institute of Sport and the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in netball. She received an Order of Australia Medal for services to netball. Marcia’s extensive professional experience in Indigenous affairs includes chairing the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce and being a member of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board.
In your sporting experience, has racism been an overt or an underlying issue?
When I was younger, I was quite oblivious to this issue – I was mainly having fun. As I got a little older and started trying out for representative teams, I never made it onto any of the teams. It didn’t bother me at the time because I was quite shy but later I found out that my sports teacher had been so upset that I had been overlooked. In her mind, it had clearly been racism as I had been the far better player, but had been overlooked because I was the only Aboriginal player.
As I got older and worldlier, I encountered not so much direct racism as institutional racism and stereotyping. I had experiences where people would say that I had gone “walkabout” or that I was unreliable but they didn’t understand my circumstances, for example that my parents did not drive so I had to catch public transport to get to training and games.
Have attitudes about race in sport changed over the course of your career?
Maturation of the country around tolerance, diversity and acceptance means that our awareness of racism in sport has been heightened. There are still racist people in this country and in our sporting institutions, but what I think has changed in sport is the way that we deal with it. For example, we have much stronger sanctions for inappropriate behaviour and there are very explicit codes of conduct that seek to eliminate discrimination in all forms and unfairness, which encourage people to take steps when they do experience racism. We still have a long way to go in terms of the local park level, but generally we are much better at dealing with racism when it does become an issue.
The Timana Tahu and Andrew Johns issue involved a player-coach relationship rather than two players. Do you think this type of racism requires a different approach?
Absolutely – the coach has a responsibility over and above another player to ensure fairness and equity and to model appropriate behaviour. As a coach, I know that there are so many levels of responsibility with respect to the players’ personal development, as well as their professional development as athletes. I work a lot with children and for me the overriding concern is always the wellbeing of the child. When you get to the representative and professional levels, that responsibility doesn’t diminish; it tends to focus on different areas.
In my mind, what Andrew Johns did was unforgiveable and he abrogated his responsibilities. I was very proud of Timana for standing up to him.
Does sport have a role to play in confronting racism in Australian society?
I have a view that sport is a wonderful opportunity to eliminate racism. We are a sports-mad country. We probably have one of the highest rates of sports participation in the world per capita. We have a critical mass of people that we can influence in a positive way. However, I don’t think it is sport’s sole responsibility to deal with racism. I think it’s important that we have a broader community awareness, including campaigns and education, combined with the appropriate sanctions and measures to deal with it when it does occur. I think that needs to be evident and present in all parts of the community and in all sectors.
Sport does have the ability to provide that level playing field. I know in my own personal experience it had a profound effect on my own personal development and where I am in this world right now – it was a very positive experience. I take a very strong view that my continued participation in sport is motivated in a large part by developing and presenting opportunities to children that they would not otherwise have.
I have an overriding concern for personal and community growth and development, which is always influenced by a very strong awareness of fairness and equity.
Tell me about your club, The Pearlers. Have you achieved the goals you set out to achieve or are still on your way there?
I think I am still on my way there. We have made tremendous progress; we have very mixed representation in our club, which I am very proud of, and we have a very strong identity as an Aboriginal netball club. However, we are not incorporated under the Aboriginal Corporations Act, we do not have ‘Aboriginal’ in our name and nowhere in our governance or policy does it say that this club is only for Aboriginal people. What we have are policies containing upfront statements about tolerance, acceptance, diversity and our responsibility to provide a safe and fun experience for young women in particular.
However, we are known as an Aboriginal club – we are actually changing our uniform to include some Aboriginal art. We encourage Aboriginal kids to come play with us, because that is my particular interest, and we also try to develop opportunities for involvement in umpiring, coaching and administration. I do a lot of work around supporting, encouraging and caring for young Aboriginal girls. Ultimately, I try to promote within our club the message that sport is something we can do for the rest of our lives and that there are various ways that we can be involved in sport.
As a panellist at the ILC Open Forum, you raised the issue of Indigenous people making racist remarks. What are the effects of these attitudes within our community?
It engenders fear of people. People are so concerned about being politically correct, that they don’t know how to deal with racism in the reverse. When we do have racism coming from Aboriginal people, there is often an underlying anger and frustration. It is important to unpack that and not ignore it.
I try to encourage the other party to take necessary steps. If I deal with racism harshly, I expect other people to deal with it appropriately also. You should not be fearful of it, whether you are an Aboriginal person or a non-Aboriginal person. I deal with it seriously regardless of who the parties are.
Does the issue of racism come up often within the club? How do you deal with it?
It is becoming quite infrequent because I think people know that it’s just not on. However, I can’t say that it is becoming less frequent within the competition. We have had some pretty serious incidents of racist behaviour. When it happens, we work with the other team and establish what the other person would like to see happen. Then we share our information, for example, about how we have dealt with it within the club, so that everyone knows that we are proactive about the issue and that we take it seriously.
Our mechanism for dealing with racism is club-wide awareness. Every player, manager and coach involved gets a letter from the president, which reminds them that it is not acceptable and that the club promotes diversity and tolerance as our core values. First we ask coaches and managers to talk to their team about the importance of eliminating racism and being tolerant. Then we deal directly with the people involved: if it concerns the whole team, we deal with the whole team, and if it is an individual, we deal with the individual. There are sanctions for dealing with racism; we have had a series of suspensions and expulsions to deal with it.
Ultimately, it’s not just about racism and being tolerant; it’s about allowing people to feel the benefits of active participation in sport.
Ashley Walker is in his fourth year of a Combined Bachelor of Commerce/Law at the University of New South Wales. He is a member of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community and the Walbunja clan of the Yuin Nation.