Guardian Australia was invited to a pre-season training camp,where a unique insight was granted into the machinations of the Aboriginal football club and its inspirational, politically-minded coach Across the lobby of AFL House in Melbourne, or Jason Mifsud distractedly waves his hand in my direction. He’s busy with a phone call. Less than an hour before our meeting,the state Labor government announced his appointment as executive director for Aboriginal Victoria in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. As he hangs up the phone, we shake hands, and I offer my congratulations and ask whether he’ll grasp a break in preparation for the new role. “Not in my line of work, he responds with a grin. Aboriginal affairs is a full time job.” From 2007, Mifsud, and 42,was the most senior Aboriginal administrator at the AFL. The job title changed over the years, but essentially he was in charge of running the Indigenous and multicultural programs. It’s a position that granted him remarkable influence but also brought considerable controversy. Mifsud leaves an organisation that has increased Aboriginal participation at both grassroots and administrative level, and established multicultural and Indigenous rounds,and introduced the Indigenous Advisory Group. Yet there was also that chaotic six-week period in 2012 where he clashed spectacularly with several tall profile players and coaches on the issue of race, issued a public apology to former Melbourne coach Mark Neeld, and offered his resignation to the AFL and had senior Aboriginal players Dean Rioli and Michael Long call for his sacking.
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Source: theguardian.com