Red centre bounce: Jurrah makes a big leap in any language

March 17, 2009

Some players who arrive in the AFL can't kick accurately, or fumble and drop marks. Then there are psychological impediments: a lack of self-confidence, too much aggression, not enough concentration.

For Melbourne's Liam Jurrah, the barrier is the English language, a skill that comes less easily to him than taking marks. This is understandable, since English isn't the Warlpiri man's native tongue. The Demons believe it is his third language.

Mindful of the enormous challenges Jurrah faces in sharing his thoughts with teammates and coaches - and of the importance of communication in an increasingly complex game - the Demons have seen to it that their No.1 draft pick in the pre-season draft attends English classes.

Last week, Jurrah began English tutorials under the AFL Players' Association's literacy and numeracy program. He isn't the only player in the program - there are several others of varying capacities - but he is a special case, in that he isn't learning to speak his mother tongue.

Jurrah is fluent in the Warlpiri language, which Melbourne's development coach, Ian Flack, believed might be spoken by as few as 500 people. He also has the command of a second indigenous language, but his English is limited.

Jurrah, 20, is what Flack described as a "trainee elder" of the Warlpiri people; some day in the future, he will become an elder of his remote tribe in Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

"It's been decided that he'll be an elder when he's older," said Flack, who has assisted Jurrah in assimilating into Melbourne — the city and football club. Flack says Jurrah's biggest challenge is to speak, rather than comprehend or read, English.

Jurrah, indeed, likes to read the newspaper and, as Flack and others attest, he can understand English fine. The struggle is to voice and converse in the words himself, a common experience for those who attempt second (or third) languages.

"He's a very intelligent bloke," says Flack, who sought to place Jurrah's language situation into perspective for some teammates, telling them, "It's the equivalent of you speaking German and Italian and English."

Recruited through that quintessentially Collingwood coterie group, the Industrial Magpies, Jurrah played for Collingwood's VFL team last year, managing four matches before he returned to Yuendumu, a desert community, because a close friend was dying.

He returned to Melbourne, but the Magpies, clearly mindful of the vast cultural distance Jurrah had to travel (Industrial Magpies supporters group member and Jurrah friend Bruce Hearn Mackinnon says Jurrah had never been in the ocean until a Collingwood recovery session), chose not to pursue him, and he did not even nominate for the national draft. Other clubs took a similarly risk-averse view, although he trained briefly with North Melbourne.

Former Collingwood grand final player Rupert Betheras intervened, lobbied the AFL and saw to it that Jurrah was permitted to nominate for the pre-season draft. While national draft nomination is normally mandatory for those picked in the pre-season draft, the AFL ruled that Jurrah had "exceptional circumstances" and admitted him.

As it turned out, only one club had a crack at picking him.

Austin Wonaeamirri and Aaron Davey, both indigenous players from the Northern Territory, have been helping Jurrah adjust to club life, but the Demons have found it difficult to find accommodation for him and his partner, who are looking for a two-bedroom home; Jurrah has been staying with Hearn Mackinnon.

The AFLPA player development manager, former Essendon ruckman Steve Alessio, heads the players' literacy and numeracy program, which is not compulsory. The AFLPA tests all of the league's 130-odd new players' literacy and numeracy when they arrive at their clubs.

"It's voluntary, and sometimes, some players for whatever reason, won't decide to seek that assistance," says Alessio, who cannot recall a past player for whom English was a second language.

Since the literacy classes are confidential, Alessio would not comment on Jurrah's situation, except to say: "He's got his challenges in terms of what he needs to work through in his first year, like every player, or every first-year player has their own challenges.

"Liam's probably got a few more, having come from a remote community, as a lot of indigenous players do."

Jurrah's capacity to express himself is compounded, too, by shyness. For Melbourne, helping him with his English isn't simply for the Warlpiri elder-in-waiting's benefit.

"It just makes you feel a bit uncomfortable when you can't understand him," Flack says.

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