Darryl White
Encyclopedia
Darryl White is a former Australian rules football
er whose career with the Brisbane Bears
and Lions
in the Australian Football League
(AFL) lasted from 1992 to 2005.
An Indigenous Australian, in 2005 he was named at fullback in the Australian rules football Indigenous Team of the Century
.
Beyond his AFL career, White continues to be involved in football, having forced one of the most successful careers of any Australian rules footballer, with six premierships across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL). He is an indigenous role model for many aboriginal Australians.
at the Teal Cup under-17 national football carnival held in Brisbane
, where he came to the attention of Brisbane Bears
coach Robert Walls
and his football manager Scott Clayton
. Impressed with his clean ball handling skills, his leap and his ability to "play tall", the Bears drafted him at the end of the season with a priority draft pick from their Queensland
-Northern Territory recruiting zone.
singlet and bouncing a basketball). He found the transition from Alice Springs football to training under strict disciplinarian Walls difficult once there, for example; on one occasion during an 8 km cycle up a mountain he hurled his bike off a cliff, telling his coach he'd come to play football, not ride bikes. (Voss, 2005; Steele, 2005)
His first season of football was an announcement of a rare talent, leading the Brownlow Medal
count after three rounds with two best-on-ground performances and kicking the official goal of the year with his first-ever goal. However White suffered continual problems with homesickness. At the end of the season he immediately returned to Alice Springs and did not return for the start of pre-season training a month later. When Walls telephoned him to ask him if he was coming back, the response was: "I'm really busy—call me again in a couple of weeks." (Walls, 2002) Little wonder that his coach and teammates sometimes questioned his commitment to football, but his sheer skill and ability compelled them to persist with him. Despite regularly disappearing to Alice Springs every summer, he always returned, ready to try again.
White soon became a crowd favourite, with a marking ability well beyond that which his height would normally allow. Fans grew to instantly recognise his loping running style, his casual but pinpoint foot passing, and his idiosyncratic pose after a mark, holding the ball aloft on its point as if to show the world he'd caught it. He even found city-wide fame when a photo of a spectacular White mark was published on the cover of the 1996 Brisbane White Pages telephone directory (a marketing coup for the struggling club).
White's vertical jump allowed his coaches to take advantage of his flexibility by positioning him in a variety of key positions—even, when injuries to teammates demanded it, the ruck. White's opponents were often much taller and stronger but his leap and flexibility allowed him to hold his own in such contests.
White survived the 1996 merger between Fitzroy
and the Bears which formed the Brisbane Lions
, and was an integral member of its first premiership victory in 2001 playing off half-back. He also played in the Lions' flag wins in 2002 and 2003, as well as its Grand Final
loss in 2004.
By now, White had become an inspiration to other indigenous players, especially those from his former home of the Northern Territory. On one occasion, he even found himself approached by a young indigenous player from another club immediately after a match who asked him to pose for a photograph with him before leaving the ground. His progression from erratic youth to responsible adult had been guided by mentor and former teammate, fellow aborigine Michael McLean. A trip to South Africa
in 1997 and a 36-hour gaol term for assault in the same year (later overturned on appeal) opened his eyes to what his life could have been. "I used to be out stealing handbags," he said in 2001. "I was just starting to get into bigger and better stuff. Back then, I was stealing BMWs. Luckily I got caught and got sent away for six months in [a] juvenile detention centre in Perth
. Look at me now, it's all changed." (Burke, 2001)
In 2005 he was named captain of the Indigenous All-Stars, an all-Aboriginal team, selected to play the Western Bulldogs
in Darwin
that February. White was devastated when he ruptured a thumb ligament at Lions training in the weeks before the game, and was unable to play. Desperate to play a part, he flew in for the occasion and acted as the team's runner during the game.
However, in 2003 and 2004 his form had been patchy, spending increasing time in the club's seconds side
, and at the end of each season there was increasing speculation that he would retire. The Lions continued to show their loyalty to the player who had served them so well and re-signed him for the 2005 season, but he added only ten games to his career tally. In the second-last home-and-away game of that season, with the Lions struggling to make the finals, White played in the seconds and kicked nine goals, ensuring his recall for one last game. The Lions were thrashed by St Kilda in Melbourne
in a disappointing finish to a spectacular and entertaining career.
In the last quarter, White fielded a mark at half-forward and held it skyward in trademark fashion. He then drilled a no-look pass forward to Jared Brennan
, a player who had idolised White as a boy. Brennan goaled. White's shellshocked teammates flocked around him to offer congratulations. After the siren, he was carried from the ground by indigenous teammates Chris Johnson and Ash McGrath, signifying the respect in which he had been held by his community.
White's contribution to football and his community was recognised in 2005 when he was named at fullback in the Indigenous Team of the Century
, alongside premiership teammate Johnson and former mentor McLean. His Brisbane captain, Michael Voss
, said that it was important that White be kept involved in football. "He has taught me a lot and helped me try to understand their indigenous culture. He will leave the game with a lot of respect from his teammates and fellow players." (Cartwright, 2005)
Season White played for the Darwin Football Club
, playing in a premiership team.
In 2006/2007, White switched to the Southern Districts Football Club
, where he followed up with another NTFL premiership.
In 2007, he moved back to Queensland, where he played in a premiership with the Queensland State League's Mount Gravatt Football Club, making it his sixth premiership across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL).
White is a passionate supporter of indigenous education. In 2008 he accepted an appointment as Indigenous Support Officer at Marist College Ashgrove, where he will assist indigenous Marist students achieve their goals.
In 2011 White is playing for Nyah-Nyah West in the Central Murray Football League in northern Victoria.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er whose career with the Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
and Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
in the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(AFL) lasted from 1992 to 2005.
An Indigenous Australian, in 2005 he was named at fullback in the Australian rules football Indigenous Team of the Century
Indigenous Team of the Century
The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in the sport. It was announced in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first senior game played by an indigenous player, Fitzroy's Joe Johnson...
.
Beyond his AFL career, White continues to be involved in football, having forced one of the most successful careers of any Australian rules footballer, with six premierships across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL). He is an indigenous role model for many aboriginal Australians.
Early career
White grew up in Alice Springs in central Australia, playing junior football for the Pioneer Football Club. Like many of his peers he had a difficult adolescence, but had a natural talent for football. In 1990 he represented the Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
at the Teal Cup under-17 national football carnival held in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, where he came to the attention of Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
coach Robert Walls
Robert Walls
Robert Walls is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who now works primarily as a television commentator and newspaper columnist on the sport. On 22 June 2006 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.- Carlton :...
and his football manager Scott Clayton
Scott Clayton
Scott Clayton is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League during the 1980s....
. Impressed with his clean ball handling skills, his leap and his ability to "play tall", the Bears drafted him at the end of the season with a priority draft pick from their Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
-Northern Territory recruiting zone.
AFL career
Despite initial reluctance to move to the Bears—a club which, in White's words, "only won two games a year" (Morris, 2004)—the future football star was persuaded to give the club a chance (turning up to his first training session in a purple LA LakersLos Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
singlet and bouncing a basketball). He found the transition from Alice Springs football to training under strict disciplinarian Walls difficult once there, for example; on one occasion during an 8 km cycle up a mountain he hurled his bike off a cliff, telling his coach he'd come to play football, not ride bikes. (Voss, 2005; Steele, 2005)
His first season of football was an announcement of a rare talent, leading the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
count after three rounds with two best-on-ground performances and kicking the official goal of the year with his first-ever goal. However White suffered continual problems with homesickness. At the end of the season he immediately returned to Alice Springs and did not return for the start of pre-season training a month later. When Walls telephoned him to ask him if he was coming back, the response was: "I'm really busy—call me again in a couple of weeks." (Walls, 2002) Little wonder that his coach and teammates sometimes questioned his commitment to football, but his sheer skill and ability compelled them to persist with him. Despite regularly disappearing to Alice Springs every summer, he always returned, ready to try again.
White soon became a crowd favourite, with a marking ability well beyond that which his height would normally allow. Fans grew to instantly recognise his loping running style, his casual but pinpoint foot passing, and his idiosyncratic pose after a mark, holding the ball aloft on its point as if to show the world he'd caught it. He even found city-wide fame when a photo of a spectacular White mark was published on the cover of the 1996 Brisbane White Pages telephone directory (a marketing coup for the struggling club).
White's vertical jump allowed his coaches to take advantage of his flexibility by positioning him in a variety of key positions—even, when injuries to teammates demanded it, the ruck. White's opponents were often much taller and stronger but his leap and flexibility allowed him to hold his own in such contests.
White survived the 1996 merger between Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
and the Bears which formed the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
, and was an integral member of its first premiership victory in 2001 playing off half-back. He also played in the Lions' flag wins in 2002 and 2003, as well as its Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
loss in 2004.
By now, White had become an inspiration to other indigenous players, especially those from his former home of the Northern Territory. On one occasion, he even found himself approached by a young indigenous player from another club immediately after a match who asked him to pose for a photograph with him before leaving the ground. His progression from erratic youth to responsible adult had been guided by mentor and former teammate, fellow aborigine Michael McLean. A trip to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1997 and a 36-hour gaol term for assault in the same year (later overturned on appeal) opened his eyes to what his life could have been. "I used to be out stealing handbags," he said in 2001. "I was just starting to get into bigger and better stuff. Back then, I was stealing BMWs. Luckily I got caught and got sent away for six months in [a] juvenile detention centre in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. Look at me now, it's all changed." (Burke, 2001)
In 2005 he was named captain of the Indigenous All-Stars, an all-Aboriginal team, selected to play the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
that February. White was devastated when he ruptured a thumb ligament at Lions training in the weeks before the game, and was unable to play. Desperate to play a part, he flew in for the occasion and acted as the team's runner during the game.
However, in 2003 and 2004 his form had been patchy, spending increasing time in the club's seconds side
Suncoast Lions Football Club
The Suncoast Lions Football Club is the former name of the reserve team of the Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club which competes in the Queensland State League Australian rules football competition...
, and at the end of each season there was increasing speculation that he would retire. The Lions continued to show their loyalty to the player who had served them so well and re-signed him for the 2005 season, but he added only ten games to his career tally. In the second-last home-and-away game of that season, with the Lions struggling to make the finals, White played in the seconds and kicked nine goals, ensuring his recall for one last game. The Lions were thrashed by St Kilda in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in a disappointing finish to a spectacular and entertaining career.
In the last quarter, White fielded a mark at half-forward and held it skyward in trademark fashion. He then drilled a no-look pass forward to Jared Brennan
Jared Brennan
Jared Brennan is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing with the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League.-Early life:...
, a player who had idolised White as a boy. Brennan goaled. White's shellshocked teammates flocked around him to offer congratulations. After the siren, he was carried from the ground by indigenous teammates Chris Johnson and Ash McGrath, signifying the respect in which he had been held by his community.
White's contribution to football and his community was recognised in 2005 when he was named at fullback in the Indigenous Team of the Century
Indigenous Team of the Century
The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in the sport. It was announced in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first senior game played by an indigenous player, Fitzroy's Joe Johnson...
, alongside premiership teammate Johnson and former mentor McLean. His Brisbane captain, Michael Voss
Michael Voss
Michael Voss is the senior coach of the Brisbane Lions Australian Football League team and a former professional Australian rules footballer....
, said that it was important that White be kept involved in football. "He has taught me a lot and helped me try to understand their indigenous culture. He will leave the game with a lot of respect from his teammates and fellow players." (Cartwright, 2005)
Post AFL Career
In the 2005/2006 NTFLNorthern Territory Football League
The Northern Territory Football League is an 8 team Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.The premier grade is the largest Australian rules football league in the Northern Territory...
Season White played for the Darwin Football Club
Darwin Football Club
The Darwin Football Club, nicknamed, Buffaloes, is a member club of the Northern Territory Football League.-History:The club was formed in 1917.The Buffaloes won the 2005/06 NTFL Grand Final.Gilbert McAdam was coach for the 2006/07 season....
, playing in a premiership team.
In 2006/2007, White switched to the Southern Districts Football Club
Southern Districts Football Club
The Southern Districts Football Club, nicknamed, Crocs, is an Australian rules football club established in 1981. The club plays in the Northern Territory Football League at semi-professional level....
, where he followed up with another NTFL premiership.
In 2007, he moved back to Queensland, where he played in a premiership with the Queensland State League's Mount Gravatt Football Club, making it his sixth premiership across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL).
White is a passionate supporter of indigenous education. In 2008 he accepted an appointment as Indigenous Support Officer at Marist College Ashgrove, where he will assist indigenous Marist students achieve their goals.
In 2011 White is playing for Nyah-Nyah West in the Central Murray Football League in northern Victoria.