Michael Long (born 1 October 1969 in Darwin, Northern Territory) is a former Australian rules footballer of partial Aboriginal decent and spokesperson against racism in sport.

[edit] Early Career

Long was born in Darwin, Northern Territory in 1969 and played for St. Mary's in the Northern Territory Football League. "Nobody had heard of Long" before the 1987 under-17 carnival. He joined West Torrens in the SANFL the following year, and after noticing his talents, Judkins and Kevin Sheedy "were convinced they had found the club's first round draft pick."

I was at Essendon 16 years and only once was I ever asked to go to a board meeting and it was prior to the 1988 draft,: said Judkins, They didn't exactly tell us what to do but they told us they thought we needed two taller players with out first two picks. There were two picks to go until we got to have our third selection [number 23 overall] and there was a long delay while Geelong considered their next selection. Sheeds turned to me and sad, 'I reckon we'll get this bloke, I don't think these clubs want him.' Sure enough it came to out turn and he was still available - we couldn't believe it."^[1]

Despite being drafted to the VFL, West Torrens argued that Long was "contracted with the club and could not play anywhere else." "I was guaranteed this wasn't the case, so I took the contract to Darwin and met with Michael's father Jack and he was irate. He grabbed it and wrote the world 'bullshit' right across the front of it. When it became clear he wanted to play at Essendon, West Torrens agreed it wasn't a binding contract" Jidkins said.

[edit] Australian Football League career

After debuting for Evagnago in the Northern Territory, Long played for SANFL club West Torrens in Adelaide before his recruitment by AFL club Essendon. He also played for St. Mary's in the Northern Territory before heading to Essendon.

Michael Long debuted for Essendon in 1989 and was recognised as Essendon's best first year player. He played in Essendon's finals series that year, as well as playing an important role in the qualifying final that year, kicking 4 goals in Essendon's 76 point demolition of eventual runner-up, Geelong. The following year he was a member of Essendon's side which reached the grand final.

In 1993, Michael Long stamped his class and made himself noticed. After a well-performed 1993 Home and Away season, Michael stamped his class on Essendon's final two games for the year. First was the preliminary final against Adelaide when Essendon trailed by 42 points at half time, Michael put in a strong second half to help Essendon win the game by 11 points and challenge Carlton for the premiership. In the Grand Final that year, Michael Long played perhaps the best game of his career. Playing on Mark Athorn, Michael ran amok, helping Essendon amass a healthy quarter-time lead, and helping to maintain it. By the end of the game, he had amassed 20 kicks and 13 handballs, totaling 33 possessions. Long's performance that day was phenomenal. 1993 was also the International Year for the World's Indigenous People. Australian Rules Football's greatest ever indigenous player, Graham Farmer was selected to present the player judged best on ground with the Norm Smith Medal, which crowned Long's most dominant display on a football field.

From that high point, Long experienced great difficulty in returning to the football field. In the pre-season of 1994 in a practice match against the West Coast Eagles, Long injured his knee which requiring 12 months of solid rehabilitation, and he was not seen for the entire 1994 AFL Home and Away season.

In 1995 Long made a triumphant return to AFL football and played almost a full season. In the Anzac Day match between Essendon and Collingwood at the MCG, Long claimed to have been racially taunted by Collingwood's ruckman, Damian Monkhorst. The AFL arranged a mediation session between Long and Monkhorst and although Long was clearly unsatisfied by the short-term outcome of this meeting, long term it set a precedent and since this incident, there have only been three widely publicised accusations of racial taunts on the AFL field.

For the next two seasons he needed knee surgery and only took the field seven times. He missed the first half of 1998 recovering from the surgery, but finished the year strongly playing in nine games.

According to the round 3 AFL Record of 1999, between the beginning of the 1994 and end of the 1998 seasons, Long played only 38 of a possible 119 games.

Long was a member of Essendon's record-breaking premiership team in 2000 which saw only one loss for the entire season. Long faced heavy scrutiny for his bump on Troy Simmonds, which rendered Simmonds unconscious and raised the possibility of him losing mobility - which fortunately never eventuated. However, this incident inspired the AFL to introduce new rules protecting players with their heads over the ball. Long was suspended for this incident.

2001 was Long's final season and although Essendon made the Grand Final that year, Long aggravated a hamstring during grand final training and was forced to name himself unavailable on the eve of the game, which Essendon lost in a major upset to the Brisbane Lions who would go on to win 3 straight premierships.

[edit] Post-Football

Following his retirement, Long became a spokesman for Indigenous Australians. He was also a critic of then Prime Minister John Howard's policies towards Indigenous Australians - most notably Howard's refusal to make an apology to the Stolen Generation. In a letter published in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, Long described Howard as a 'heartless prick.' His political activities culminated in a protest march from Melbourne to Canberra, Australia's national capital. The aim of the walk was to obtain a meeting with the Prime Minister. When Long had walked beyond the Victoria-New South Wales border, the Prime Minister agreed to grant Long an audience.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

1. Main, Jim. The Big Aussie Rules Book, Bombers have too Long to wait, Rugby Press Limited 1994 page 67

2. Hobbs, Greg. AFL Record, A mighty Long performance to offset a captain's pain, Australian Football League, Progress Printers & Distributors, Round 3 1999, page 61

3. Football Record, AFL Grand Final Football Record, 1993

4. Main, Jim. & Christison, Darren, 1989 Football The Year in Review, Century Magazines 1989

5. The 90's: The Decade that Delivered (video/DVD)

[edit] External links

• Michael Long (footballer)'s statistics from AFL Tables