AFL legend Eddie Betts wants Australians to be better educated on the difficulties and setbacks experienced by young Aboriginal kids.
This was the motivation behind writing his new autobiography, The Boy from Boomerang Crescent, released nationwide last week.
“I wanted people to understand my journey of where I’ve come from,” he told Living Black.
“You know; how we live as Aboriginal people, within the communities. What we face in our life. It’s really all about education."
"My wife said to me, ‘Your job’s not done now. You’ve got a more important role to play…you’ve got a voice and you have to use it for your people.’”
Arguably one of the most famous and beloved players of the game, Betts announced his retirement from professional footy in 2021.
His career spanned 350 games, with a total of 640 goals kicked for Carlton and the Adelaide Crows.
He also received an unprecedented four AFL Goal of the Year awards during his remarkable career.
But the proud Wirangu, Kokatha and Guburn man would be the first to admit that success did not come easily. It was a long, uphill battle against systemic disadvantage, racism, and ignorance.
Eddie Betts being chaired off the ground after his 300th game on 21st April 2009 (Source: AFL Photos)
“It’s not an easy journey, and that’s not just my journey,” he explained.
“That’s a lot of Aboriginal kids around Australia. We’ve come from nothing. We have to work twice as hard to get where we are.”
In an exclusive one-on-one interview for Living Black, Betts spoke to Karla Grant about how a young, self-described “shy Aboriginal kid from Kalgoorlie” made his way onto the national sporting stage and became a prominent voice against racism in Australia.
Between two worlds
The towns of Port Lincoln and Kalgoorlie, where Betts spent his formative years, could not have been more different.
“It was great, growing up in both of those towns,” he said.
“But different lifestyles, you know? The sea to the desert. The best part was traveling across the Nullabor in the car with your cousins, and just having fun, playing games.”
Eddie Betts as a child with members of his family (Source: Supplied by Simon & Schuster Australia)
Dividing his time between his mother’s family in the West and his father’s home in South Australia, Betts grew up surrounded by a large extended family, who instilled him with the values of caring and respect.
“I wouldn’t change my upbringing for the world. It was so free, so caring, so loving. Everyone looked after one another. [That’s] the way I live my life, I treat everyone equally.”
Having just turned 18, he was drafted into Carlton Football Club, relocating to Melbourne so he could begin his playing career.
Adjusting to life in the city, separated from his community, proved to be a challenge.
“We live in two worlds,” he said of young Aboriginal players. “We live in our community, with our family, and we come to Melbourne. And living in this world, it’s a different living.”
Betts was lucky enough to have some family members move with him to Melbourne for support, something he attributes to his later success.
“If I was a young Aboriginal kid, coming to the big city by myself…I wouldn’t have lasted,” he said. “I thank my mum and my aunty a lot for the sacrifices that they’ve made.”
Eddie Betts with his Mother Cindy (left) and Aunt Tessa (right) who made the move to Melbourne to support Eddie as he first started out in the AFL (Source: Simon & Schuster Australia)
'In this together'
The first year of playing at the top-level brought with it another unexpected hurdle for Betts: his struggles with literacy skills.
“It was tough, going through that first year of playing footy. They were writing on the board about structures, about set-ups and all these words and what they mean, and I didn’t understand it.”
“My job is to play footy, and I loved doing it, so that’s what I did. I just played it.”
School had been a challenging experience, and without proper support from the education system, he had fallen behind his peers.
“I look back on it, and I wish…I stayed at it, but I just wasn’t comfortable,” he said.
“I didn’t feel like it was culturally safe for me, being the only Aboriginal person in that class, that couldn’t read or write, and didn’t understand what the teacher was writing. Having no help.”
In his second year at Carlton, he decided the time had come to “nail it down”, and he enrolled in literacy and numeracy classes.
“What made it a bit more comfortable, too, was there were a few other Aboriginal boys in my boat that were in it,” he said.
Eddie Betts during his time playing for the Carlton Football Club (Source: AAP)
“I was embarrassed at first, but when I knew some of the other brothers were there, I was like, ‘Yeah sweet, we’re in this together.’”
Having the confidence to speak publicly about his journey with literacy has given Betts the unique ability to assist others.
He believes the education system has changed since he was young, offering Indigenous students more culturally safe spaces to learn.
“I’ve said it to a lot of kids now when I go speak to communities,” he said, “there’s always gonna be help.”
Standing up
Watching The Australian Dream documentary proved to be an eye-opening experience for Betts and other Indigenous players.
While he had been aware of the racist treatment towards Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes on the field, this was the first time he realised the extent of what had happened during that time.
“We were all gobsmacked,” Betts said. “We sat back and we all honestly felt guilty. We felt like we needed to do something.”
As a senior player and leader, he felt responsible for taking a stand.
“If something happens again – which it will – we need to all stand up together as one and be united, and we need to call it out, no matter what.”
Racism within the AFL is an issue that Betts is intimately familiar with.
Despite being one of the most universally loved and respected players, he has also been subjected to vicious racist attacks, both on and off the field.
“One of the questions that I got, when I spoke about racism was, ‘Oh, Ed, now that you’ve got a profile, you’re still being racially abused?’ And I said, ‘[I am] it’s because I’m Blak in Australia.’”
“Profile or no profile, I’m going to be racially abused,” he said.
“I’ve just got a platform now…but people don’t like me talking about it. They want to put me back in my box. They don’t like me standing up.”
In 2016, an incident in which a member of the crowd threw a banana at Betts during a match made national headlines once again sparking fierce debate about racism in sport.
The event had a profound impact on him, which he carries with him to this day.
“I want to give my kids a banana…but every time I pick it up, it just gives me that sick feeling…knowing that someone threw this at you, calling you all these names.”
A screen capture of the Port Adelaide supporter throwing a banana at Eddie Betts on the field in a racially charged moment in 2016. (Source: Living Black)
“It just takes me straight back,” he said, “and that’ll probably be for the rest of my life. That’s what I’m going to have to live with now.”
Since retirement, racism continues to affect Betts and his family.
Recently, he visited a local swimming pool with his children, and was told by the lifeguard that they needed to move on.
“An elderly white couple had said I was making their little grandchild uncomfortable. And I was like, ‘Hang on. There are other parents, what makes me feel uncomfortable? I’m just hanging with my girls. My 18-month-old is in my hands.”
“It’s sad that now [we] probably won’t take our kids back there. They’re missing out on going to the pool.”
When asked how Australia can put a stop to this kind of behaviour, Betts stressed the importance of having more Indigenous people in leadership positions, as well as the role of allies.
Eddie Betts with his with Anna and their children (Source: Photographer - Kristina Wild)
“The more non-Aboriginal people having these conversations, talking about it, educating yourself, your friends, your family, the better we’re going to be,” he said.
“What I want people to realise is, when you speak about racism, and everything that goes on within Australia, this is still happening. Deaths in custody, Black Lives Matter, everything’s happening in our backyard.”
“You need to educate yourself and be better and do better.”
Legacy
Across his seventeen-year playing career, there is one goal that stands out to Betts the most. Playing in the Sir Douglas Nicholls Round, he kicked what would become his third Goal of the Year while wearing a jersey designed by his Aunt Susie Betts.
“For me to play well in that round and kick that goal…in that jersey that meant a lot for me, from my land and the place I was born…was just special.”
Pride in his culture and heritage is at the heart of Betts’ legacy, and will continue to be so as he moves forward in his role as an educator and mentor to Indigenous youth.
Eddie Betts celebrating what would become 'Goal of the Year' while wearing an Adelaide Crows jersey designed by his Aunt Susie (Source: Photographed by AFL Media)
“My job now is to make it easier for young Aboriginal kids to come into systems, to have those pathways, to be leaders within their own right,” he said.
“When you look at young Aboriginal kids coming from the community – how hard they’ve got to work to make it within a system that’s not built for them – it’s tough.”
With his professional playing career now behind him, he hopes that what he’ll be remembered for most is bringing joy to people’s lives.
“If anyone’s watched me play footy,” he said, “I’ve always wanted to make people happy. I just hope that I’ve made people smile.”
You can hear more from Eddie Betts on Living Black, streaming now on SBS On Demand.
Eddie Betts having a laugh with Journalist Karla Grant on the set of 'Living Black' (Source: Living Black)
