In a divided world, Australia's Indigenous sport heroes are reviving nation's pride

NIT Published March 31, 2022 at 6.49pm (AWST)

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The past few years have been a bit of a dumpster fire.

To be fair things are always bad (or good depending on your life outlook), but our recency bias means issues such as COVID, war in Ukraine, political scandal and natural disasters in Australia are front-of-mind.

On top of that it can often feel the links that bind us - whether that be a neighbourhood, a town or the nation - are shred-by-shred being torn apart by the long-running erosion of trust and understanding in society.

But amid all the darkness, Australia's Indigenous sports stars have been a shining light in 2022.

First came Scott Boland, the fringe Australian fast bowler called up to the national side for the third Ashes Test against England who instantly rose to cult hero status.

Scott Boland of Australia celebrates the wicket of Chris Woakes of England during Day 3 of the Fifth Ashes (AAP Image/Darren England)

Boland's world record 6-7 in the third test sealed the Ashes for Australia in an entertaining MCG test.

His efforts in the final two dead-rubbers kept interest from waning, continuing his fairytale run with 18 wickets at a strike rate of 9.55 for the series.

Boland had the whole of Australia behind him as he did the thing we love most - dismantle England on a cricket pitch.

Then 13 days later came Ash Barty.

I have a passing interest in tennis and rarely sit down to watch a game. But having read about Barty's passage through the Australian Open stages I, like many others, suspected we might be in for something special.

And how right we were - up to 4.2 million people tuned in to watch our Wimbledon champion claim the biggest trophy on her home soil, and what a moment it was.

The Ngarigo woman thumped three Americans in straight sets to make the finals, then repeated the dose against Danielle Collins to lift the AO trophy alongside her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley and later track legend Cathy Freeman.

That audience was the biggest ever for a woman's sporting event in Australia. Only the AFL Grand Final rated higher in 2021.

And speaking of AFL, Whadjuk-Noongar man Lance 'Buddy' Franklin etched his name into the history books (again) on Friday night with his 1000th goal, the sixth player to do so.

This view and the man himself 🌟
Just absolute scenes at the SCG. #AFLSwansCats | #Buddy1000 pic.twitter.com/JQRaZlW6gh

— AFL (@AFL) March 25, 2022

The scenes after Buddy kicked his milestone goal will be permanently etched in our generation's memories alongside century-defining moments such as Freeman's run, John Eales' kick, Steven Bradbury's skate and John Aloisi's goal.

It was a moment in time when, like the aforementioned achievements, the entire nation got behind one cause - only this time it wasn't in the International sporting arena.

Australia tuned in to watch a hero become a legend, and boy did we lap up every second.

So there you have it; three Indigenous sports stars at different stages of their career, all delivering our nation the euphoria it so desperately needs.

These moments of national pride are the glue that hold us together, and this year our First Nations athletes are delivering them in spades.

While they can't solve all the problems of the world, these achievements can at least remind us how joyous our nation can be when we all come together.