Northern Blues vice-captain Joel Wilkinson may have left the Peter Jackson VFL playing arena, but he isn’t leaving the football industry entirely.
As the football world prepares to celebrate Multicultural Round next weekend, the recently retired 23-year-old is continuing to work with AFL Victoria on the development of its Community Club Cultural Education program in his role as a VFL Multicultural Ambassador.
Wilkinson has Nigerian heritage through his father and European heritage through his mother, and is hoping to promote and increase awareness of different cultural identities within Australian football by sharing his experiences with clubs at all levels.
The former Gold Coast Suns player experienced racial vilification during his three-year, 26-game AFL career and is utilising his ambassadorship to educate others in the game on the importance of accepting diversity.
“It’s just been about continually promoting cultural identity within the sport when the opportunities have arrived,” Wilkinson said.
“It’s an opportunity to promote experiences I’ve had in the AFL to then open up awareness and really challenge the current conditions, and work on areas that need improvement.”
Wilkinson challenged the line of thought that multicultural players with a relatively small amount of football experience behind them made it to the elite level because of their inherent athletic gifts.
In an entry to the sport Wilkinson described as “unorthodox”, the Gold Coast native didn’t start playing Australian football until he was 17, quickly rising through the elite underage ranks in Queensland to be taken by the Suns with a zone selection in 2010.
He acknowledged his natural attributes helped him to initially pick up the new game, just like he’ll be hoping they help him now as he turns his focus to playing American football.
Indeed, athleticism is in his genes – his parents were also talented athletes in sports as diverse as soccer, rugby union, athletics and surf lifesaving.
But Wilkinson said like anyone striving to make it to the elite level of their sport, simple hard work was the key for him when he set out to reach the AFL.
“I believe I worked very hard in those early times to try and fast-track my progression,” Wilkinson said.
“Have I been blessed with certain athleticism? Sure, but to get to the AFL, I felt I worked my way into earning that spot – I remember a lot of extra training I was doing.
“I’m sure that to start playing (Australian football), it was my athleticism (that helped), but to get drafted, I felt I showed more than just athleticism.”
An appetite for hard work is a trait Wilkinson said was central to all multicultural players trying to crack the AFL.
It’s a necessary quality for the increasing numbers of people from diverse cultural backgrounds who come to the game late and are behind the eight-ball in terms of experience from the start.
Wilkinson is still learning about his own cultural background – something that makes him unique in the current football environment.
But in his role as a VFL Multicultural Ambassador, he’s also aiming to raise awareness about what makes the people who play football the same.
* The VFL will celebrate Multicultural Round next weekend during Round 17 (August 8-9).
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Last Modified on 30/07/2015 14:25
