More than 30,000 players and spectators will travel to the NSW south coast this weekend for the 50th anniversary of the Koori Knockout, with Castlereagh All Blacks president Dewayne Sampson labelling Australia’s biggest First Nations sporting event “a modern-day corroboree”.
The Knockout, which was put on hold between 2019-20 because of the pandemic, is being hosted in the Nowra area this year by the South Coast Black Cockatoos, who won in 2019. Sampson has watched the Knockout every year since he was born in Coonamble, finally getting his own run when he was 17.
“My father and grandfather before me, and all the uncles played in the Knockout,” he said. “To be on the field with them was just unbelievable. I remember George Rose grabbing me in the first scrum and slinging me around in my first game.”
The first Knockout was organised by six young First Nations men in 1971 at the Clifton Hotel in Redfern, and consisted of seven teams competing at Camdenville Oval in St Peters. It was initially established to showcase the talents of Aboriginal footballers, who were often overlooked and found it difficult to break into the state league. Since then, the carnival has grown to encompass more than 150 teams, and plays an important role in bringing First Nations people together.
“For us as Aboriginal men, it’s our modern-day corroboree,” Sampson said. “It means a lot more than any other tournament because it’s where we come together as families and communities. The only other time we get together is for funerals and sorry business. At the Knockout, you get to catch up with family members you haven’t seen or spoken to all year and introduce your kids to the cousins. It’s the only time that all our people get together for something positive, not just for our community but also our culture and Indigenous people.”
Sampson started the Castlereagh team 12 years ago to represent families in the community he grew up in. With more than a decade under their belts, the players are aiming for the semi-finals. “The first six years, we’d get beaten in the first game,” he said. “But in 2018, we won our first round game and in 2019 we went to the top eight of the 64 teams. Our aim this year is to finish in the top four.”
The Castlereagh All Blacks are aiming high in this year’s Koori Knockout.
They’ve built a strong side of Coonamble-born players, including Dragons second-rower Tyrell Fuimaono, Sharks centre Jesse Ramien and Bulldogs centre and winger Braidon Burns. The team also features community players, who have been training hard in the lead up to the carnival.
“A lot of our guys play in first grade in the Newcastle Rugby League,” Sampson said. “Basically, we only play club football to be fit for the Knockout.”
Sampson said the competition also brings big economic benefits to communities. “If you host the Knockout, it can bring anywhere between $900,000 to $2 million of profit,” he said. “To put that back into your local Indigenous businesses and employment is massive.”
To celebrate the Knockout’s 50th anniversary, the State Library of NSW will host a new exhibition, developed in consultation with a First Nations reference group, featuring more than 100 photos that trace the competition from its early days to one of the world’s biggest rugby league knockout carnivals.
Curator Ronald Briggs’ guilty secret is that he doesn’t play footy. But like Sampson, he grew up watching his dad play, for the Moree Boomerangs in the 1970s and ’80s. “It was a real thrill for the whole family and community,” he said.
Briggs said many of the photos, including those by First Nations photographer Barbara McGrady, capture the excitement and fierceness of the competition, but there had been noticeable changes over the years.
“The main thing is the jerseys that people wear,” Briggs said. “Back in the ’70s and ’80s, it was very standard NRL-type jerseys, but in the last 10 to 15 years, jerseys have become much more colourful and expressive of people’s local areas and cultures.”
Among the jerseys and personal memorabilia, the first-ever Knockout trophy will be displayed, alongside oral histories and recordings of past and present players.
Like the carnival itself, Briggs said he hoped the exhibition would bring people together.
“What I want is for people to find themselves in the photographs and feel connected, by themselves or seeing someone from their family in the photograph,” he said.
“This is the largest social event for Aboriginal people in the whole of Australia and, because of its significance, the library is making a real effort in keeping record of what the Knockout means today for First Nations people.”
Continuing the family tradition, Sampson’s 10-year-old son will accompany him to this year’s Knockout, although he will also have to wait his turn to play.
“My son will come along and be part of the big Knockout with us” Sampson said. “He’ll fill the water bottles up and be on the sidelines and learn what it’s like be there.”
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