Darryl White (born 12 June 1973) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er whose career with the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

and

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) lasted from 1992 to 2005. An

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, in 2005 he was named at fullback in the Australian rules football

Indigenous Team of the Century The Indigenous Team of the Century (Australian rules football) was selected to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the eth ...

. Beyond his AFL career, White continues to be involved in football, having forged one of the most successful careers of any Australian rules footballer, with six premierships across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL). He is an indigenous role model for many aboriginal Australians.

Early career

White, who is of

(

Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...

) descent, grew up in Alice Springs in central Australia, playing junior football for the Pioneer Football Club. Like many of his peers, he had a difficult adolescence, but he had a natural talent for football. In 1990, he represented the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

at the

Teal Cup The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

under-17 national football carnival held in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, where he came to the attention of

coach

Robert Walls Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 gam ...

and his football manager

Scott Clayton Scott Clayton (born 13 November 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1980s. A tagger from Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the ...

. Impressed with his clean ball-handling skills, his leap, and his ability to play tall, the Bears drafted him at the end of the season with a priority draft pick from their

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

–Northern Territory recruiting zone.

AFL career

Despite initial reluctance to move to the Bears—a club which, in White's words, "only won two games a year"—the future football star was persuaded to give the club a chance (turning up to his first training session in a purple

LA Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

singlet and bouncing a basketball). He found the transition from Alice Springs football to training under strict disciplinarian Walls difficult once there; for example, on one occasion during an cycle up a mountain, he hurled his bike off a cliff, telling his coach he'd come to play football, not ride bikes. His first season of football was an announcement of a rare talent, leading the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

count after three rounds with two best-on-ground performances and kicking the official goal of the year with his first-ever goal. However, White suffered continual problems with homesickness. At the end of the season, he immediately returned to Alice Springs and did not return for the start of pre-season training a month later. When Walls telephoned him to ask him if he was coming back, the response was: "I'm really busy—call me again in a couple of weeks." White soon became a crowd favourite, with a marking ability well beyond that which his height would normally allow. Fans grew to instantly recognise his loping running style, his casual but pinpoint foot passing, and his idiosyncratic pose after a mark, holding the ball aloft on its point as if to show the world he'd caught it. He even found citywide fame when a photo of a spectacular White mark was published on the cover of the 1996 Brisbane

White Pages A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

telephone directory (a marketing coup for the struggling club). White's vertical jump allowed his coaches to take advantage of his flexibility by positioning him in a variety of key positions—even, when injuries to teammates demanded it, the ruck. White's opponents were often much taller and stronger, but his leap and flexibility allowed him to hold his own in such contests. White survived the 1996 merger between

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

and the Bears which formed the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

, and was an integral member of its first premiership victory in 2001 playing off half-back. He also played in the Lions' flag wins in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, as well as its Grand Final loss in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. By 1996, White had become an inspiration to other indigenous players, especially those from his former home of the Northern Territory. On one occasion, he even found himself approached by a young indigenous player from a rival club immediately after a match who asked him to pose for a photograph with him before leaving the ground. His progression from erratic youth to responsible adult had been guided by mentor and former teammate, fellow aborigine Michael McLean. A trip to South Africa in 1997 and a 36-hour gaol term for assault in the same year (later overturned on appeal) opened his eyes to what his life could have been. "I used to be out stealing handbags," he said in 2001. "I was just starting to get into bigger and better stuff. Back then, I was stealing BMWs. Luckily I got caught and got sent away for six months in juvenile detention centre in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Look at me now, it's all changed." In 2005, he was named captain of the Indigenous All-Stars, an all-Aboriginal team, selected to play the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in Darwin that February. White was devastated when he ruptured a thumb ligament at Lions training in the weeks before the game and was unable to play. Desperate to play a part, he flew in for the occasion and acted as the team's runner during the game. However, in 2003 and 2004, his form had been patchy, spending an increasing amount of time in the club's seconds side, and at the end of each season there was increasing speculation that he would retire. The Lions continued to show their loyalty to the player who had served them so well and re-signed him for the 2005 season, but he added only ten games to his career tally. In the second-last home-and-away game of that season, with the Lions struggling to make the finals, White played in the seconds and kicked nine goals, ensuring his recall for one last game. The Lions were thrashed by St Kilda by a record 139 points in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in a disappointing finish to a spectacular and entertaining career. In the last quarter of his final game, White fielded a mark at half-forward and held it skyward in trademark fashion. He then drilled a no-look pass forward to

Jared Brennan Jared Brennan (born 28 July 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who last represented the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also previously represented the Brisbane Lions. Early life ...

, a player who had idolised White as a boy. Brennan goaled. White's bewildered teammates flocked around him to offer congratulations. After the siren, he was carried from the ground by indigenous teammates Chris Johnson and

Ash McGrath Ashley Vernon McGrath (born 20 May 1983) is a retired indigenous Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League. Selected in the 2000 AFL Draft with the thirteenth pick overall, the Brisbane Li ...

, signifying the respect in which he had been held by his community. White's contribution to football and his community was recognised in 2005 when he was named at full-back in the

, alongside premiership teammate Johnson and former mentor McLean. His Brisbane captain,

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a triple premiersh ...

, said that it was important that White be kept involved in football. "He has taught me a lot and helped me try to understand their indigenous culture. He will leave the game with a lot of respect from his teammates and fellow players."

Statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 19 , , 17 , , 8 , , 155 , , 122 , , 277 , , 68 , , 30 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 8.2 , , 6.4 , , 14.6 , , 3.6 , , 1.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 12 , , 13 , , 4 , , 72 , , 67 , , 139 , , 37 , , 25 , , 1.1 , , 0.3 , , 6.0 , , 5.6 , , 11.6 , , 3.1 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 15 , , 10 , , 6 , , 93 , , 91 , , 184 , , 56 , , 20 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 6.2 , , 6.1 , , 12.3 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 22 , , 29 , , 17 , , 169 , , 122 , , 291 , , 100 , , 39 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 7.7 , , 5.5 , , 13.2 , , 4.5 , , 1.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 22 , , 37 , , 11 , , 194 , , 111 , , 305 , , 87 , , 40 , , 1.7 , , 0.5 , , 8.8 , , 5.0 , , 13.9 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 19 , , 3 , , 5 , , 164 , , 92 , , 256 , , 76 , , 46 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 8.6 , , 4.8 , , 13.5 , , 4.0 , , 2.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 22 , , 19 , , 9 , , 202 , , 121 , , 323 , , 100 , , 40 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 9.2 , , 5.5 , , 14.7 , , 4.5 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 25 , , 14 , , 9 , , 240 , , 112 , , 352 , , 129 , , 46 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 9.6 , , 4.5 , , 14.1 , , 5.2 , , 1.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 23 , , 3 , , 0 , , 212 , , 114 , , 326 , , 106 , , 41 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 9.2 , , 5.0 , , 14.2 , , 4.6 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 22 , , 1 , , 1 , , 210 , , 130 , , 340 , , 115 , , 31 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 9.5 , , 5.9 , , 15.5 , , 5.2 , , 1.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 21 , , 11 , , 3 , , 130 , , 83 , , 213 , , 86 , , 39 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 6.2 , , 4.0 , , 10.1 , , 4.1 , , 1.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 21 , , 5 , , 2 , , 150 , , 88 , , 238 , , 96 , , 25 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.1 , , 4.2 , , 11.3 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 15 , , 0 , , 1 , , 103 , , 62 , , 165 , , 52 , , 17 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 6.9 , , 4.1 , , 11.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 10 , , 3 , , 1 , , 69 , , 38 , , 107 , , 42 , , 16 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 6.9 , , 3.8 , , 10.7 , , 4.2 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 268 ! 165 ! 77 ! 2163 ! 1353 ! 3516 ! 1150 ! 455 ! 0.6 ! 0.3 ! 8.1 ! 5.0 ! 13.1 ! 4.3 ! 1.7

Post AFL career

In the 2005/06 NTFL Season, White played for the

Darwin Football Club The Darwin Football Club, nicknamed, Buffaloes, is an Australian rules football club, playing in the Northern Territory Football League. It is the third oldest football club in the Northern Territory. Darwin has won the second most premierships ...

, playing in a premiership team. In 2006/07, he switched to the

Southern Districts Football Club The Southern Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Crocs, is an Australian rules football club established in 1981. The club plays in the Northern Territory Football League at semi-professional level and represent the rural area of Litchfield ...

, where he followed up with another NTFL premiership. In 2007, he moved back to Queensland, where he played in a premiership with the Queensland State League's

Mount Gravatt Football Club Mount Gravatt Australian Football Club, is a Brisbane based club which competed in the North East Australian Football League competition from 2011–2013 and as of 2014 is a member club of the Queensland Australian Football League., formed in 19 ...

, making it his sixth premiership across three competitions (AFL, NTAFL and QSL). White is a passionate supporter of indigenous education. In 2008 he accepted an appointment as Indigenous Support Officer at Marist College Ashgrove, where he will assist indigenous Marist students achieve their goals. In 2011, White played for Nyah-Nyah West in the Central Murray Football League in northern Victoria. He joined St Mary's in the 2011/12 NTFL season. In December 2011, White was temporarily deregistered for life from playing football under the Player Deregistration Policy, after a one match suspension for striking brought his career total suspensions to sixteen weeks – the threshold for deregistration. White appealed for re-registration, and the ban was overturned on 23 January 2012, with White permitted to return to playing, but additionally required to engage in community work and mentoring. He continued with Nyah-Nyah West until 2014, and played the 2014/15 NTFL season with Darwin before retiring at age 41 after 26 years of senior football. His son, William McDowell-White is a professional basketball player, who has played for the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

, and also in Germany.

References

External links

Profile at Brisbane Lions homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Darryl Brisbane Bears players Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions Premiership players Darwin Football Club players Mount Gravatt Football Club players Southern Districts Football Club players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 1973 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Allies State of Origin players Australia international rules football team players St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) players Kedron Football Club players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players