The centre bounce: Football from Australia's heart

by Jesse Marlow

"ALL my life I've been a mad keen footy fan. As a kid, I remember the skill and unique playing style of footballers Michael Long and Nicky Winmar. I was there when Winmar fired a 75 metre torpedo through the posts at Waverley, and more recently when Michael Long weaved his way through a sluggish Carlton defence to post the opening goal of the 93 grand final. There was something about their unique style of play that motivated me as a photographer to travel North and document a special football culture. Over the last three years I have travelled extensively throughout the Northern Territory capturing a game that plays such an important role in contemporary Aboriginal life. The game of football is played with an innocence and passion not seen anywhere else. Teams and families can travel up to 1000 kilometres for a weekly game, players paint their names and numbers on their cars, kids and dogs line the boundary line like interchange players, the desert landscape becomes the changing rooms and team lists are drawn into the red dirt instead of whiteboards. Aussie Rules in the North is different and proudly so. Indigenous football is about community and place." (Jesse Marlow 2002)

THIS photographic record of desert footy brings you face to face with the Aboriginal people, their sport, their sporting carnivals, and their culture.

This is a beautifully presented hard back book with sensational photographs.

The foreword is written by Michael Long.

Centre Bounce: Football from Australia's heart by Jesse Marlow is published by Hardie Grant Books.
ISBN 1 74066 050 1
Hardback $49.95, softback $39.95.

Football from Australia's heart by Jesse Marlow. A beautiful book.

Disclaimer