When Essendon’s best 22 donned yellow armbands to get behind Adam Ramanauskas following his third cancer diagnosis in round 12 of 2006, they kickstarted the Club’s support for a wider cause that would become intrinsic to its identity as an organisation.
While many will point to the players’ choice to bear a league-mandated fine in solidarity for their mate as the origin of what would become the Challenge Game - a fixture still going strong two decades on - its roots stem even further back.
Although that was a more outward display of care, a group of Ramanauskas’ closest teammates had already been subtly but powerfully bringing him along their playing journeys throughout the defender’s initial diagnosis and treatment in 2003.
“When we found out around the Club that ‘Rama’ had cancer, we were all very sorry and obviously sad about it all,” longtime Essendon trainer Charlie Italia recalled.
“I went home and I was going through it a bit, so I decided to grab all these little headshots out of the football record of ‘Rama’. I got my daughter Michelle to put sticky tape around them because we didn't have a laminator in those days.
“I got six or seven of them. We were playing interstate against Brisbane, so I got Kevin Sheedy’s permission and handed each one to specific players like Dean Solomon, ‘JJ’ (Jason Johnson), Joe Misiti and got them to put it in their socks.
“Every time they played, Rama was with them. They always took Rama out on the field. We did that for about three or four weeks until we played on the MCG one night.
“We won the game, but ‘Solly’ came in and he was distraught. Absolutely distraught. He said, ‘I've lost Rama out there, would you come outside and help me find him?’
“I made him another one and from there, we carried Rama with us for the rest of the season.”
During a presentation to the wider Essendon staff and coaches as part of a Challenge Mindset workshop session this week, Ramanauskas noted a sense of ‘going insular’ ahead of his first chemo and radiotherapy treatments in 2003 & 2006.
To this day, he still credits the sense of community he found in hospital as a vital aspect in changing his outlook on life, having spent so long attaching his idea of success to breaking lines off half back, he now had newfound purpose away from the game despite his setbacks.
Remaining a close friend, Solomon touched on Ramanauskas’ fight and the Club’s involvement with Challenge during his press conference ahead of the Sunday clash against GWS.
“It’s a really important thing for us to shine a light on. Supporting those kids means a lot to us and we’re proud to represent (the Challenge guernsey),” Solomon said.
“Adam’s a great mate of mine and was a great teammate. He wasn’t even in the prime of his career yet and was struck down a few years after a premiership – it was tragic at the time but the way he fought through that and conducted himself is incredible.
“What it’s become today, I know he’s very proud of it.”
$5 from every adult ticket purchased this weekend will be donated directly to Challenge. Get behind the cause and show your support - Sunday’s clash gets underway from 4:40pm AEST.
