In the inaugural year’s trial it was decided the scholarship will be offered to an indigenous person living in the Northern Territory or Tiwi Islands and identified by Michael Long and assisted by ATSIC as being a potential AFL footballer. The successful candidate, who will have missed selection at the AFL National Draft, will relocate to Melbourne and play with Essendon Football Club.
Essendon Football Club chief executive Peter Jackson said the scholarship was another important step forward in the development of our indigenous football talent and the pilot program was something the club was proud to be associated with.
""But the Michael Long Scholarship Program is about much more than football - it is about life skills and building bridges between our two communities. It is the hope of the Essendon Football Club, ATSIC and Michael Long that this scholarship program will be adopted by all AFL clubs in the coming years,"" Jackson said.
“ATSIC was pleased to provide a $30,000 grant for the establishment of the program,” Commissioner Kim Hill said in officially launching the program. “Michael Long has been an excellent role model for the indigenous football community and this is just another example of that.”
The inaugural Michael Long Scholarship was awarded to Edward Darcy who has spent this season playing with the Essendon VFL side. Darcy, 19, grew up on Melville Island and played for Palmerston in the Northern Territory Football League.
Michael Long said he hoped the scholarship would provide the opportunities that were afforded him when he arrived at Essendon in 1989. ""It is a big step for a young aboriginal to come from the Northern Territory to Melbourne,"" Long said. ""But with the generous support of ATSIC and the Essendon Football Club I'm sure we can open some doors for some talented young footballers.""
""This program is also about education and life skills. If football didn't work out I didn't want a young player to return home thinking they had got nothing out of their time with the club,"" Long said. ""In Edwards' case, he is working in a number of different areas of Essendon Football Club and also completing a Police Leadership course at Airlie Police College.""
