A racial slur directed at him during a 2005 match made the Indigenous NRL player feel like an outcast in the game he loved. But rather than let it break him, his searing experience led him on a journey that proved the ultimate homecoming

“You black cunt.”

Three words that speak to the gulf between us. These words aimed at a man who thought he had earned his equality, who believed he’d found a place for himself beyond the pain of his history.

Dean Widders didn’t expect this. When it happened the ground opened beneath him. He felt diminished. He felt worthless. He felt dehumanised. Right there on the field, in the cauldron of professional rugby league, this man – a black man – more than 100kg of talent and toughness, wanted to cry.

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“I was really hurt, that was the amazing thing.” Widders recalls.

I sat down with Widders to recount that moment during a game between his team Parramatta and South Sydney in 2005 when those three words were aimed at him by a rival player.

“I remember Nathan Cayless, who was the captain of the team, and [a] Maori man, if he didn’t grab me I would have cried on the field – that’s how much it hurt me and I just remember if he didn’t grab me and show me support I would have burst into tears. I could feel it building,” he says.

What is it about those words that can hurt so much?

“Well I read history about the massacres in this country, the rape of women, the terrible things that were done to our people. They were treated like they weren’t human so this felt like I was being treated as if I was less than human,” Widders says.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fletcher (right) and Widders (in yellow) during the match on 3 July 2005. Photograph: Matthew Blyth/Getty Images

It wasn’t just what was said, but who said it. Bryan Fletcher had been a former teammate at the Sydney Roosters. Widders says he looked up to Fletcher – a senior player and Rabbitohs captain. Fletcher, Widders says, helped turn him into a first grade player. But right then that all counted for nothing. Widders and Fletcher were trapped in a cycle of racism that can be as casual as it is devastating.

“Yeah, I think it is something that people pass off in this country. The truth of it is that this country was built on racist ideals. This country was very racist for a long time and it still is racist. But if you tell people that in Australia, you are the worst person in the world,” Widders says.

“Don’t ever be a blackfella that stands up against what is wrong in this country because people will shoot you down straight away.

“The sad thing is, to be honest, I don’t think it has changed him [Fletcher] one bit,” says Widders. “I really don’t have a relationship with him today, but this is the sad thing with these sorts of things: people just shake it off as though it was nothing without realising the damage they do.”

Why does it hurt? Why should it matter? Surely it is easier to brush it all off. Yes. Maybe. But these words carry the weight of history. It is a history that has scarred Widders’s family as it has scared so many Indigenous families.

Widders’s grandmother was taken from her family – part of the stolen generations.

There are some who believe that the stolen generations is something in the past, that perhaps it doesn’t affect people today, but Widders says it has heavily affected his family.

“It is that strong. The sad thing with my nan is that her brother went back through the history and found out who they were and found out they were Aboriginal and he disappeared to New Zealand and never came back again. He had a whole family in New Zealand and never ever told them he was Aboriginal,” Widders says.

Widders’s grandmother never saw her brother again. But she found love and acceptance within the Aboriginal community. It inspires Widders still.

“She said it was the first time she felt loved when she found her family at 16 years old. She really embraced her culture. It is all about the family and embracing the family and showing each other that we care. That is how she has survived and dealt with it,” Widders says.

I want to really empower our players to feel strong to stand up and never accept [racism] as normal behaviour Dean Widders

Family. Community. Culture. These are the cornerstones of Dean Widders’s life. He found a place to belong in rugby league. Sport is often an escape, a place where talented black kids can demand equality.

Widders refused to shrug off the racial insult. He demanded action. He lodged a complaint. Fletcher was stripped of the Rabbitohs captaincy and heavily fined.

Widders now works full-time for the National Rugby League, mentoring and developing Indigenous players. He draws on that searing experience to make sure no other player endures what he went through.

“The great thing for me working in the game is it has a zero-tolerance policy and it is great for me to drive that from within – not just to Indigenous players, but all our players,” he says.

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“The game these days has 50-60% Indigenous or Pacific Islander [players] so there is no place for [racism] in our game. Sadly it is still something that is terribly high in country areas or local football, but we continue to use the NRL to educate our players to send powerful messages. I want to really empower our players to feel strong to stand up and never accept it as normal behaviour.”



Next month Indigenous players will take centre stage when the Indigenous All Stars play their annual match, this time against a world representative team. It is a week-long celebration of culture and reconciliation. Widders says it is much more than just a football game.

“It means everything. They are playing for their families, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, cousins – everyone they grew up with. They play for their communities, they play for their own kids. When you have that feeling it reminds us that finally we can see Aboriginal people at the top and doing things together themselves against the best in the world and showing their class. No one who pulls that jersey on ever lets anyone down. They give 110% for their people,” he says.

Widders is now coach of the famous Redfern All Blacks team. To him it is more than just football. It is also honouring his grandmother’s legacy and building a community. He has signed the club on to the domestic violence code of conduct and implemented a women and children first strategy. This year the club won its first senior premiership in 40 years and the men’s and women’s teams won the prestigious New South Wales Koori Knockout.

I can already see the next generation of leaders in Redfern will be a very powerful group of young men and women Dean Widders

The example of the football team is flowing through to the local Redfern youth. Each weekday at 6am Widders helps run a fitness program for children. Again, it is about more than sport.

“There are lots of hidden messages: routine, discipline, communication, all important lessons. But the main thing we are trying to do in Redfern is show kids another way of life and think about what support is for each other, what does it look like and how do you do it. This is everything I try to do: be supportive, encourage other people, lead by example, pick people up, follow other people – everything to make a community or someone else around you better.

Widders says he has already seen a change.



“Yes, and I can already see the next generation of leaders in Redfern will be a very powerful group of young men and women,” Widders says. “We see kids walking with their heads high, we see kids who will talk to strangers full of confidence and respect. We see kids dealing better with police than they did before. School is seen as an opportunity and places where our kids belong, whereas for me as a kid, my people felt like foreigners in those schools or felt like outcasts.”

Outcasts. Widders was made to feel like an outcast on the field playing the game he loves. He felt like crying but instead he stared racism in the face and won. Being black is nothing to be ashamed of; his grandmother told him that.

Dean Widders is a quiet hero – one of many in Indigenous communities across Australia. They make us better. They make Australia better.