While the AFL heartland of Victoria is still in shock with the news of Kevin Sheedy’s removal as coach of the Essendon Football Club after a 27-year tenure, his sacking will also be deeply felt in Indigenous communities around the country.

Sheedy is an icon for thousands of AFL-mad Indigenous Australians. The four-time premiership coach has made a profound contribution to the growth in Indigenous participation in the game. In doing so, he has helped connect Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians who might otherwise have never crossed the cultural divide.

In 2007 there were over 60 AFL footballers claiming Indigenous heritage on the lists of the 16 AFL clubs. This constitutes approximately 10% of the overall playing group. This is an extraordinary achievement considering that in the most recent ABS census Indigenous Australians constituted 2.3% of the overall population.

Whilst Sheedy would be loathe to claim any responsibility for the success of Indigenous Australians in the AFL there can be little doubt that he was the first AFL heavy-hitter to be proactive in nurturing the talents of young Indigenous players.

Not only that, Sheedy made it his business to understand the truth about the challenges facing his young Indigenous stars. It’s never been enough for Kevin Sheedy to just coach. He has an unquenchable desire to understand. His favourite question of anyone he meets is “Where are you from?” For him it’s not perfunctory politeness; every time he asks the question he is excited by the possibility of understanding something new.

No doubt when he asked that question of a young Michael Long, he couldn’t have known how much it would change both their lives.

Long, an Essendon champion, dual Premiership player and Norm Smith Medallist, hails from the Tiwi Islands. When he began at Windy Hill in the late 1980s, racial abuse at the footy was rampant. His stand against racism (and that of fellow player Nicky Winmar) sparked a cultural revolution in AFL football and was a cornerstone of the reconciliation movement throughout the 1990s.

With Long’s guidance, Sheedy became an advocate for Indigenous players in the AFL and an envoy on their behalf in the wider community. He would take regular trips to the top end to visit communities, understanding that football was as much about providing a pathway to a healthy lifestyle and a productive future for people as it was about winning big silver trophies.

He helped create The Dreamtime fixture in the AFL where each year the 16 clubs celebrate the culture and contribution made by Indigenous football.

In a land where sorry remains a dirty word, at least for those who can say it on behalf of the nation, Kevin Sheedy’s own brand of reconciliation gives us all hope that the final siren hasn’t blown on the concept just yet.