Majak Daw (born 11 March 1991) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Daw and his family in Australia are

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s from the civil wars in Sudan. Daw became the first Sudanese Australian to be drafted to an AFL club when he was contracted to North Melbourne in the

2009 AFL Draft The 2009 AFL draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2009/10 Australian Football League off-season. These were the trade week (held between 5 October and 9 October), the national draft (held on 26 November), the ...

. Daw's drafting gained international attention; it was reported by the

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, the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

and

Sudan Tribune The ''Sudan Tribune'' is an electronic news portal on Sudan and South Sudan and neighbouring countries including news coverage, analyses and commentary, official reports and press releases from various organizations, and maps. It is based in P ...

. His AFL career is said to have inspired a new generation of African Australians to take up the sport and many others who followed his career path.

Early life

Daw was born in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, the third of his parents' eventual seven children. His family fled the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil Wa ...

, living in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

for three years, then moved to Australia in 2003.

TAC Cup years

Playing for the

Western Jets The Western Jets is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Victorian premier U19 competition, the Talent League, since its inception in 1992. The club have developmental squads in the U16, however much of the attention is towards it ...

Daw was identified as a future key-position player by North Melbourne and the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

. Daw went to the 2009 Victorian Screening portion of the AFL pre-draft testing. He impressed with a 13.6 in the

beep test The multi-stage fitness test (MSFT), also known as the beep test, bleep test, PACER test (progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run), or the 20m shuttle run test, is a running test used to estimate an athlete's aerobic capacity ( VO2 max). ...

and 3.03 seconds in a 20-metre sprint along with a standing jump of 70 centimetres. He was one of 11 young Australian rules footballers to be given 2010 Mike Fitzpatrick Scholarships awarded by the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFLPA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFLPA promotes and protects its member ...

and accepted the awards on behalf of the other players.

AFL career

Draft to North Melbourne

Daw was picked up with the ninth pick in the 2010 rookie draft. His draft pick gained international media attention. His career at North Melbourne began with playing for VFL club

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

, where he continued to develop his game. He made his first appearance for North Melbourne in a pre-season NAB cup match against the Western Bulldogs on 20 February 2011. In April 2011, playing for Werribee, Daw kicked an impressive running goal from beyond 50 m out, prompting calls for his inclusion to the senior team. He made his first appearance for North Melbourne in a

NAB Cup Nab or NAB may refer to: * The Nab, a fell in the English Lake District * Nab Tower, a lighthouse in England *Mazraat Nab, now the Israeli settlement and religious moshav Nov, Golan Heights * N.A.B. SC, a soccer club in Adelaide, Australia Abbrevi ...

match on 20 February 2011.

VFL racism incident

On 4 June 2011, Majak Daw was racially abused by a

Port Melbourne Football Club The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football League (VFL) – ...

supporter while he was playing for the

Werribee Tigers The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-base ...

in the VFL. Daw stated that it "made imfeel really small". The man has since been banned from all VFL games until he completes an anti-racism workshop and formally apologises to Daw for the slur. The incident has led to renewed calls to stamp out racism in sport, with former Victorian Premier

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Victorian Liberal Party, Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, represe ...

calling Daw a hero.

Suspension from North Melbourne senior team

Daw was suspended from North Melbourne Football Club in February 2012 and remanded to the

for an indefinite period for lying to the club and coach Brad Scott about a "night on the town" during a period in which he was recovering from knee surgery.

AFL debut

In 2013, Daw had an excellent showing in the 2013 NAB Cup, which prompted calls for his inclusion in the Senior Side. When tall forward Robbie Tarrant went down with a thigh injury, Daw was brought in to replace him and make his debut in Round 4 against the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

. In the first minute of the game, Daw marked the ball inside 50, and kicked his first AFL goal with his first AFL kick. However, his debut ended on a sour note when he collided with teammate Ben Cunnington and suffered a concussion before quarter time, and he took no further part in the game. North went on to win the game by 63 points. Daw held his spot and played the next week, scoring no goals but three behinds against Hawthorn. In Round 7 against the

, Majak had a breakout performance in just his fourth career game, kicking a game-high 6 goals in North's 54-point win. After the match, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said of Majak: "'Maj' is a good example of what you can do with really hard work. Hard work trumps talent any day of the week."

2015–2022

Daw was delisted in October 2015; however, he was re-drafted in the 2016 rookie draft. In 2015, Daw won the

AFL Grand Final Sprint The AFL Grand Final Sprint is a sprint running race contested by AFL players as part of the on-field entertainment on the day of the AFL Grand Final. The sprint was held each year from 1979 until 1985 and again in 1987 (when the league was known a ...

. In 2016, Majak Daw won

Mark of the Year In Australian rules football, a player can take a mark by catching the ball from a kick, which earns protection from tackles. In the Australian Football League (AFL), the mark subjectively judged the best in each season is named Mark of the Y ...

after taking a

specky A spectacular mark (also known as a specky, speckie, speccy, screamer or hanger) is a mark (Australian rules football), mark (or catch) in Australian rules football that typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player. The ...

against Collingwood. Majak played the most games in a season in his career at that point, with nine, in addition to playing in his first final, which was in an elimination final against , and kicking four goals despite North Melbourne losing 141–79. In 2017, after having a season full of injuries and only managing to play seven games in total, at the end of the

2017 AFL season The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

Daw eyed more versatility as an AFL player. In the 2018 off-season, Daw changed his position from a forward to a defender. Daw sought this change because he thought it was his last chance at thriving in the AFL. Majak played his first game as a defender against in the

AFLX AFLX is a variation of Australian rules football designed in 2017 to be played on a soccer field (significantly smaller than the Australian rules oval). Unlike the full 18-a-side game (or the already established variant for rectangular field ...

series. Later on in Round 3 against , Daw officially played his first game as a defender. Daw was delisted by at the end of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

after a mass delisting by which saw 11 players cut from the team's list. Daw was recruited to the

in 2021, playing at VFL-level all that season. Daw struggled with injury during his time at Melbourne and did not play a senior game for them before announcing his retirement in June 2022.

Statistics

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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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Personal life

On 1 July 2014, Daw was charged with three counts of rape relating to an alleged sexual assault incident in

Altona North Altona North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay Local government areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

in 2007. He had been previously arrested and interviewed over the allegations in May 2014. Daw denied the allegations, while North Melbourne stated that he would remain available for selection. On 3 December 2015, Daw was found not guilty on all counts. On 18 December 2018, Daw abandoned his vehicle on the

Bolte Bridge The Bolte Bridge is a large twin cantilever road bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Bolte Bridge carries a total of eight lanes of traffic – four lanes northbound and four lanes southbound. While officially only 490 metres in len ...

and jumped into the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

below. Motorists on the bridge raised the alarm around 11 pm and he was recovered from the river by police and paramedics. He suffered broken hips and pelvis. In July 2019, Daw made a return for the North Melbourne VFL affiliate against Sandringham, the VFL affiliate of . Daw made his AFL return on 1 August 2020 in a win against , kicking one goal.

References

External links

* *
"Majak makes history"
– from the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's '' The 7.30 Report'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Daw, Majak 1991 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia North Melbourne Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sudanese emigrants to Australia Sportspeople of South Sudanese descent Dinka people Western Jets players South Sudanese refugees Sudanese refugees Sportspeople from Khartoum Werribee Football Club players South Sudanese players of Australian rules football Refugees in Egypt People from Werribee, Victoria 21st-century Australian sportsmen