Héritier Lumumba


Héritier Lumumba is a Brazilian-born Australian former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League.
Since his debut in 2005, he achieved All-Australian honours and won an AFL premiership, playing mostly as a half back.
He is the first Brazilian-born player who played an AFL match.

Playing career

Collingwood

The 188 cm Lumumba played most of his football as a medium defender. He was picked up with pick 21 in the 2004 AFL Rookie Draft by Collingwood, and made his debut in Round 18 of 2005 against Fremantle at the MCG. He kicked a goal against the Kangaroos shortly after his debut, and did enough to be retained on the rookie list. In 2006 Harry showed more improvement and was elevated to the senior list again during the year, this time due to the absence of Sean Rusling, playing a total of 9 games.
Coach Mick Malthouse at one point in an interview challenged the AFL's rules on rookies in response to not being able to permanently play Lumumba in the seniors on the basis of his excellent form.
He was elevated to the senior list for season 2007. In 2008, he came 5th in the Copeland Trophy count, Collingwood's best and fairest. In 2009, he came 4th in the Copeland Trophy.
He played in numbers 43, 30 and his final number 8. In 2010 he won All-Australian honours playing off the half-back flank. He was instrumental in Collingwood's 2010 grand final replay win over St Kilda and kicked a long goal from the boundary line late in the game.

Racism allegations

In 2017, the documentary Fair Game was released about Heritier's life, and experience of racism while playing professional football. He called the culture at Collingwood a “boys’ club for racist and sexist jokes” and stated his teammates nicknamed him 'chimp', a term with a strong history of connotations as a racial slur against Black people. He stood up to the racism and continues to do so.
Lumumba was interviewed by Waleed Aly about his experiences and was disappointed in Aly's response to the interview, as Lumumba felt that he approached the interview with the "preconceived idea that we would both see eye to eye on the basic truths of racism/white supremacy... However, it is now very clear to me, that he and I have fundamental differences in our understanding of what racism/white supremacy is, and how it should be effectively dealt with." Lumumba felt that he was undermined by Aly and claimed that Aly was indifferent to racism.
In 2020 the feud was again reported in the media when Lumumba called The Project "unethical and dishonest" in their treatment of him. He claimed that Collingwood coach, Nathan Buckley, told him to back off his accusations because it would he was throwing club president, Eddie McGuire "under the bus".
Collingwood wanted to sit down with Lumumba to reconcile, but Lumumba refused until he received a full acknowledgement and apology over his treatment. He rejected that his actions were sulky, and accused Australia of having an 'elementary'.
Lumumba's accounts of racism was rejected by former coach Mick Malthouse, Buckley and McGuire, but it was confirmed by a number of players including Leon Davis, Andrew Krakouer, Chris Egan, and Shae McNamara. Former Melbourne coach, Paul Roos, also confirmed hearing Lumumba's account, and was "shocked" when Lumumba told him of the culture at Collingwood, and what he had endured.

Melbourne

On 15 October 2014, after issues with the club and management, Lumumba and Collingwood agreed to part ways and he joined the Melbourne Football Club in a three-club deal with Mitch Clark going to and Travis Varcoe joining Collingwood.
Lumumba made his Melbourne debut in round 1, 2015, against, in what was also his 200th AFL game. He kicked a goal in a 26-point win for his new club.
Lumumba missed the round one match against in 2016, before playing the next five matches; he missed the remainder of the season after suffering from concussion symptoms. Despite being cleared to train by Melbourne doctors, he did not return to pre-season training in November after being advised to retire by several specialists. He retired from AFL football in December.

Personal life

Lumumba was born to a Brazilian mother and a Congolese-Angolan father in Rio de Janeiro, and moved to Melbourne, Australia when he was 3 years old. He was raised by his Australian stepfather and was 19 years old when he was reunited with his father, after spending 13 years apart. He supported the Essendon Bombers as a child, with his family owning a pet dog named Sheedy after the long-time Essendon coach, Kevin Sheedy.
He went to school at Rossmoyne Primary from 1994–99, and also went to Rossmoyne Senior High School.
Lumumba’s surname was changed to O'Brien when he was 9 years old and was given the nickname ‘Harry’ shortly after, and became known as Harry O’Brien. In December 2013, he changed his surname back to Lumumba and discontinued the use of the nickname ‘Harry’, citing his journey of decolonization as the reason for the change.
Lumumba became the AFL’s first multicultural ambassador and worked to engage migrant communities through football. He was AFL’s multicultural ambassador from 2006-2013. In 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard recognized Lumumba as one of the People of Australia Ambassadors. He was also made the ambassador to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Australia in June 2011. He attracted criticism and public outrage when his desire to meet Barack Obama during his proposed visit to Australia, in 2010, was reported in the media.
He has previously admitted to illegal drug use for recreational purposes, including the hallucinogen Psilocybin.

Statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2005
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2006
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2007
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2008
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2009
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2010
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2011
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2012
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2013
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2014
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2015
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016
! colspan=3| Career
! 223
! 30
! 27
! 2062
! 1459
! 3521
! 891
! 500
! 0.1
! 0.1
! 9.3
! 6.5
! 15.8
! 4.0
! 2.2

Honours and achievements

Team
Individual
Lumumba published a book in 2014 called It's Cool to be Conscious, that includes personal stories from his life, both on and off the field.
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