Famous Indigenous person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Famous Indigenous person - Essay Example Before he made his move to become a professional boxer, he had the opportunity of being the highest paid player in the  NRL (Australian Library, 2010, p. 34). His life as a teenager was characterized with him spending time in his fathers’ gym. It came to a time that he took part in some matches, though amateur, when he was at the age of 17. Being a talented basketball player, he played for a while before he came to notice rugby, a field that he excelled at. When he attained the age of 18, he made his debut in the rugby field, starting with the league rugby. After this, he came to be a member of the St. George-Illawarra Dragons (Marshall, 2008, p.34).  This was the Sydney franchise in the ‘National Rugby League’ (NRL) and was also the top professional organization for the sport based in Australia. In this team, he had the position of playing a position known as the five-eighth. This was also called the standoff and a person who holds this title serve as an addi tional center for a team's attacking line. Anthony Mundine is the son and takes after his father who is also a boxer; Tony Mundine. Anthony is also a member of the  Bundjalung people and is proud of this. He received a lot of attention when he converted to Islam religion (Hunter, 2008, p.45).  He converted to Islam in 1999. ... He is known as the most polarizing player in the sports history of Australia. In 2009, he was named the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person of the year and credited with winning the Deadly Award as the male sportsperson of the year back in 2010, 2009 and also in the year 2009 (Flood, 2009, p.89).  He is also the first professional boxer to have his fights broadcasted on television. Looking at his history, Anthony holds the title of being one of Australia's most celebrated and one of the most controversial athletes. Being a member of an indigenous Australian community, he started with voicing his opinion on the matter concerning racism at a time when he was a celebrated and recognized rugby player. Afterwards, he still continued to make his facts known even after he had left the field and joined professional boxing. He sometimes stated that people hated him for voicing his own opinions about racism and other factors that other indigenous people faced. He knew for a fact tha t he was hated and this did not discourage him. Being a fighter, he made himself known around the world and made efforts to maintain his titles (Ellis, 2009, p.302).   Antony’s particular impact on aborigines’ health and social life is that he gave them the courage to compete favorably with other communities in all fields. His success is evidence that any person can achieve a goal when he/she has set the mind on it. The health aspect was affected by Antony’s life since it he made the people aware on the advantages of taking care of one’s body. The social aspect was affected since Antony proved to the entire world that where an individual comes from does not matter, what is important is his mind. Discuss both the social and health impact on both indigenous and non-indigenous