http://city-north-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/djaran-gives-thanks-for-football-career/
Chloe Kennedy @ Messenger Community News wrote:
Djaran gives thanks for footy
ROOSTERS Indigenous player Djaran Whyman says football has kept him on “the straight and narrow”.
The forward grew up on the small Aboriginal mission Cummeragunja, outside Echuca, Victoria, before moving to Melbourne at 18 to pursue football.
“Most of the boys I grew up with didn’t have something to keep them on track, which football did to me,” Whyman, 26, says.
“Some of them are incarcerated or have passed away.”
Whyman played two years in the AFL with the Kangaroos, before joining North Adelaide in 2009.
“Football has kept me on the straight and narrow.
“I found something I was good at and I found it could get me places.
“I used football as a vehicle to help me go forward in my life I wouldn’t be in Adelaide and doing the stuff I am doing at the moment if it wasn’t for football.”
Whyman now works as an employment officer for Whitelion, an agency that encourages disengaged youths to reconnect with the community. He will be heading to Port Augusta Jail this month with the club to assist in a training session with the inmates (see main story).
Whyman supported the Roosters’ focus to strengthen ties with the Indigenous community in Port Augusta.
“It’s easy for an Aboriginal player to come along to North Adelaide and get oriented.”
