Opposites
Meet in the Middle
Anthony Minichiello and Matthew Bowen tell their personal stories
Fullbacks in rugby league are known as the custodians.
In defence, they are often the final barrier to their opponents scoring.
In attack, they can be the element of surprise that brings the opposition undone.
Yet in the middle of the battle they might rarely make contact with each other.
However, in the case of Anthony Minichiello (Roosters, NSW and Australia) and Matthew Bowen (Cowboys, Queensland and Australia), it is very unlikely that two stars of the game would ever have met unless they had played rugby league.
Matt Bowen provides one of the great human interest stories of the game given his rise from a remote community to playing in the National Rugby League (NRL), and then to representing his State and Country.
“Hope Vale is a little Aboriginal community of about 1500 people,” says
Matt of his home community of the famous coloured sands on Cape York.
Hope Vale is the hometown of Guugu Yimithirr people and it boasts rich red soil, while the coloured sands near Elim are yellow, black and red.
Matt made his first venture from this traditional community, which practises and preserves its own culture, into the ‘outside world’ when he attended Abergowrie College, a small boarding school near Ingham.
“If I hadn’t gone to Abergowrie I don’t think I would have ever played for the Cowboys,” Matt said. “Apart from the opportunity to play football and other sports, I had to learn to be disciplined and punctual which certainly helped me when I reached Townsville.”
“I also got homesick and had to learn to deal with being away from my family,” said Bowen, who remains one of the quietest players in the game.
It was while he was at school that Bowen used to watch the likes of Gorden Tallis, Matt Sing and Darren Lockyer playing State of Origin without ever daring to dream that he could one day join them.
In 2001, Bowen made his debut for the Cowboys with people questioning his diminutive size, but quickly changing their minds when his skill and courage revealed him to be a unique talent.
Such was his ability, that in 2003 he found himself called up to represent Queensland alongside his heroes Tallis and Lockyer.
“I didn’t feel I should be there,” Bowen said of his first experience in camp. “It was a bit hard to fit in.”
“Blokes like Tallis and Lockyer were my heroes and I didn’t feel as if I was up to their standard.”
It was here that the support of his Cowboy’s team-mate Matt Sing helped.
“Matty’s a quiet, shy bloke like myself and he helped me realise that all the other players were just normal human beings and to be confident in myself,” he continued.
“I roomed with Darren Lockyer and blokes like him and Steve Price were leaders who made me feel welcome.
“Gordie (Tallis) was also great, paying out on people and making jokes, so everybody felt part of the team,” he said.
This was just as important to Bowen as playing, which is saying something when one remembers his match-winning trys this year.
“Once I realised we were all there for the same thing, going into Origin camp was almost like going home,” he said.
“Back home in Hope Vale most of the people are relatives and I am just Matt Bowen, not some celebrity.
“They are all proud of what I have achieved, but I am still a member of the community.
“Now it’s the same in camp. I feel accepted and more comfortable,” he concluded.
Anthony Minichiello’s ancestry could not be more different and physically removed to Matt Bowen’s than could possibly be imagined.
Minichiello’s father was born in Miletto - a village outside of Naples
in Italy.
He migrated to Melbourne at the age of 13 and, like most new arrivals, tended to mix with people from his home country.
Minichiello’s mother was born in Australia, but her family also originated in the same village of Miletto.
“Growing up in Preston (Western Sydney), I have great memories of big family functions,” Minichiello said. “I wish I could have learnt to speak Italian fluently, but I nevertheless feel a strong link with Mum and Dad’s history.
“Sense of family is the most important part of Italian culture.”
Growing up in this area, Minichiello had what he called “heaps of multicultural experiences”.
“School was a mixture of kids - Greek, Lebanese, Croatian, Vietnamese - you name a country and we would have had a kid from there.
“You always dealt with others without really having a concept of their backgrounds.
“If he was a good person, he became a good friend,” he continued.
Minichiello was given the opportunity to play rugby league for Italy in 1999 and it was an opportunity he jumped at.
“It was a great experience for me having the opportunity to represent Italy and to travel to France, America, Morocco and Lebanon and experience other cultures first-hand.”
Deep down Minichiello had the desire to also represent his country of birth; a dream that came true in 2003.
“I was born in Australia and am proud to play in a game where so many players of different cultural backgrounds can play under one flag.”
When he played for Australia and looked down the line as the national anthem was played there was another player who felt the same.
His name – Matthew Bowen.
Last updated: 24 August 2005.
© Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission.
Comments and Feedback welcome - Email: voices@humanrights.gov.au.
