BEFORE the Raging Bull, there was the Gentle Giant.
"I never spat the dummy like he did,'' chuckles Wally Tallis, 73, when asked to compare himself to his famous firebrand son Gorden.
"I don't know who called him that nickname but it suited him. I was the quiet one. The Gentle Giant.''
For all the pride Wally has felt about his son's stellar career, it will probably be outshone by what Gorden will be feeling just before kick-off in the fourth annual All Stars match at Suncorp Stadium tonight.
Gorden will hand out the jumpers to each surviving member of the 1973 Indigenous team that toured New Zealand. Wally Tallis, who at 110kg and 193cm was so versatile he swung from playing prop to fullback, will be one of them.
There is barely a dry eye in the house at the best of times at All Stars fixtures, but that moment is sure to resonate as much as any.
"We were the first indigenous side to ever tour,'' recalls Wally. "It was a very proud thing for us to do. We were pioneers. We are pioneers.''
The idea of a tour had come out of an Aboriginal knock-out tournament in 1971, and pressure was placed on the late activist Charlie Perkins, who was working for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, to lobby the federal government for funding.
He did so, came up with the cash, and trials were then held around the countrycom, as far north as Darwin, before a touring party was selected.
``But there was a problem when it came to what jumpers we would wear,'' recalls Phil Hall, a leading figure in Aboriginal rugby league who co-ordinated the tour.
``Charlie hit some opposition when the team wanted to wear the green and gold.''
Perkins approached former Manly forward and TV broadcaster Rex Mossop to lobby the Australian Rugby League in the hope of a reprieve.
Ever the pragmatist, Mossop came up with a unique solution: why not wear the blue and maroon hooped jumpers Australian sides had worn until 1928?
``That was the first Australian jumper,'' Mossop said. ``And you're the first Australians.'' In 1973, the Indigenous team boarded a silver TAA plane _ the same year Gorden Tallis was born _ and flew across the ditch.
They were warmly greetedcom everywhere they went across New Zealand's north and south islands, playing in Auckland, Rotorua and Wellington.
About 10 places were visited in total, including a remote sawmill village that had not seen rain for three years.
Before kick-off, they watched in typical awe and fear as huge Maori rivals shook the earth with thunderous versions of the haka.
In an attempt to end the area's drought, some of the full-blooded indigenous players who came from the Northern Territory performed a rain dance.
Recalls Hall: ``It rained so hard after the game we couldn't get out of there because there had been so many landslides.''ss100%
ss99%Of Wally Tallis he says: ``He was big. Bigger than Inglis.''ss100%
Hallcom, who works for the Land Council near Inglis's hometown of Bowraville, is disappointed that he has not been invited to the match tonight.
But he understands the importance of the All Stars concept. ``We've come a long way in the last 30 years,'' Hall says. ``This gives young indigenous kids an incentive, combecause it shows them what they can do.''
Wally Tallis knows the importance of that, more than anyone. Until his recent retirement, he had worked in juvenile detention centres from Townsville to Brisbane.com A special job required by a special man.
ss98%``I was the only indigenous supervisor in the state, working hands-on in the prisons day to day,'' he says. ``Many indigenous kids are really gifted, unless their lives go the wrong way. It's a choice, and some chose the wrong path. Sport keeps them out of trouble. Otherwise, the jails are full of them.''ss100%
He says he encountered racism as a player, but always turned a blind eye to it. "Because the footy field is the great equaliser,'' Wally says.
Few knew that as much as his son, Gorden. As an assistant coach for the Indigenous side, he understands the importance of this All-Stars revolution.
"This game isn't about the footy,'' he tells you. "It's about giving young kids hope. Breaking the cycle, by seeing their stars and what they can be.''
A giant for their people. Even a gentle one.
