Liam Jurrah, also known as Jungarrayi was born in a remote community of Yuendumu, about 300km north of west Alice Springs. Growing up in the Yuendumu community he learnt four different Indigenous Australian dialects, including the Warlpiri language as well as English. It was from a very young age that Liam began playing Australian rules football at the local Yuendumu oval, and participated in football carnivals throughout the Central Australian desert. Eventually, in his mid teens he began to play for Yuendumu in the Alice Springs, Central Australian Football League. It was also during his mid-teens that he began acting as a volunteer with the Mt Theo Program under its Jaru Pirridi youth development program, where he helped to run youth activities such as sport, bush trips and discos for Yuendumu youth. He rapidly progressed through this program and with his leadership and strength he began acting as a youth mentor helping other Warlpiri youth in his community.
Liam became the first fully initiated Aboriginal to play Australian Rules Football in the Australian Football League at an elite level. He was known as the 'Warlpiri Warrior', the 'Jurrahcane' and 'Cougar', in his rise to becoming a star of the AFL. His football career began when Liam was taken to Melbourne in 2007 as a guest of the Industrial Magpies, where he watched his first match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In 2008, he returned to Melbourne and played four games for Collingwood in the Victorian Football League. Later that year he represented Victoria (VFL) against South Australia (SANFL). However, his time in Melbourne was cut short by his need to return to Yuendumu for family responsibilities. (Source: Herald Sun 2009; Wikipedia website: en.wikipedia.org)
