Who is Rafael?

My name is Rafael Jabuonski, I moved to Australia from Brazil in 2007 for work and have lived in Docklands ever since. Back when I moved here, there were only five buildings. I used to live at the Conder, it was brand new then, so it was super cool, and I loved that we were right near the water.

We originally started the Docklands Sports Club about four years ago. Our intention was to bring sports to Docklands. Recently Docklands Sport Club has partnered with the North Melbourne Athletic Club, so we are now inclusively the Docklands Athletic Football Club.

The idea came about when we had the first MiniRoos clinic that was facilitated by the City of Melbourne. This led to putting together a committee of like-minded people; our biggest objective was just to get our kids to play sports. I have an 8-year-old son and many of the other committee members have children as well, so we started working together hoping that we could bring sports to Docklands, and then our kids could play outside. And of course, we have Ron Barassi Park, probably the best local sports ground in Melbourne.

I think a sporting club is something that brings people together. It’s about connecting families, getting kids to play and meet with other kids, and families hanging out together. So it becomes the centre of the community in a way.

For me, I love to be involved with the kids. Someone once told me, at a coaching event that we went to, that when I am working with smaller kids, like 5 and 6-year-olds, I am responsible for making them fall in love with the sport. I’m not responsible for making them learn how to play, and become something in the future, but I am responsible for building that passion for the sport.

That’s something that resonated with me, that when I’m with the kids I need to make it fun. I need to make sports something that they prefer to do more than any other things that they can do. And today, kids have lots of options. I think it’s a privilege to actually be able to work with the kids and hopefully to make them fall in love with something. I think the most rewarding part for me is being able to get to do that over and over again.

I grew up in an apartment in Brazil. We never lived in a house, never had a backyard or any of that. Due to that, I never had the dream of having a backyard. So when I came to Australia, Docklands just looked like the nicest place in Melbourne, period. It was just, “Ohh, this is nice! It’s close to the water; it’s a beautiful apartment; it’s right next to the city. It has everything I need.

Now my family and I feel it’s the perfect place. It’s beautiful and how convenient it is. It just works!

Even when I worked in the city, I would always go down Latrobe St to walk back home to Docklands. When you walk down Latrobe St around 6:00 in the evening, you can see the sun setting into the water, with the (Bolte) bridge in front of you. It’s always been magical. It’s almost like there is a gate, a door where you walk through every night to another world.

There’s just so much we like to do around the area. I attend Marvel Stadium quite a lot. I’m a big sports fan. I’m a member of the Melbourne Stars, and also of Melbourne Victory, which is actually a partner of Docklands Athletic Football Club, so I attend lots of sports events. I love live music, so any big concert, I will always be there.

The District Docklands is a constant, we always go there. They have the best movie theatre in Melbourne, for sure. Don’t tell anybody! I love it, we go all the time. It’s a great place. We are also very fond of the Library at the Dock. My son is a big reader, so we use it a lot.

Day to day we just like to get out and about. We drink coffee, we eat in the local restaurants. We are always doing something around Docklands.

It has to be our sports ground, Ron Barassi Snr Park. It’s right here, right under the Bolte Bridge and just down the road from The District Docklands, but a lot of people don’t know it’s there. Even though we are doing a lot of work at Docklands Athletic Football Club to make good use of it.

Through the recent partnership, we aim to be on top of all the junior games. Plus we’re now going to be having competitive senior football here as well, both men’s and women’s teams. I hope and expect that every weekend, there will be a football game here during the season. That will be a great opportunity for people to come around, to get together and enjoy themselves.

Another great secret that many people might not know is that Docklands actually has a lot of animals that come about. We have families of ducks that live in certain areas of Docklands, you can see them swim and walk around with the little ducklings; it’s pretty cute. Also, in winter there is a seal that comes around, it has been coming every year for the last four or five years. I find it really amazing because it’s right in front of my window and I get to see it during the day.

Well, I might be biased, but I think that the sunset and sunrise in Docklands. It’s a beautiful end to the day, just to see that setting over the Bolte, it’s like it was set up just for that.

There’s also a little unknown angle of Docklands. I think most people experience it from the city looking to the west, but my favourite view of Docklands is actually when you’re walking towards the city from the end of Newquay Promenade.

The sunset has a different perspective from that angle, and it’s really, really nice. The city is framed and the reflection of the sunset on the buildings, and of the buildings off the water, is actually very different. I enjoy having that view, I don’t think many people get to see it that way.