Jason was born in Johannesburg in South Africa in 1992, and he migrated to Perth in Western Australia with his family in 2000. His mother Sonya was born in Zambia and his father Eldrid in Durban, South Africa.

Jason commenced playing football at the age of 15 for suburban clubs and was drafted by the Western Bulldogs Football Club in 2012, debuting that same year. He played in the Western Bulldogs premiership team in 2016 and won the Norm Smith medal for best player on ground.

Jason is the first Australian Football League player of South African descent and he reflects:

'I do feel a connection back to South Africa because obviously, I was born there, my whole family is pretty much from there, so I do have that connection with it and it's made me who I am today. I think that I would consider myself as an Australian South African, so best of both worlds. Kids don't think people are different. So I didn't get treated differently in school and I was able to make really good friends and it was just a great transition from South Africa.' Jason Johannisen, Western Bulldogs Football Club, 2017

The Museum holds a collection of clothing, awards, documents and photographs dating between 2001 and 2016 relating to Jason's AFL football career. It represents his early suburban career in Perth and Fremantle (Australian Rules and other sports) through to his senior AFL team selection and participation in the Western Bulldogs AFL winning team in 2016. Jason is of South African and Zambian heritage and he represents an increasingly visible culturally diverse presence in the AFL.

Footscray Football Club was founded in 1877 in the inner-west suburb of Melbourne. The Club has won two AFL/VFL premierships in 1954 and 2016 and was runner-up in 1961. It changed its name to the Western Bulldogs in 1996 and remains deeply connected to its local community.

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