Posted May 25, 2017 18:33:29

Photo: Former AFL player Nicky Winmar is urging all Indigenous Australians to protect themselves from heart disease. (ABC News: Ben Lisson)

As the AFL holds its Indigenous round, one of the players who famously took a stand against racism at the football is now promoting another cause.

Nicky Winmar has opened up about suffering a heart attack five years ago to raise awareness about one of the leading killers of Indigenous Australians.

"I thought the pain was just indigestion. I thought I'd just have some milk and it would go away," he recalls.

"But the next day it was still there, and I thought I better go to the hospital."

Once there, Winmar was told he was having a heart attack.

"I was really shocked and I did have a few tears in my eyes."

He subsequently had a stent inserted at the Royal Perth Hospital.

"You play footy and you're not scared of anything. You watch what you eat, but then you come down to it and a major part of your body is telling you something is wrong."

It was not the first time heart problems had affected Winmar's family.

His father died on the eve of Winmar's only grand final appearance in 1997.

Now 51, Winmar has made changes to his lifestyle in a bid to prevent another heart attack.

He says quitting smoking and limiting alcohol has had a big benefit on his life since his scare five years ago.

"Booze and the smoking, the nightlife, I used to go out a lot and that's stopped now," he said.

"Indigenous people are actually twice as likely nearly, twice as likely to die [from a heart attack] as non-Indigenous, we need to address that issue."

In 1993, after being racially taunted by crowd members at a match at Victoria Park, Winmar famously lifted his jumper and defiantly pointed to his skin after the full-time siren.

Current St Kilda player Jade Gresham was born four years after Winmar's iconic stand at Vic Park, but he says the former player left a lasting legacy on the game for Indigenous players.

"A lot of us Indigenous boys look up to him," Gresham said.

"You know he obviously was an icon at our footy club, he's just a great role model."

Winmar hopes his influence will mean his message resonates with Indigenous communities.

"You just need to make sure you're aware of the symptoms that happen," he said.

"This message needs to get out there."

Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-other-peoples, aboriginal, health, heart-disease, australian-football-league, sport, vic, melbourne-3000, perth-6000